Cairo City Tour, Egypt by Asiatravel.com
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Cairo (Arabic: القاهرة al-Qāhira) is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab World.[1] Nicknamed The City of a Thousand Minarets for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a center of the region's political and cultural life. Even before Cairo was established in the tenth century, the land composing the present-day city was the site of national capitals whose remnants remain visible in parts of Old Cairo. Cairo is also associated with Ancient Egypt due to its proximity to the Great Sphinx and the pyramids in nearby Giza.
Egyptians today often refer to Cairo as Maṣr (Arabic: مصر), the Egyptian Arabic pronunciation of the Arabic name for Egypt itself, emphasizing the city's continued role in Egyptian influence. Cairo has the oldest and largest film and music industries in the Arab World, as well as the world's second-oldest institution of higher learning, al-Azhar University. Many international media, businesses, and organizations have regional headquarters in the city, and the Arab League has been based in Cairo for most of its existence.
With a population of 6.8 million[2] spread over 214 square kilometers (83 sq mi), Cairo is by far the largest city in Egypt. With an additional ten million inhabitants just outside the city, Cairo resides at the center of the largest metropolitan area in Africa and the eleventh-largest urban area in the world.[1] Cairo, like many large cities in developing countries, suffers from high levels of pollution and traffic, but its metro currently the only on the African continent also ranks among the fifteen busiest in the world,[3] with over 700 million passenger rides annually.
The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum, is home to the most extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities in the world. It has 136,000 items on display, with many more hundreds of thousands in its basement storerooms
Khan el-Khalili is an ancient shopping area, nothing less, but some of the shops have also their own little factories or workshops.
The suq (which is the Arabic name for bazaar, or market) dates back to 1382, when Emir Djaharks el-Khalili built a big caravanserai (or khan) right here. A caravanserai was a sort of hotel for traders, and usually the focal point for economic activity for any surrounding area. This caravanserai is still there, you just ask for the narrow street of Sikka Khan el-Khalili and Badestan.
The part of Cairo that contains Coptic Cairo and Fostat, which contains the Coptic Museum, Babylon Fortress, Hanging Church, the Greek Church of St. George, many other Coptic churches, the Ben Ezra Synagogue and Amr ibn al-'As Mosque.
The Cairo Tower is a free-standing concrete TV tower in Cairo. It stands in the Zamalek district on Gezira Island in the Nile River, in the city centre. At 187 meters, it is 43 meters higher than the Great Pyramid of Giza, which stands some 15 km to the southwest.
Over the ages, and as far back as four thousand years, Egypt stood as the land where civilizations have always met.[citation needed] The Pharaohs together with the Greeks and the Romans have left their imprints here. Muslims from the Arabian Peninsula, led by Amr ibn al-A'as, introduced Islam into Egypt. Khedive Mohammad Ali, with his Albanian family roots, put Egypt on the road to modernity. If anything, the cultural mix in this country is natural, given its heritage. Egypt can be likened to an open museum with monuments of the different historical periods on display everywhere.
Info Taken from Wikipedia.com
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Cairo Holiday Tour, Egypt by Asiatravel.com
Asiatravel.com offers over 500,000 Hotels, Flights, Travel
Packages, Tours & Attractions up to 75% discount. All with
last minute availability & instant confirmation plus up to
5% cash rebate exclusively for our customers.
For more information visit
Cairo (Arabic: القاهرة al-Qāhira) is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab World.[1] Nicknamed The City of a Thousand Minarets for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a center of the region's political and cultural life. Even before Cairo was established in the tenth century, the land composing the present-day city was the site of national capitals whose remnants remain visible in parts of Old Cairo. Cairo is also associated with Ancient Egypt due to its proximity to the Great Sphinx and the pyramids in nearby Giza.
Egyptians today often refer to Cairo as Maṣr (Arabic: مصر), the Egyptian Arabic pronunciation of the Arabic name for Egypt itself, emphasizing the city's continued role in Egyptian influence. Cairo has the oldest and largest film and music industries in the Arab World, as well as the world's second-oldest institution of higher learning, al-Azhar University. Many international media, businesses, and organizations have regional headquarters in the city, and the Arab League has been based in Cairo for most of its existence.
With a population of 6.8 million[2] spread over 214 square kilometers (83 sq mi), Cairo is by far the largest city in Egypt. With an additional ten million inhabitants just outside the city, Cairo resides at the center of the largest metropolitan area in Africa and the eleventh-largest urban area in the world.[1] Cairo, like many large cities in developing countries, suffers from high levels of pollution and traffic, but its metro currently the only on the African continent also ranks among the fifteen busiest in the world,[3] with over 700 million passenger rides annually.
The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum, is home to the most extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities in the world. It has 136,000 items on display, with many more hundreds of thousands in its basement storerooms
Khan el-Khalili is an ancient shopping area, nothing less, but some of the shops have also their own little factories or workshops.
The suq (which is the Arabic name for bazaar, or market) dates back to 1382, when Emir Djaharks el-Khalili built a big caravanserai (or khan) right here. A caravanserai was a sort of hotel for traders, and usually the focal point for economic activity for any surrounding area. This caravanserai is still there, you just ask for the narrow street of Sikka Khan el-Khalili and Badestan.
The part of Cairo that contains Coptic Cairo and Fostat, which contains the Coptic Museum, Babylon Fortress, Hanging Church, the Greek Church of St. George, many other Coptic churches, the Ben Ezra Synagogue and Amr ibn al-'As Mosque.
The Cairo Tower is a free-standing concrete TV tower in Cairo. It stands in the Zamalek district on Gezira Island in the Nile River, in the city centre. At 187 meters, it is 43 meters higher than the Great Pyramid of Giza, which stands some 15 km to the southwest.
Over the ages, and as far back as four thousand years, Egypt stood as the land where civilizations have always met.[citation needed] The Pharaohs together with the Greeks and the Romans have left their imprints here. Muslims from the Arabian Peninsula, led by Amr ibn al-A'as, introduced Islam into Egypt. Khedive Mohammad Ali, with his Albanian family roots, put Egypt on the road to modernity. If anything, the cultural mix in this country is natural, given its heritage. Egypt can be likened to an open museum with monuments of the different historical periods on display everywhere.
Info Taken from Wikipedia.com
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Heritage nights held in old Cairo to celebrate Ramadan
For the fifth year in row, Al-Moez street, the oldest street in Fatimid Cairo, hosted Ramadan nights to celebrate the holy month with mix of traditional handicraft workshop and Egyptian folklore dances and arts.
Luxury crafts - Egyptian Metal Artwork
Life is relation, Life is adventure, Life is mix of cultures! Sofitel Cairo El Gezirah opens Egypt - The Heart of Middle East - for you! Through blending French Elegance with Egyptian craftsmanship, we would like to show how luxury objects are being born to deepen guests knowledge about Egyptian culture.
Old Cairo's Potters
A documentary that portrays the life of the potters in old Cairo, and the problems facing them now a days.
The campaign owns no copyrights of this video. ALL COPYRIGHTS RESERVED TO THEIR RIGHTFUL OWNERS.
B'aydena Campaign is an advertising campaign that preserves and encourages Egyptian handicrafts as it is ceasing to exist.It also aims to support the struggling Egyptian craftsmen by showing the challenging process of handmade products and how they can be unique as well as beneficial.
Luxury Crafts- Egyptian Bubble Glass
Life is relation, Life is adventure, Life is mix of cultures! Sofitel Cairo El Gezirah opens Egypt - The Heart of Middle East - for you! Through blending French Elegance with Egyptian craftsmanship, we would like to show how luxury objects are being born to deepen guests knowledge about Egyptian culture.
Hand made Embroidery from North Sinai | Fair Trade Egypt
Fair Trade Egypt is Egypt's first and only fair trade certified producer network & retailer, and currently carries more than 1,000 fairly traded products. Having worked in the field of Handicrafts since 1998.
Fair Trade Egypt ltd is sure to provide you with quality products that are Egyptian, handmade, and fairly traded while providing its producers with the capacity building and trainings needed to compete in today's fierce market.
Fair Trade Egypt ltd is currently a member of both WFTO Africa & Middle east'' and WFTO ''World Fair Trade Organization'', and a leader of the Fair Trade movement in North Africa and the Middle East.
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Fair Trade Egypt launches its winter edition
Fair Trade Egypt launched its fifth collection of the “Earth Tones” winter edition on 29 October at their showroom in Maadi, then took their artisans' work to the International Handicrafts show at Cairo's Fair grounds, November 25-29.
Video by Rawan Ezzat
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MOC 2018 VIDEO - MEDITERRANEAN OFFSHORE CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION - Alexandria EGYPT
14-16 April 2018 - Alexandria, Egypt
MOC is Egypt’s premier energy event focusing on oil and gas with a history going back to 2000. We are proud to have received once again the High Patronage of His Excellency Eng. Tarek El Molla, The Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of The Arab Republic of Egypt.
Organized by the Egyptian Petroleum Sector in partnership with the Offshore Mediterranean Conference (OMC) of Ravenna, Italy, MOC Conference & Exhibition has become the most important international energy meeting on the southern shore of the Mediterranean focusing on oil and gas.
SEE YOU IN ALEX 15-17 OCTOBER 2019 FOR THE 10th EDITION OF MOC
How to make an Egyptian Alabaster Votive
We will show you how the workshops in Egypt transfer the Alabster stone raw materail into a winderfull artistic Votive.
고대 이집트인들이 현대사회에 끼친 영향 TOP 10
재미있게 보셨다면 좋아요~~ 구독하기~~
Egypt herbs,Seeds and spices
High quality Dried Egyptian Herbs like (Chamomile, Calendula, Marjoram, Basil, Dill, Celery, Hibiscus, Peppermint, Spearmint...etc
a Very Fantastic Traditional Home In Iran - Yazd
a Very Fantastic Traditional Home In Iran - Yazd
(in fact Kohan Kashane Hotel)
a shirazian Girl Playing with small
fishes inside the bottle
یک خانه سنتی بسیار زیبای ایرانی در یزد - در واقع هتل کهن کاشانه یزد
در این فیلم عسل کوچولو را می بینید که
با آرامش در این فضای بسیار زیبای سنتی
مشغول بازی با ماهیان کوچک قرمز داخل
بطریش در کنار حوض می باشد
در ضمن عسل شیرازی می باشد
با تشکر از خانواده تسلیم
فیلمبردار مهران والافر
Mehran valafar
0935 879 5184
valasoft@yahoo.com
【K】Lebanon Travel-Beirut[레바논 여행-베이루트]현지인이 좋아하는 코니쉬 해안가/Corniche Beach/Food/Street Wagon
■ KBS 걸어서 세계속으로 PD들이 직접 만든 해외여행전문 유투브 채널 【Everywhere, K】
■ The Travels of Nearly Everywhere! 10,000 of HD world travel video clips with English subtitle! (Click on 'subtitles/CC' button)
■ '구독' 버튼을 누르고 10,000여 개의 생생한 【HD】영상을 공유 해 보세요! (Click on 'setting'-'quality'- 【1080P HD】 ! / 더보기 SHOW MORE ↓↓↓)
● Subscribe to YOUTUBE -
● Follow me on TWITTER -
● Like us on FACEBOOK -
● KBS 걸어서세계속으로 홈페이지 -
[한국어 정보]
먼저 들른 곳은 베이루트 시민들이 가장 즐겨 찾는다는 코니쉬 해안가. 히잡을 쓴 여성이 아니라면 중동이 아니라 유럽에 온 듯 착각할 지경이다. 해안은 운동을 하고 휴식을 취하는 가족단위의 시민들로 활기에 차있다. 사람들은 집에서 싸온 커피나 음식을 꺼내 먹으며 이야기를 나누고 노점에서 파는 간식들로 허기를 달랜다. 가방처럼 생긴 빵이 푸짐한 게 먹음직스럽다. 또 다른 노점도 보이는데 레몬 조각과 옥수수에 삶은 콩을 섞고 각종 향신료를 뿌려 구미를 돋군다.
[English: Google Translator]
Beirut citizens stopped first place to find a favorite Cornish coast. If women wearing a hijab is horribly mistaken seemed to come to Europe, not the Middle East. Coast is alive with citizens' families to relax and exercise. People soothes hunger with snacks sold at the stalls talking, eating out of a ssaon coffee or food at home. Adorable appetizing looking like a bag of bread to the rich. Another booth also looks Mix the boiled beans with lemon slices and sprinkle corn dotgunda the Western Various spices.
[Arabic: Google Translator]
توقف المواطنين بيروت المقام الأول لإيجاد ساحل كورنيش المفضلة لديك. إذا كانت المرأة ترتدي الحجاب مخطئ فظيعة بدا أن يأتي إلى أوروبا، وليس في الشرق الأوسط. الساحل على قيد الحياة مع أسر المواطنين للاسترخاء وممارسة الرياضة. الناس البلسم الجوع مع وجبات خفيفة تباع في الأكشاك يتحدث، تناول الطعام في الخارج من القهوة ssaon أو الطعام في المنزل. فاتح للشهية رائعتين تبدو وكأنها كيس من الخبز على الأغنياء. كشك آخر يبدو أيضا مزيج من الفول المسلوق مع شرائح الليمون ويرش الذرة dotgunda التوابل مختلفة الغربية.
[Information]
■클립명: 중동124-레바논01-01 현지인이 좋아하는 코니쉬 해안가/Corniche Beach/Food/Street Wagon
■여행, 촬영, 편집, 원고: 현상윤 PD (travel, filming, editing, writing: KBS TV Producer)
■촬영일자: 2011년 5월 May
[Keywords]
,중동,Middle East,아시아,레바논,Lebanon,Lebanon,,현상윤,2011,5월 May,베이루트,Beirut,Beirut,
Gaza City | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Gaza City
Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.
Learning by listening is a great way to:
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The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
- Socrates
SUMMARY
=======
Gaza (; Arabic: غزة Ġazzah, IPA: [ˈɣazza]; Hebrew: עַזָּה, Modern: 'Aza, Tiberian: 'Azā Ancient Ġāzā), also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of 515,556, making it the largest city in the State of Palestine. Inhabited since at least the 15th century BCE, Gaza has been dominated by several different peoples and empires throughout its history. The Philistines made it a part of their pentapolis after the Ancient Egyptians had ruled it for nearly 350 years.
Under the Romans and later the Byzantines, Gaza experienced relative peace and its port flourished. In 635 CE, it became the first city in Palestine to be conquered by the Rashidun army and quickly developed into a center of Islamic law. However, by the time the Crusaders invaded the city in the late 11th century, it was in ruins. In later centuries, Gaza experienced several hardships—from Mongol raids to floods and locusts, reducing it to a village by the 16th century, when it was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. During the first half of Ottoman rule, the Ridwan dynasty controlled Gaza and under them the city went through an age of great commerce and peace. The municipality of Gaza was established in 1893.
Gaza fell to British forces during World War I, becoming a part of Mandatory Palestine. As a result of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Egypt administered the newly formed Gaza Strip territory and several improvements were undertaken in the city. Gaza was captured by Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967, but in 1993, the city was transferred to the Palestinian National Authority. In the months following the 2006 election, an armed conflict broke out between the Palestinian political factions of Fatah and Hamas, resulting in the latter taking power in Gaza. Egypt and Israel consequently imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip. Israel eased the blockade allowing consumer goods in June 2010, and Egypt reopened the Rafah border crossing in 2011 to pedestrians.The primary economic activities of Gaza are small-scale industries and agriculture. However, the blockade and recurring conflicts have put the economy under severe pressure. The majority of Gaza's inhabitants are Muslim, although there is also a Christian minority. Gaza has a very young population, with roughly 75% under the age of 25. The city is currently administered by a 14-member municipal council.
Benghazi
Benghazi /bɛnˈɡɑːzi/ (Arabic: بنغازي Banghāzī; Italian: Bengasi) is the second largest city in Libya, the largest city in the region of Cyrenaica, and the former joint capital of Libya. As of 2014, the city is Libya's de facto legislative capital as it houses the country's parliament, the Majlis al Nuwwab. The wider metropolitan area (which includes the southern towns of Gimeenis and Suluq) is also a district of Libya. The port city is located on the Mediterranean Sea.
During the Kingdom era of Libya's history, Benghazi enjoyed a joint-capital status (alongside Tripoli), possibly because the King used to reside in the nearby city of Bayda and the Senussis (royal family) in general were associated with Cyrenaica rather than Tripolitania. The city was also provisional capital of the National Transitional Council. Benghazi continues to hold institutions and organizations normally associated with a national capital city such as the country's parliament, national library, the headquarters of Libyan Airlines, the national airline, and the headquarters of the National Oil Coorporation. This creates a constant atmosphere of rivalry and sensitivities between Benghazi and Tripoli and by extension between the two regions (Cyrenaica and Tripolitania). The population of the entire district was 500,120 in the 1995 census and had increased to 670,797 in the 2006 census.
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Damascus | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Damascus
00:01:39 1 Names and etymology
00:03:23 2 Geography
00:07:33 2.1 Climate
00:08:04 3 History
00:08:13 3.1 Early settlement
00:10:33 3.2 Aram-Damascus
00:14:22 3.3 Greco-Roman period
00:18:34 3.4 Early Islamic Arab period
00:25:43 3.5 Seljuq and Ayyubid periods
00:32:47 3.6 Mamluk period
00:34:00 3.7 Ottoman period
00:36:56 3.8 Modern period
00:40:44 4 Economy
00:42:39 5 Demographics
00:43:35 5.1 Ethnicity
00:44:13 5.2 Religion
00:46:14 5.2.1 Sufism
00:46:57 6 Historical sites
00:49:54 6.1 Walls and gates of Damascus
00:51:19 6.2 Churches in the old city
00:51:47 6.3 Islamic sites in the old city
00:52:10 6.4 Madrasas
00:52:25 6.5 Khans
00:52:40 6.6 Old Damascene houses
00:53:25 6.7 Threats to the future of the old City
00:54:20 6.7.1 Current state of old Damascus
00:55:13 7 Education
00:56:16 8 Transportation
00:58:16 9 Culture
00:58:41 9.1 Museums
00:59:04 10 Citations
00:59:17 10.1 Sports and leisure
01:01:08 10.2 Nearby attractions
01:02:04 11 Notable people from Damascus
01:02:19 12 See also
Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.
Learning by listening is a great way to:
- increases imagination and understanding
- improves your listening skills
- improves your own spoken accent
- learn while on the move
- reduce eye strain
Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone.
You can find other Wikipedia audio articles too at:
You can upload your own Wikipedia articles through:
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
- Socrates
SUMMARY
=======
Damascus (; Arabic: دمشق Dimashq Arabic pronunciation: [diˈmaʃq], Syrian: Arabic pronunciation: [dɪˈmɪʃeʔ]) is the capital of the Syrian Arab Republic; it is also the country's largest city, following the decline in population of Aleppo due to the battle for the city. It is colloquially known in Syria as ash-Sham (Arabic: الشام ash-Shām) and titled the City of Jasmine (Arabic: مدينة الياسمين Madīnat al-Yāsmīn). In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major cultural center of the Levant and the Arab world. The city has an estimated population of 1,711,000 as of 2009.Located in south-western Syria, Damascus is the center of a large metropolitan area of 2.7 million people (2004). Geographically embedded on the eastern foothills of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range 80 kilometres (50 mi) inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean on a plateau 680 metres (2,230 ft) above sea level, Damascus experiences a semi-arid climate because of the rain shadow effect. The Barada River flows through Damascus.
First settled in the second millennium BC, it was chosen as the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate from 661 to 750. After the victory of the Abbasid dynasty, the seat of Islamic power was moved to Baghdad. Damascus saw a political decline throughout the Abbasid era, only to regain significant importance in the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. Today, it is the seat of the central government and all of the government ministries.
Saudi Arabia | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Saudi Arabia
Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written
language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.
Learning by listening is a great way to:
- increases imagination and understanding
- improves your listening skills
- improves your own spoken accent
- learn while on the move
- reduce eye strain
Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through
audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio
while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using
a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone.
You can find other Wikipedia audio articles too at:
In case you don't find one that you were looking for, put a comment.
This video uses Google TTS en-US-Standard-D voice.
SUMMARY
=======
Saudi Arabia ( ( listen), ( listen); Arabic: السعودية as-Saʿūdīyah), officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA; Arabic: المملكة العربية السعودية al-Mamlakah ʿArabīyah as-Saʿūdīyah, pronunciation ), is a country in Western Asia constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula. With a land area of approximately 2,150,000 km2 (830,000 sq mi), Saudi Arabia is the largest sovereign state in the Middle East, geographically the fifth-largest in Asia, second-largest in the Arab world after Algeria and 12th-largest in the world. Saudi Arabia is bordered by Jordan and Iraq to the north, Kuwait to the northeast, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates to the east, Oman to the southeast and Yemen to the south. It is separated from Israel and Egypt by the Gulf of Aqaba. It is the only nation with both a Red Sea coast and a Persian Gulf coast, and most of its terrain consists of arid desert, lowland and mountains. Saudi Arabia is the largest economy in the Middle East as of October 2018 and the 18th largest in the world.The territory that now constitutes Saudi Arabia was the site of several ancient cultures and civilizations. The prehistory of Saudi Arabia shows some of the earliest traces of human activity in the world.The world's second-largest religion, Islam, emerged in modern-day Saudi Arabia. In the early 7th century, the Islamic prophet Muhammad united the population of Arabia and created a single Islamic religious polity. Following his death in 632, his followers rapidly expanded the territory under Muslim rule beyond Arabia, conquering huge and unprecedented swathes of territory (from the Iberian Peninsula in the West to modern day Pakistan in the East) in a matter of decades.
Arab dynasties originating from modern-day Saudi Arabia founded the Rashidun (632–661), Umayyad (661–750), Abbasid (750–1517) and the Fatimid (909–1171) caliphates as well as numerous other dynasties in Asia, Africa and Europe.The area of modern-day Saudi Arabia formerly consisted of mainly four distinct regions: Hejaz, Najd and parts of Eastern Arabia (Al-Ahsa) and Southern Arabia ('Asir). The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by Ibn Saud. He united the four regions into a single state through a series of conquests beginning in 1902 with the capture of Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud. Saudi Arabia has since been an absolute monarchy, effectively a hereditary dictatorship governed along Islamist lines. The ultraconservative Wahhabi religious movement within Sunni Islam has been called the predominant feature of Saudi culture, with its global spread largely financed by the oil and gas trade. Saudi Arabia is sometimes called the Land of the Two Holy Mosques in reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram (in Mecca) and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi (in Medina), the two holiest places in Islam. As of 2013, the state had a total population of 28.7 million, of which 20 million were Saudi nationals and 8 million were foreigners. As of 2017, the population is 33 million. The state's official language is Arabic.
Petroleum was discovered on 3 March 1938 and followed up by several other finds in the Eastern Province. Saudi Arabia has since become the world's second largest oil producer behind the U.S. and exporter, controlling the world's second largest oil reserves and the sixth largest gas reserves. The kingdom is categorized as a World Bank high-income economy with a high Human Development Index and is the only Arab country to be part of the G-20 major economies. The state has attracted criticism for its treatment of women and use of capital punishment. Saudi Arabia is an autocratic monarchy, has the third-highest military expenditure in the world and SIPRI found that Saudi Arabia was the world's second largest arms importer in 2010–2014. Saudi Arabia is considered a regional and middle power. In addition to the GCC, it is an active member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and OPEC.