ABSTRACT
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as it is internationally recognised today is, historically speaking, of relatively recent origin. Due largely to the work of the Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO) and its historian, George Rentz, as well as to various diplomatic histories, the history of Saudi Arabia is generally presented as synonymous with Al Saud history. These histories are biased for two major reasons. First, they follow a tradition that sees history as a product of powerful individuals and of international machinations. Second, the ARAMCO historians were subsidised by an oil industry which, by the very nature of the political and economic system of the Arabian nation, dealt almost exclusively with the Saudi family whose influence was ubiquitous. The early development of Saudi Arabia and the direction of both her domestic and foreign policy were to a considerable extent direct responses to enforced observance of these concepts as applied by mandate powers in the newly formed countries bordering Saudi territory.
