ABSTRACT
The success of the Al Saud was principally a consequence of their understanding of badu culture, a life-style which was so encompassing in its economic, political and social significance in Najd. The most notable feature of Najd, the vast region in the interior of the Arabian Peninsula, is its geographic isolation. The fact that no European entered al-Ramla until Bertram Thomas did so in 1930, and that little other information was gathered about it until recent oil exploration, may give some indication of its harsh environment. Centuries of nomadism in Central Arabia evolved efficient adaptive techniques to environmental conditions, and these in turn regulated social relations between badu tribes and between nomads and sedentaries. The intervening area between the extremes of the continuum was dynamic, allowing for an infinite variety of responses to ecological conditions and in social organisation. The formation of social status categories was determined by two factors—descent and occupation—perceived by the tribes as basis of nobility.
