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Discovery of Oil
Saudi Arabia is the world's most important oil producer. Given its relatively high production levels, accounting for nearly 13 percent of world output and 35 percent of total OPEC output in 1991.Saudi Arabia, had not gained control of the western part of the country when he granted the first oil concession in 1923.http://www.country-studies.com/saudi-arabia/oil-industry.html http://www.treehugger.com/saudi-arabia-oil-days-far-from-over.jpg -
Royal Family takes Over Saudi Arabia
The House of Saud is the royal family of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The modern nation of Saudi Arabia was established in 1932. Though the roots and influence for the House of Saud had been planted in the Arabian Peninsula several centuries earlier. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Saudhttp://www.ecorazzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/alwaleed_bin_talal.jpg -
Israel's Independence
The Israeli Declaration of Independence made on 14 May 1948. The day the British Mandate expired, was the official announcement that the new Jewish state named the State of Israel had been formally established in parts of what was known as the British Mandate of Palestine and on land where, in antiquity, the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah had once been.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Independence_(Israel) http://zionism-israel.com/his/Israel_independence.jpg -
Foundation of OPEC
OPEC has maintained its headquarters in Vienna since 1965,and hosts regular meetings among the oil ministers of its Member Countries. Indonesia withdrew its membership in OPEC in 2008 after it became a net importer of oil. But stated it would likely return if it became a net exporter in the world again. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPEC http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cisoilgas.com/media/media-news/news-thumb/091026/opec1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cisoilgas.com/news/russia-and- -
Iran's Government
Iran has been an Islamic theocracy since the Pahlavi monarchy was overthrown on Feb. 11, 1979.
The region now called Iran was occupied by the Medes and the Persians in the 1500s B.C. Until the Persian king Cyrus the Great overthrew the Medes and became ruler of the Achaemenid Empire, which reached from the Indus to the Nile at its zenith in 525 B.C. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107640.html http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/images/stories/large/2009/08/19/irprisp89650590.jpg -
Saddam Hussein Comes to Power
Saddam was born in 1937, and reared in a mud hut near Tikrit, north of Baghdad. President of Iraq since 1979 (Vice President from 1968-79), Saddam Hussein [Husayn] was a dictator who stopped at nothing to preserve personal power and regime survival. After the 1968 Ba'athist Coup, he began his career as Chief of Iraq's security services. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/saddam.htm http://kiwiyogi.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/saddam_hussein1.jpg -
Islamic Revolution of Iran
Widespread uprising in 1978 and 1979 in which Islamic fundamentalists and their supporters overthrew Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, dismantled the shah’s secular monarchy and established the Islamic Republic of Iran. The new republic rejected Western influences and was guided by Shia Islamic teachings.http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761588431/Islamic_Revolution_of_Iran.html http://www.yaqoot.com/Iran/islamic-revolution-of-iran.jpg -
First Gulf War
Conflict beginning in August 1990, when Iraqi forces invaded and occupied Kuwait. The conflict culminated in fighting in January and February 1991 between Iraq and an international coalition of forces led by the United States. By the end of the war, the coalition had driven the Iraqis from Kuwait. http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761551555/Persian_Gulf_War.html http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&safe=active&client=safari&rls=en&resnum=0&q=persian%20gulf%20war&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi -
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is coterminous. Having a municipal population estimated at 7.5 million, It is the largest city in Iraq and the second largest in the Arab World. Located on the River Tigris, the city dates back to the 8th century and was once the centre of the Muslim world.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad http://premium.asia.cnn.com/WORLD/maps/iraq.baghdad.jpg -
Map of the Arabian Penisula
