The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded by Abdulaziz bin Saud (known for most of his career as
Ibn Saud) in 1932, although the conquests which eventually led to the creation of the Kingdom began in 1902 when he captured
Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the
House of Saud, referred to in Arabic as
Al Saud. The country has been an
absolute monarchy since its inception. It describes itself as being
Islamic and is highly influenced by
Wahhabism.
[12] 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.