The modernization of Saudia Arabia has been a recent and rapid phenomenon. Here we see two aspects of this transformation: explosive urbanization and center-pivot irrigation. Both are visible in and near Riyadh from 1972 to 1990.
Cities and circles and oil
Riyadh, the national capital, is shown in 1972 and 1990. Its population grew in these years from about a half million to almost two million. Saudi Arabia experienced urbanization later than many other countries; in the early 1970s its urban-rural ratio was still about 1:3. By 1990 that had reversed to about 3:1. The cities grew through in-migration from rural areas, and from decreases in the death rate while birthrates remained high. In the mid-1970s Riyadh's population was increasing by about 10 percent a year.1
Southeast of Riyadh, irrigation clearly increased between 1972 and 1990, particularly around the city of Al Kharj. The red circles are fields with center-pivot irrigation systems, drawing water from Saudi Arabia's aquifers. This irrigation development resulted from the investment of part of Saudi Arabia's oil revenues in an effort to modernize agriculture.
The smaller city of Buraydah, northwest of Riyadh, shows the same pattern of urban growth and agricultural development. From 1972 to 1986 the population of Buraydah almost tripled, from 60,000 to about 180,000 people. New roads are visible, and irrigated land increased dramatically. Buraydah and Riyadh both lie in Saudi Arabia's central corridor of settlement and development.2
Footnotes
1. The Riyadh populations are estimates based on several sources, including the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington (1970 est. 350,000), Metz 1993 (citing a 1974 official census at 666,000), and the Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nation, vol. 4, 1995 (citing preliminary results of a 1992 census: 1990-1991 population of 1,975,000). Helen Chapin Metz (ed.), 1993, Saudi Arabia: a country study: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D. C., p. 107. Richard F. Nyrop, 1977, Area handbook for Saudi Arabia: Washington, GPO, p. 64-66.
2. The Buraydah population figures are from the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington. The Saudi Arabia population map overlay is redrawn from Nyrop p. 65.
Vesilind, Priit J., and Kashi, Ed, 1993, The Middle East's water--critical resource: National Geographic Magazine, vol. 183, no. 5, May, p. 38-70.
Azzi, Robert, 1980, Saudi Arabia: the kingdom and its power: National Geographic Magazine, vol. 158, no. 3, September, p. 286-332.
LM1178043007226890 (Riyadh, Landsat 1 MSS, 24 September 1972)
LT4165043009024310 (Riyadh, Landsat 4 TM, 31 August 1990)
LM1180042007236090 (Buraydah, Landsat 1 MSS, 25 December 1972)
LM5167042008604690 (Buraydah, Landsat 5 MSS, 15 February 1986)
Defense Mapping Agency, 1993, Operational Navigation Chart H-6: scale 1:1,000,000.
Campbell, Robert Wellman, ed. 1999. "Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: 1972, 1990." Earthshots: Satellite Images of Environmental Change. U.S. Geological Survey. http://earthshots.usgs.gov. This article was released 14 February 1997 including Buraydah, and revised 14 February 1999 adding Riyadh.
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