The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was formed in 1932 by the union of
Hejaz and
Nejd, which had been under the same
emir since 1925.
Nejd
The emirate of Nejd, in the centre of Arabia and with capital at Riyadh, was always independent, and was unified by Wahhabi emirs around 1800. Sources sometimes disagree slightly about years, even into the 1900s. This is (I think) Eastern Nejd, which conquered an emirate of Western Nejd in 1892.
- Muhammad ibn Saud 1744-1765
- Abdulaziz ibn Muhammad 1765-1803
- Saud ibn Abdulaziz 1803-1814
- Abdullah ibn Saud 1814-1818
Deposed 1818 and Turkish rule lasted in Riyadh until 1824.
- Mishari ibn Saud 1819-1820
- Turki ibn Abdullah 1821-1834
a grandson of Muhammad ibn Saud
- Faisal ibn Turki 1834-1837
- Khalid ibn Saud 1837-1841
- Abdullah ibn Thunaian 1841-1843
a descendant of Saud ibn Abdulaziz
- Faisal ibn Turki restored, 1843-1865
- Abdullah ibn Faisal 1865-1871
- Saud ibn Faisal 1871
- Abdullah ibn Faisal restored, 1871-1873
- Saud ibn Faisal restored, 1873-1875
- Abdurrahman ibn Faisal 1875-1876
- Abdullah ibn Faisal restored again, 1876-1887
- Muhammad bin Rashid 1887-1897
a usurper
- Abdulaziz ibn Mitab 1897-1902
connected with the Rashidi usurpation but I don't know how
- Abdulaziz ibn Abdurrahman 1902-1932(-1953)
Abdulaziz, commonly called
Ibn Saud, was the son of Abdurrahman ibn Faisal and restorer of the Saudi
dynasty: Emir of Nejd 1902, conquered
Hasa 1914,
Asir 1920, Hejaz 1925, King of Hejaz 1926,
Sultan of Nejd 1927, King of Saudi Arabia 1932.
Hejaz
Hejaz is the coastal country containing Mecca. It was taken by Egypt at the beginning of the nineteenth century then by Turkey in 1845. In the Arab Revolt of 1916 it became independent under the Sharif, the ruler of Mecca.
- Hussein ibn Ali 1916-1924
- Ali ibn Hussein 1924-1925
- Abdulaziz ibn Abdurrahman 1925-1932(-1953)
Saudi Arabia
- Abdulaziz ibn Abdurrahman "Ibn Saud" 1932-1953
- Saud 1953-1964
- Faisal 1964-1975
- Khalid 1975-1982
- Fahd 1982-
All kings after the first have been his sons; the element "ibn Abdulaziz" is omitted because they are familiar under their own name. The word
ibn means "son of", and
genealogy can usually be tracked by bearing in mind that
succession passes to brothers as often as to sons. X ibn Y will be the son of the latest ruler named Y above him in the list. I have tried to note wherever the succession did not follow that principle.