Ibn Saud
Ibn Saud, Abdul Aziz (1880-1953). King of Saudi Arabia. A member of an exiled ruling family, he began a conquest of central Arabia in 1902. That year he captured Riyadh and took control of Nejd, the former kingdom of his grandfather. He subsequently defeated his rival in Hejaz and annexed the kingdom (1924). In 1932 he unified his territories under the name of Saudi Arabia. The discovery of oil in the 1930s brought great wealth to the country and by the time of his death he was the most influential figure in the Middle East.
