Asia
Saudi Arabia
Everything you need to know about Saudi Arabia for geography games and satellite imagery — capital, population, time zone, and how to recognise it from above.
Quick facts
How to spot Saudi Arabia from satellite imagery
Saudi Arabia covers most of the Arabian Peninsula — 2.15 million square kilometres of mostly arid terrain stretching from the Red Sea in the west to the Persian Gulf in the east, from the borders of Jordan and Iraq in the north to Yemen and Oman in the south. The country contains some of the most extreme landscapes on Earth: the Rub' al Khali, also known as the Empty Quarter, is the largest contiguous sand desert on the planet; the Nafud and Dahna sand seas dominate the centre; and the Hejaz mountains rise sharply along the Red Sea coast.
For geography games, Saudi Arabia is one of the more distinctive countries to identify from orbit because of one specific signature that is essentially unique at scale: vast circles of irrigated farmland set in pure desert. This guide breaks down that and the other major Saudi aerial signatures.
Read the full satellite guideCan you find Saudi Arabia from above?
Test your geography skills on a 3D globe and see how often you place this country correctly.