Ashraf AboArafe
The Comprehensive Encyclopedia of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has contributed to enhancing the cultural and informational vision of the Kingdom’s history and regions and conveying the Kingdom’s cultural image to various readers around the world. It has included, through its twenty volumes, comprehensive information about the Kingdom’s history, its urban areas, cities and villages, and presented various topics related to the economic, social, archaeological, tourism and cultural structures of the various regions of the Kingdom, thus filling a large knowledge gap, given the lack of comprehensive information about some areas, and the need for researchers and stakeholders to read the cultural transformations and explore the ancient Saudi history.
The encyclopedia, which was issued by the King Abdulaziz Public Library in 1428 AH and worked on by more than (250) academics and researchers, provided a comprehensive scientific picture of Saudi life throughout the ages. It is one of the largest and most profound encyclopedias that cover the various 13 regions of the Kingdom from various fields, and constitutes the first research reference for those who want to study or learn about the regions of the Kingdom in an encyclopedic manner. The presence of the encyclopedia, which will be translated into English soon in cooperation between the Ministry of Culture and the Library, covered broad research, scientific, historical and economic aspects.
The encyclopedia consists of (20) volumes, including information about the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, its regions, cities and villages. The encyclopedia was issued in a hard-bound paper copy, and was also issued in an electronic copy on CDs.
The first volume included a general introduction to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, its importance, status, state systems, geographical characteristics, historical monuments and sites, historical development, social patterns, customs and traditions. The volume is (1104) pages long, while the following volumes dealt with the regions of the Kingdom as follows: Makkah Al-Mukarramah region in two volumes, as well as Madinah, Riyadh and the Eastern Region, each region in two volumes. The encyclopedia also dealt with the regions of Asir, Jazan, Qassim, Tabuk and Hail, Najran, Al-Baha, Al-Jawf and the borders, in one volume for each region. Then, the 19th and 20th volumes included the encyclopedia’s indexes.
The encyclopedia is more than (20) thousand pages long, and includes more than (10,000) ten thousand images, as scientific illustrated material supporting the scientific and methodological dimensions of the encyclopedia, where between (500) and (1000) images were allocated in each of the 13 regions of the Kingdom. What the chapters need was precisely determined, then sorted and lists of appropriate images were prepared for each chapter.
In parallel with the image collections, large collections of diverse geographical, topographic, thematic, and illustrative maps were used for the Kingdom in general, and for each region separately. The encyclopedia committee relied on maps from: King Abdulaziz Foundation, Geological Survey Authority, and General Administration of Military Survey.
The encyclopedia also included a group of diverse illustrative forms, the function of which is to clarify the content and represent it graphically. These forms were used to clarify statistics of all types, including typographic, population, economic, service, and others. The encyclopedia also included a large number of detailed tables.
It is noteworthy that the King Abdulaziz Public Library has issued a concise version of the encyclopedia for youth and young adults, in (9) volumes on various regions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It also intends to soon update the encyclopedia by adding new national development achievements in various regions in accordance with Vision 2030 and the comprehensive civilizational renaissance witnessed by the Kingdom in all fields.
