Mysterious Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s landscape is mostly characterized by volcanoes and deserts. Many parts are rugged and unwelcoming. In former times, the unhospitable territory was ruled by clans who often fought each other. For fertile land was and still is scarce. Ancient petroglyphs tell stories from a time when the Arabian Peninsula still was a fertile Savannah landscape, but that time is long gone. Caravan routes cross through the desert. Merchants like the legendary Nabataeans were transporting goods along these routes across the peninsula on their camels. In the Saudi town of Mada’in Saleh, they left their marks in the shape of massive grave monuments. The city of Mecca was just another caravan post on the legendary Incense Route until the seventh century CE, when history changed forever. This film tells the amazing and often surprising story of Saudi Arabia from Mohammed’s times up to the present day.