nd the construction of the Suez Canal as well as the internal and external peace imposed by British colonial authorities (1882-1914) produced relative prosperity, at least for Egypt's landlord and merchant classes.
The contemporary al-Saud ruling family began the process of unifying in the mid-18th century what eventually emerged as Saudi Arabia in the 20th century. Sheikh Muhammad ibn Saud gained effective control over the central region of Najd in alliance with Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab, whose strict interpretation of the Koran and the rule of Islamic law, the shar'ia, remains the foundation of Saudi rule. The Saudi amirs ruled through a loose confederation of tributary sheikhdoms until they succeeded between 1902 and 1929 in unifying the peninsula. They established in 1932 the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. According to Metz, before 1932 Saudi Arabia "was a desert kingdom with few natural resources and a largely uneducated population" (Saudi Arabia 3). The discovery of vast reserves of crude oil in the late 1930s ushered in the modern era. The revenues
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