140 years of Saudi Arabia in photographs

Saudi Arabia's buzzwords of 2016 are "change" and "modernization."  So it might do us well to see how far the kingdom has come.

View of the city of Mecca, late 1880s

The Hajji tent camp at the tomb of Sittana Maimuna, the wife of the prophet,1885

Construction of the Hejaz railroad, 1906

Laying the Hejaz railroad tracks near Tabuk, 1906

Camel caravan of pilgrims to Mecca, 1910

Medina: Central station in front of the west gate, 1914

Ruin city of al-Hijr, 1914

The Ka’aba in the 1920s

King Abdulaziz and the US Petrol Minister, laying the groundwork for the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (ARAMCO) 1934

Dammam: The first commercial oil well in Saudi Arabia, 1938

Entourage of King Abdulaziz, 1945

Royal bodyguards of Saudi Arabia, 1947

A group of people looking at an Aramco airplane after landing in Dhahran, 1950s

A view of the Ras Tanura Government Customs House, 1952

Shoppers strolling down King Saud Street in Al-Khobar, 1954

Street scene in Jeddah, 1960s

Car washing in Riyadh, 1960s

King Khalid Street in Khobar, 1960s

A Saudi family walking on the streets of Dammam, 1970s

Jeddah street view, 1970s

Women in Khobar, 1970s

Caravan Shopping Center in Jeddah, 1982

A glimpse of Jeddah rising, 1984

Aerial shot of Riyadh, 1990s

The north side of Riyadh, 2015

Kingdom Tower in Riyadh, 2015

Abraj Al-Bait in Mecca, 2010s