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702 Ethiopian (Axumite) raiders occupy the port of Jeddah in modern-day Saudi Arabia.
1927 Saudi Arabia becomes independent of the United Kingdom (Treaty of Jedda).
1932 Saudi Arabia is declared a unified nation with Ibn Saud as a king.
1934 Emir of Yemen and ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia conclude a peace treaty
1938 Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.
1948 1948 Arab-Israeli War: Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia attack Israel.
1960 September 14 — Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela form OPEC.
1962 Saudi Arabia breaks off diplomatic relations with Egypt, following a period of unrest partly caused by the defection of several Saudi princes to Egypt.
1966 Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Republic begin negotiations in Kuwait to end the war in Yemen.
1969 Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi visits Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
1971 Qatar gains independence from the United Kingdom. Unlike most nearby emirates, Qatar declines to become part of either the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia.
1975 King Faisal of Saudi Arabia is shot and killed by a nephew with a history of mental illness; the killer is beheaded on June 18. (King Khalid succeeds Faisal.)
1979 259 Muslim radicals occupy Kaaba and the Grand Mosque in Mecca; Saudi Arabian and French security forces go in to expel them.
1980 In Saudi Arabia, 63 Muslim fanatics are beheaded for their part in the siege of the Great Mosque in Mecca in November, 1979.
1981 In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
1987 Four hundred Iranian pilgrims are killed in clashes with Saudi Arabian security forces in Mecca.
1991 Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Kuwait, thus starting the ground phase of the war.
1991 Gulf War: Part of an Iraqi Scud missile hits an American military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia killing 29 and injuring 99 U.S. soldiers. It is the single, most devastating attack on U.S. forces during that war.
1996 Nineteen U.S. servicemen are killed at the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia.
2003 In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 26 people are killed in the Riyadh Compound Bombings.
2004 A hajj stampede in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills 251 pilgrims.
2004 Terrorists attack the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killing several people.
2005 Saudi Arabia holds its first ever municipal elections, in which only men are allowed to vote.
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