Area: 830,000 sq mi (2,149,690 sq km).
Population (2005 est.): 23,230,000. Capi¬ taclass="underline" Riyadh. The people are predominantly Arab. Language: Arabic (official). Reli¬ gion: Islam (official; predominantly Sunni).
Currency: Saudi rial. The country is a plateau region, with bands of impos¬ ing highlands rising from the narrow Red Sea coast. More than nine-tenths is desert, including the world’s largest continuous sand area, the Rub' al-Khali (“Empty Quarter”). The largest petroleum producer of the Orga¬ nization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and one of the leading oil exporters in the world, Saudi Arabia has reserves that represent one- fourth of the world total. Its other products include natural gas, gypsum, dates, wheat, and desalinated water. It is a monarchy; its head of state and government is the king, assisted by the crown prince. Saudi Arabia is the historical home of Islam. During premodern times, local and foreign rul¬ ers fought for control of the region; in 1517 the Ottoman Empire attained nominal control of most of the peninsula. In the 18th—19th century an Islamic reform group known as the Wahhabi joined with the Sa'Gd dynasty to take control of most of central Arabia; they suffered political setbacks but regained most of their territory by 1904. The British held Saudi lands as a protectorate (1915-27), after which they acknowledged the sover¬ eignty of the Kingdom of the Hejaz and Nejd. The two kingdoms were
unified as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. Since World War II (1939-45), the kingdom’s rulers have supported the Palestinian cause in the Middle East and maintained close ties with the U.S. In 2000 Saudi Arabia and Yemen settled a long-standing border dispute.
sauger Vso-gorV Species ( Stizostedion canadense ) of pikeperch (family Percidae), carnivorous food and game fishes found in lakes and silty riv¬ ers of eastern North America. Saugers are slender and darkly mottled. They have two dorsal fins and rarely exceed a length of 12 in. (30 cm) or a weight of about 2 lbs (1 kg).
Saugus Iron Works First successful ironworks in colonial America. It was established in 1646 in Saugus, Mass., just north of Boston, by Rob¬ ert Bridges and Joseph Jenks, after large quantities of bog iron were dis¬ covered there. It principally cast utensils and rolled and slit nail rods for the settlers. It closed c. 1688. Parts have been restored as a national his¬ toric site.
Sauk Vsok\ or Sac ALGONQUiAN-speaking North American Indian people closely related to the Fox and Kickapoo who traditionally inhabited the region of what is now Green Bay, Wis., U.S. In summer the Sauk lived in bark-house villages near fields where women raised com and other crops. In winter the village separated into patrilineal family groups that erected pole-and-thatch houses. In spring they gathered on the Iowa prai¬ rie to hunt bison. By c. 1800 the Sauk had settled along the Mississippi River in central Illinois, but they were forced to cede these lands to the U.S. In 1832 a group of Sauk and Fox led by Black Hawk made a tragi¬ cally unsuccessful attempt to return to their Illinois lands. Today some 6,600 people claim Sauk and Fox ancestry.
Saul Hebrew Shaul (11. 11th century bc, Israel) First king of Israel (r. 1021-1000 bc). All that is known of Saul comes from the biblical books of Samuel I and II. He was anointed king by the prophet Samuel, as a concession to popular pressure, after delivering the town of Jabesh-Gilead from Ammonite oppression. Samuel’s rejection of Saul and Saul’s jeal¬ ousy of David led to Saul’s decline. He died battling the Philistines at Mount Gilboa; David delivered the Israelites and paid tribute to the fallen Saul.
Saule Vsau-le\ In Baltic mythology, the sun goddess who determines the well-being and regeneration of all life on earth. She is said to ride each day through the sky on a chariot with copper wheels, drawn by horses that never tire or sweat. Toward evening, she washes the horses in the sea before retreating into her castle at the end of the sea. The major event in her honour was the midsummer Ligo feast, during which great fires were lit on hills to ward off evil spirits.
Sault Sainte Marie N.su-.sant-mo-'reV City (pop., 2000: 16,542), east¬ ern Upper Peninsula, Michigan, U.S. Located on the rapids of the St. Marys River between Lakes Superior and Huron, it is linked to its Cana¬ dian twin city, Sault Sainte Marie, Ont. (pop., 2001: 74,566), by road and rail bridges. The U.S. and Canada each operate a part of the Sault Sainte Marie Canals, or Soo Canals, a hub of the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The first U.S. canal went into operation in 1855; it has since been replaced and is now divided into the northern canal (completed 1919) and the southern canal (completed 1896). The Canadian canal, which has one lock, was completed in 1895.
sauna Bath in steam from water thrown on heated stones. Known in ancient times in various places, saunas are most closely identified with the Finnish people, who made saunas a national tradition. Typically, a wooden hut containing rows of flat stones is built near the edge of a lake. Wood is burned to heat the stones, and, when the stones are hot, cold water is thrown on them to create steam. The unclothed bathers sit on wooden benches in the steam-filled hut, then beat themselves with branches until their skin is red and tingling, and dive into the cold water or (in winter) roll in the snow. These extreme temperature changes are thought to have a beneficial effect on the circulation. In an adapted form, saunas are popular today in gymnasiums and health clubs.
Saura \'sau-ra\ (Atares), Carlos (b. Jan. 4, 1932, Huesca, Spain) Spanish film director. He won notice as a director with The Hunt (1965), the first of his allegorical films criticizing Spanish society under Fran¬ cisco Franco. He wrote or cowrote the screenplays for and directed The Garden of Delights (1970), which was delayed then mutilated by Span¬ ish censors; Anna and the Wolves (1972); and Cousin Angelica (1973), which was the first Spanish film to present the Spanish Civil War from the viewpoint of the losing Republican cause. He collaborated with the
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saurischian ► savings and loan association I 1691
choreographer-dancer Antonio Gades on the flamenco dramas Blood Wed¬ ding (1981), Carmen (1983), and Love the Magician (1986). His later films include Flamenco (1997) and Tango (1998).
saurischian \so-'ris-ke-3n\ Any “lizard-hipped” dinosaur species (order Saurischia), with hip bones arranged like those of modern reptiles, the pubis bone pointed forward and down. The order includes all carnivorous and some giant herbivorous dinosaurs. Saurischians evolved from small bipedal dinosaurs called thecodonts; they first appeared in the Late Trias- sic epoch (227-206 million years ago). The order consists of three sub¬ orders: theropods, sauropods, and staurikosaurs (suborder Staurikosauria). Staurikosaurs, known only from the incomplete remains of a few species, seem to have been medium-sized flesh-eaters similar to the theropods. See also ORNITHISCHIAN.
sauropod \'s6r-3-,pad\ Any species of four-legged, herbivorous, sau¬ rischian dinosaur in the suborder Sauropoda. The sauropods include the largest of all dinosaurs and the largest land animals that ever lived. They existed from the Late Triassic Epoch into the Cretaceous Period (227-65 million years ago). All species had a small head, extremely long neck, massive body, thick, pillarlike legs, and a very long, tapering, whiplike tail. With their weak, sparse teeth, they cropped vegetation from even the tallest trees, apparently depending on swallowed stones or bacteria in the gut to digest plant matter. Species ranged from 50 ft (15 m) long to the 98-ft (30-m) Brachiosaurus, which weighed 80 metric tons. See also Brontosaurus; Diplodocus; theropod.
sausage Highly seasoned minced meat, usually pork or beef, tradition¬ ally stuffed in casings of prepared animal intestine. Sausage has been known since ancient times. Some varieties came to be known by their city of origin: the frankfurter from Frankfurt am Main, bologna from Bologna, the wiener from Vienna (Wien). Sausage meat may be eaten fresh, smoked, dried, or pickled. It may be mixed with other meats and additives such as cereals, vegetable starch, soy flour, preservatives, arti¬ ficial colourings, salt, and various herbs and spices. Casings may be intes¬ tine, paraffin-treated fabric bags, or synthetic sleeves of plastic or reconstituted collagen. All but dry (cured) sausages require refrigerated storage. Cooked and dry sausages are ready to eat; fresh (and frozen) sau¬ sages must be cooked.