As mentioned earlier, this was the period when the Second Saudi State was rising. Starting in 1843, Faisal returned to Nejd, and the Saudi kingdom (tribe) began its powerful resurgence.
Ibn Shunait, the former ruler of Nejd, was a religious fanatic. Though he waged wars everywhere, seizing cities and territory and making many enemies, he was eventually bound and delivered to Faisal by his own trusted followers after getting drunk.
The new king, Faisal, chose a conciliatory policy to unite local forces. At the same time, he began arranging marriages far and wide and constantly currying favor with the British.
(The friendship between Britain and Saudi Arabia has a long history.)
At this time, Saudi Arabia was not yet the country rolling in wealth it would later become. In 1846, tax revenues across the whole of Nejd amounted to less than a hundred thousand pounds, and its population was under two hundred thousand. Its main industry was raising sheep and shearing wool.
Nejd was nominally Ottoman territory, so the rise of the Second Saudi State posed a threat to the Ottomans.
Once again, I want to say that I may not update often, but I am not giving anyone half-hearted work.
I'm very grateful to everyone who has stayed with me until today, who has made it this far.
Still, I want to say once more: there is no padding, and I am not phoning it in.