Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Ikonos satellite image. Riyadh is the capital city of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Due to its desert location, its population of 3.5 million have been able to spread across an area of over 1,500 square kilometres. Although the area has been settled for well over a thousand years, it is only in the last two hundred years that it has really risen to prominence. Photographed on 2 June 2002.