Hejaz

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Hejaz

Hedjaz

(both: hējăz`, hĕjäz`), region, c.150,000 sq mi (388,500 sq km), NW Saudi Arabia, on the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea. MeccaMecca
or Makkah
, city (1993 pop. 966,381), capital of the Hejaz, W Saudi Arabia. The birthplace c.A.D. 570 of Muhammad the Prophet, it is the holiest city of Islam, and the goal of the annual Muslim hajj. It is c.
..... Click the link for more information. is the chief city. Extending S to Asir, Hejaz is mainly a dissected highland region lying between the narrow, long coastal strip and the interior desert. There are several oases and some wadis (watercourses) where livestock and crops, such as dates and wheat, are raised. Economically important cities include Taif and Yanbu. The junction of the main north-south and east-west highways of Saudi Arabia, Taif is an important mountain city and market. Yanbu on the Red Sea is a major petrochemical city, the terminus for two oil pipelines. Hejaz is, however, more important as a place of pilgrimage. Each year many thousands of Muslim pilgrims come into Hejaz, mainly through JiddaJidda
or Jedda
, city (1993 est. pop. 2,058,000), Hejaz, W Saudi Arabia, on the Red Sea. Jidda is the port of Mecca (c.45 mi/72 km to the east) and annually receives a huge influx of pilgrims, mainly from Africa, Indonesia, and Pakistan.
..... Click the link for more information. , the chief port, to visit the holy cities of Mecca and MedinaMedina
, Arabic Medinat an-Nabi [city of the Prophet] or Madinat Rasul Allah [city of the apostle of Allah], city (1993 pop. 608,226), Hejaz, W Saudi Arabia. It is situated c.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Following the fall (1258) of the caliphate of Baghdad, Hejaz came under Egyptian control. In 1517 it came under Turkish suzerainty, although nominal rule remained in the hands of the Hashemite sherifs of Mecca. In the early 19th cent. Hejaz was raided by the WahhabisWahhabi
or Wahabi
, reform movement in Islam, originating in Arabia; adherents of the movement usually refer to themselves as Muwahhidun [unitarians]. It was founded by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahab (c.
..... Click the link for more information. ; peace was restored in 1817 by the governor of Egypt. After 1845, Hejaz came again under direct Turkish control. To improve communications, the Turks built the Hejaz railway (completed 1908) from Damascus to Medina; it was severely damaged during World War I and later abandoned. The Hejaz was in 1916 proclaimed independent by Husayn ibn AliHusayn ibn Ali
, 1856–1931, Arab political and religious leader. In 1908 he succeeded as grand sherif of Mecca and thus became ruler of the Hejaz under the Ottoman Empire.
..... Click the link for more information. , the sherif of Mecca, who with the aid of T. E. LawrenceLawrence, T. E.
(Thomas Edward Lawrence), 1888–1935, British adventurer, soldier, and scholar, known as Lawrence of Arabia. While a student at Oxford he went on a walking tour of Syria and in 1911 joined a British Museum archaeological expedition in Mesopotamia.
..... Click the link for more information. destroyed Turkish authority. Husayn was himself defeated in 1924 by Ibn SaudIbn Saud
(Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud) , c.1880–1953, founder of Saudi Arabia and its first king. His family, with its regular seat at Riyadh in the Nejd, were the traditional leaders of the ultraorthodox Wahhabi movement in Islam.
..... Click the link for more information. , ruler of NejdNejd
or Najd
, region, central Saudi Arabia. Riyadh, the country's capital and major city, is located there. The Nejd is a vast plateau from 2,500 to 5,000 ft (762–1,524 m) high.
..... Click the link for more information. and founder of Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia
, officially Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, kingdom (2015 est. pop. 27,752,000), 829,995 sq mi (2,149,690 sq km), comprising most of the Arabian peninsula. It is bounded on the west by the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea; on the east by the Persian Gulf, Qatar, and the
..... Click the link for more information. , who annexed his domain. The formal union of Hejaz and Nejd into Saudi Arabia was proclaimed in 1932.

Hejaz

a province in Saudi Arabia. Area, approximately 390,000 sq km. Population, approximately 2 million. The administrative and chief economic center is the city of Jidda. The population is engaged chiefly in nomadic livestock raising. Grain crops and dates and other fruit trees are grown in the oases and wadis. Fishing and coral gathering are practiced along the coast. The province has an oil refinery, a cement plant, and enterprises for processing metal and agricultural produce. There is also some handicraft cottage industry.

In the early seventh century, Muhammad first preached the new religion of Islam in the Hejaz, in the city of Mecca. The He-jaz was part of the Arabian Caliphate and, after the dissolution of the Caliphate, part of the Fatimid, Ayyubid, and Mameluke states. It became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1517. It was occupied by troops of the Egyptian pasha Muhammad Ali from 1811 to 1818 and remained an Egyptian province until 1840. Later it was ruled by a Turkish governor. In 1916 an insurrection against Turkish domination led by Husayn ibn Ali established the Hejaz as an independent kingdom.

In 1925 the Hejaz was conquered by the ruler of the Nejd, Ibn Saud, and made part of the newly formed state of Hejaz, Nejd, and regions annexed by Ibn Saud—all of which have been known as Saudi Arabia since 1932.

Hejaz

, Hedjaz, Hijaz a region of W Saudi Arabia, along the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba: formerly an independent kingdom; united with Nejd in 1932 to form Saudi Arabia. Area: about 348 600 sq. km (134 600 sq. miles)

Hejaz

He·jaz

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Hedjaz

Hijaz

Hi•jaz

or He•jaz

Hejaz

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Hejaz

Synonyms for Hejaz

noun a coastal region of the western Arabian Peninsula bordering on the Red Sea

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