or Najd
Region of central Saudi Arabia.
Comprising a rocky plateau sloping eastward from the mountains of the Hejaz , it is sparsely settled, except for a few fertile oases. In the mid-18th century it became the centre of the Wahh 0101; biyyah , a puritanical Islamic movement that by 1803 had expanded into Mecca . Nejd was captured by Ibn Sa 016B; d 0441; 1905. It was united with the Hejaz and became the independent kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932.