Arabic Al-Ḥijāz
Region of western Saudi Arabia.
It occupies an area of 134,600 sq mi (348,600 sq km) along the Red Sea coast of the Arabian Peninsula , from Jordan to ʽAsīr province. Its northern portion was inhabited by the 6th century BC. In the 7th century AD two of its cities, Mecca and Medina , were the birthplace of Islam ; they remain Islam's holiest cities. In 1258 the region fell to the Mamlūk dynasty and in 1517 to the Ottomans. In 1916 Sharif Ibn Saūd , the ruler of {{link=Nejd">Nejd , assumed the title in 1926, and in 1932 he united Hejaz, Nejd, and other districts to form the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.