HEJAZ

also spelled Hedjaz, Arabic Al-Hijaz region of western Saudi Arabia, along the mountainous Red Sea coast of the Arabian Peninsula from Jordan on the north to Asir region on the south. The northern part of the province was occupied as early as the 6th century BC, when the Chaldean kings of Babylon maintained Tayma' as a summer capital. Later the Hejaz became a part of the Nabataean kingdom (100 BC-AD 200), the centre of which was Mada'in Salih. The province was again under control of Baghdad until 1258, when it fell to the Egyptians. In 1517 it was occupied by the Turks. Nominal rule, however, remained in the hands of the sharifs ("nobles") of Mecca until the religious upheavals at the beginning of the 19th century, when the holy cities were raided by the fundamentalist Wahhabi Muslims. The Ottomans directly controlled the Hejaz after 1845 and built (1900-08) the Damascus-Medina railroad to unify their domain. In 1916, during World War I, Sharif Husayn ibn 'Ali, who claimed lineal descent from the Prophet Muhammad, revolted against Turkish rule, destroyed the railroad, and proclaimed himself the king of Hejaz. Husayn's reign ended in 1924, when he abdicated in the face of a Wahhabi invasion, and in 1925 his son and successor, 'Ali, also abdicated and left the country. Ibn Sa'ud, the sultan of Najd, assumed the title king of Hejaz in 1926, and in 1932 Hejaz, Najd, and other districts under his control were united to form the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The economy of the region, once dependent on gold mining, is now based on pilgrimage spending, light industries (particularly at Jidda), commerce, a limited agricultural production of dates and cereals, and the wealth generated from the oil deposits of eastern Arabia. In addition to the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina, the principal centres are Jidda, the largest Red Sea port, at-Ta'if (a summer resort), and Yanbu' (Medina's port).