Mecca Region

Most of the central and eastern portions of the province are desert, with the Hejaz mountains, which vary in elevation from 600 meters to 2000 meters, separating the relatively flat Nafud desert and coastal plains. Agriculture takes place in the region's many wadis and oases, with the most commonly-grown crops being dates and barley, alongside other vegetables and fruits.

The region's extended coastline faces Sudan to the west and Eritrea and Ethiopia to the south. The province is bordered by the Madinah Province to the north, the Riyadh Province to the east and the Baha and Aseer provinces to the south.

Ancient Mecca was an oasis on the old caravan trade route that linked the Mediterranean world with South Arabia, East Africa, and South Asia. The town was located about midway between Maʾrib in the south and Petra in the north, and it gradually developed by Roman and Byzantine times into an important trade and religious centre. Ptolemy’s inclusion of Macoraba, a city of the Arabian interior, in his Guide to Geography was long held to show that Mecca was known to the Hellenistic world. Since the late 20th century, however, some scholarship has called the identification of Macoraba with Mecca into question.[3]

According to Islamic tradition, Abraham and Ishmael, his son by Hagar, built the Kaʿbah as the house of God. The central point of pilgrimage in Mecca before the advent of Islam in the 7th century, the cube-shaped stone building has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. During pre-Islamic times the region was ruled by a series of Yemeni tribes. Under the Quraysh it became a type of city-state, with strong commercial links to the rest of Arabia, Ethiopia, and Europe. Mecca became a place for trade, for pilgrimage, and for tribal gatherings[3]. The city of Jeddah is believed to have been a fishing hamlet occupied by early Yemeni tribes. The region has held significant religious importance greatly increased with the expeditions of Muhammad in the early 7th century. As the ancient caravan route fell into decline, Mecca lost its commercial significance and has since lived mainly on the proceeds from the annual pilgrimages and the gifts of Muslim rulers.

The city of Makkah was sacked by the Umayyad general al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf, and thereafter the city, and at the time, the region, acknowledged the power of the Umayyad caliphate at Damascus and, following the eclipse of that dynasty, of the ʿAbbāsid caliphate of Baghdad. The city suffered great indignity at the hands of the Shīʿite Qarmatians in 930 when that sect’s leader Ṭāhir Sulaymān pillaged Mecca and carried off the Black Stone from the Kaʿbah. Beginning in the mid-10th century, the rulers of the city were chosen from the sharifs, or descendants of Muhammad, who retained a strong hold on the surrounding region while often paying homage to stronger political entities. The ability of the sharifs, originally moderate Shīʿites, to adapt to the changing political and religious climate ensured their preeminence in local affairs for the next 1,000 years. In 1269, the region came under the control of the Egyptian Mamlūk sultans. In 1517, dominion over the area passed to the Ottoman Empire, with its capital in Constantinople (now Istanbul). With the Ottoman collapse after World War I, control of Mecca was contested between the sharifs and the House of Saʿūd of central Arabia, adherents to an austere, puritanical form of Islam known as Wahhābism. King Ibn Saʿūd conquered the region in 1925, and the region of Makkah became a province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the city became the capital of the province.[3]

The region underwent extensive economic development as Saudi Arabia’s petroleum resources were exploited after World War II, and the number of yearly pilgrims to Makkah increased significantly[3].

The position of Governor of Makkah Region has been held by the following individuals since 1924[4]:

The region is divided into 17 Muḥafaẓat (Governorates):[1]

• Al-Kamil (21,419)
• Al-Khurmah (42,223)
• Khulays (56,687)
• Rabigh (92,072)
• Ranyah (45,942)
• Turubah (43,947)
• Adam
• Aredaat
• Moya
• Mesaan
• Bahra

• Sarawat Mountains
• Hijaz Mountains
• Tihamah

• Emirate of Mecca Region Official Website

• A travel through the province of Mecca, Splendid Arabia: A travel site with photos and routes
• Umm Al Qura University in Mecca
• General Authority for Statistics - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia