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Coordinates: 21°30′N 39°10′E / 21.500°N 39.167°E / 21.500; 39.167
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21°30′N 39°10′E / 21.500°N 39.167°E / 21.500; 39.167

City of Jeddah
Beach of Jeddah
Beach of Jeddah
Flag of City of Jeddah
Flag
Coat of arms of City of Jeddah
Coat of arms
Nickname: 
The Bride of the Red Sea
Location of Jeddah
Location of Jeddah
Country Saudi Arabia
ProvinceMakkah (Mecca)
Established500+ BC
Joint Saudi Arabia1925
Government
 • MayorAdil Faqeeh
 • City GovernorMish'al Al-Saud
 • Provincial GovernorKhalid al Faisal
Area
 • City1,320 km2 (825 sq mi)
 • Urban
1,570 km2 (610 sq mi)
 • Metro
3,000 km2 (1,000 sq mi)
Population
 (2007)
 • City3,400,000
 • Density2,921/km2 (1,826/sq mi)
 • Urban
3,855,912
 • Metro
4,500,000
 Jeddah Municipality estimate
Time zoneUTC+3 (EAT)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EAT)
Postal Code
(5 digits)
Area code+966-2
Websitewww.jeddah.gov.sa
This article is about the Saudi Arabian city. For the Australian movie, see Jedda.

Jeddah (also spelled Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda; Arabic: جدّة Ǧiddah) is a Saudi Arabian city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The population of the city currently stands at over 3.4 million. It is considered the commercial capital of Saudi Arabia. [1] and the wealthiest city in the Middle East and western Asia. [2]

Jeddah is the principal gateway to Mecca, Islam's holiest city, which able-bodied Muslims are required to visit at least once in a lifetime.

Residents of Jeddah are called Jeddans. Jeddah has 24 sister cities, which are selected based on economic, cultural and political criteria.

Etymology and spelling

There are at least two explanations for the etymology of the name Jeddah. According to Jeddah Ibn Helwaan Al-Qudaa'iy the chief of Quda'a clan. The more common account has it that the name is derived from Jaddah, the Arabic word for "grandmother". According to eastern folk belief, the tomb of Eve (21°29′31″N 39°11′24″E / 21.49194°N 39.19000°E / 21.49194; 39.19000), considered the grandmother of humanity, is located in Jeddah. The purported "Grave of Eve" was sealed with concrete by the religious authorities in 1975 as a result of some Muslim pilgrims breaking Islamic doctrine by praying at the site.

Ibn Battuta, The famous Arab Discoverer, has visited Jeddah during his world trip. He has written Joddah in his diary, in his speech about this city.[3]

On official Saudi maps and documents, the city name is transcribed "Jeddah". The British Foreign Office, however, still insists on using the older spelling of Jedda, contrary to other English-speaking usage -- including other branches of the British government. The New York Times spells the name as Jidda.

History

Jeddah in 1924
Jeddah in 1938

The city was founded as a fishing hamlet over 2,500 years ago[4], but first achieved prominence in 647 A.D., when the third Muslim caliph Uthman Ibn Affan turned it into a port for Muslim pilgrims making the required Hajj to Mecca.

Jeddah was for centuries the main city of the historic Hejaz province and historic port for pilgrims arriving by sea on their pilgrimage or Hajj to Mecca.

Hejaz - including Jeddah - became a part of the Ayyubid Empire in 1177 during the leadership of Sharif Ibn Abul-Hashim Al-Thalab.

Mamluk Sultanate

In 1254, following events in Cairo, Hejaz became a part of the Mamluk Sultanate. Sharif Barakat built the first walls of Jeddah in 1505 following the Portuguese advances in the Indian Ocean.[5]

Ottoman Empire

In 1517, the Ottoman Turks conquered the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt and Syria, during the reign of Selim I.[6] As territories of the Mamluk Sultanate, the Hejaz, including the holy city of Mecca and Jeddah, passed into Ottoman possession. The Ottomans rebuilt the weak walls of Jeddah in 1525 following their victory over Lopo Soares de Albergaria's Armada in the Red Sea. The new Turkish wall included six watchtowers and six city gates. They were constructed to defend against the Portuguese attack. Of the six gates, Gate of Mecca was the eastern gate and Gate of Al-Magharibah the western one. The Gate of Sharif was south facing. The other gates were Gate of Al-Bunt, Gate of Al-Sham (also called Gate of Al-Sharaf) and Gate of Medina were north facing.[7] The Turks also built the The Qishla of Jeddah, a small castle for the city soldiers. In the 19th century these seven gates were minimized into four giant gates with four towers. These giant gates were the Gate of Sham from the north, the Gate of Mecca from the east, the Gate of Sharif from the south, and the Gate of Al-Magharibah on the sea side.

First Saudi State and Ottoman-Saudi War

Main article: Ottoman-Saudi War

At 1802, Nejdi forces conquered both Mecca and Jeddah from the Ottomans, when Sharif Ghalib Efendi informed Sultan Mahmud II, the sultan ordered his Egyptian viceroy Muhammad Ali Pasha to re-take the city. Muhammad Ali successfully regained the city during Battle of Jeddah in 1813.

World War I and The Kingdom of Hejaz

File:DSC00001 Abu Zenada.JPG
Mohammed Abu Zenada , one of Chiefs of Jeddah and the advisor of the Sharif during the surrender to King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud in 1925
Main articles: Arab Revolt and Kingdom of Hejaz

During World War I, Sharif Hussein bin Ali declared a revolt against the Ottoman Empire seeking independence from the Ottoman Turks and the creation of a single unified Arab state spanning from Aleppo in Syria to Aden in Yemen.

King Hussein declared the Kingdom of Hejaz. Later, Hussein was involved in war with Ibn Saud, who was the Sultan of Nejd. Hussein resigned following the fall of Mecca and his son Ali bin Hussein became the new king of the remaining soil of the Kingdom of Hejaz.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

A few months later, Ibn Saud, whose clan originated in the central Nejd province, conquered Medina, and Jeddah, via an agreement with Jeddans, following the events of the Second Battle of Jeddah. He deposed the Sharif of Hejaz, Ali bin Hussien, who fled to Baghdad, settling eventually in Amman, Jordan, where his descendants became the Hashemite royal family.

As a result, Jeddah came under the sway of the Al-Saud dynasty in 1925. In 1926, Ibn Saud added the title King of Hejaz to his position of Sultan of Nejd. Today, Jeddah has lost its historical role in peninsular politics, historic Hejaz province along the west coast having been subdivided into smaller provinces, with Jeddah falling within the new province of Makkah with its provincial capital at Mecca.

Geography

Most of Saudi Arabia is desert. The central region consists of an eroded plateau, mostly arid and hot in the summer and cold in the winter. The western region is mountainous, except for the coastal plain bordering the Red Sea such as the Jeddah area.

Jeddah borders the Red Sea from the west and the Al-Sarawat Mountains from the east. It has no rivers or valleys but it includes Sharm Ob'hur which connect the Red Sea to the other end of the city. Sharm of Salman (Also called Gulf of Salman) borders the city from north.

Climate

Unlike other Saudi Arabian cities, Jeddah retains its warm temperature in winter, which can range from +15 °C (59 °F) at midnight to +25 °C (77 °F) in the afternoon. Summer temperatures are considered very hot and break the +40 °C (104 °F) mark in the afternoon dropping to +30 °C (86 °F) in the evening. Rain usually falls in Jeddah in small amounts in December.

Some unusual events often happen during the year, such as dust storms in summer, coming from the Arabian Peninsula's deserts or from North Africa. Snow does not fall in Jeddah but ice pellets occasionally fall in January.

Jeddah Climatological Data[8]
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 33 (91) 35 (95) 38 (100) 40 (104) 42 (108) 47 (117) 42 (108) 42 (108) 42 (108) 41 (106) 41 (106) 34 (93)
Average high °C (°F) 29 (84) 29 (84) 29 (84) 33 (91) 35 (95) 36 (97) 37 (99) 37 (99) 36 (97) 35 (95) 33 (91) 30 (86) 33 (91)
Average low °C (°F) 19 (66) 18 (64) 19 (66) 21 (70) 23 (73) 24 (75) 26 (79) 27 (81) 25 (77) 23 (73) 22 (72) 19 (66) 22 (72)
Record low °C (°F) 9 (48) 11 (52) 13 (55) 12 (54) 13 (55) 19 (66) 21 (70) 23 (73) 21 (70) 20 (68) 17 (63) 10 (50)
Rainfall mm (in) 5 (0.2) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 25 (1.0) 31 (1.2) 61 (2.4)

Economy

A part of Tahlia Street

With a thousand years of trading behind it and home to some of the world most successful merchants and business people, it is natural that Jeddah is the commercial capital of Saudi Arabia. In addition, the city's geographical location places it at the heart of the region covered by the Middle East and North Africa, with all their capitals within two hours flying distance, defining Jeddah as the commercial center of the Middle East. [9]

Also, Jeddah industrial district is the third largest industrial city in Saudi Arabia after Jubail and Yanbu.

King Abdullah Street

King Abdullah Street is an important place for companies' offices and commercial developments. The street hosts some of the most powerful conglomerates in Saudi Arabia such as Emaar Middle East and Al-Farsi.

Tahlia Street

Main article: Tahlia Street

Tahlia Street is an important fashion and shopping street in the mid-town of Jeddah. It contains many upscale department shops, and boutiques, such as Prada, Gucci, and Giorgio Armani. As the Champs-Élysées in Paris, Tahlia Street is believed to be the heart of Jeddah and Saudi Arabia's wealthiest district.


Major organizations headquartered in Jeddah

File:DSC00020-JCCI.JPG
Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry

The city has several global major organizations such as:

Demographics

Popular Saudi opinion regards Jeddah as the most liberal and cosmopolitan of Saudi cities in spite of its historic role as port and gateway to the holy city of Mecca. For over one thousand years, Jeddah has received millions of pilgrims of different ethnicities and backgrounds, from Africa, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle East, many of whom remained and became citizens of the city. As a result, Jeddah is much more ethnically diverse than most Saudi cities and its culture more eclectic in nature (in contrast with the more geographically isolated, homogeneous, and religiously strict capital Riyadh). Different nationalities of Muslims often prescribe to different sects of Islam, and the presence of these sects in Hejazi culture has helped make the city relatively more tolerant traditionally. Added to the traditional diversity, the oil-boom of the past 50 years has brought hundreds of thousands of working immigrants and foreign workers from non-Muslim countries the majority originating from continents such as North America (Unites States of America), Europe (Western Europe), and Asia (South and South-East Asia).

Culture

Religious significance

A Lady from Jeddah , This photograph was taken in 1873. It shows the traditional women clothes in the past.

The vast majority of Jeddans are Sunni Muslims . With a minority of Asian and Westerner Christians. The city has over 1300 Mosques [10], and Has no Churchs or synagogues. But some Philippines workers report about Churches inside some Gated communities.

The cultural environment of today's Jeddah has been influenced by a religious movement that began in central Arabia in the mid-eighteenth century. This movement is commonly known as the Wahhabi movement. It has been also influenced by the Shafi`i school. Also, the conflict between liberals and religious scholars made a major impact on the Society of Jeddah.

Since the 7th Century , Jeddah has hosted millions of Muslim pilgrims from all over the world in their way to Hajj. This merge with pilgrims has also a major impact on the society, religion, and economy of Jeddah.

Saudi Kabsa

Cuisine

Jeddah residents are a mix of several different ethnicities and nationalities. This mixture of races has made a major impact on Jeddah's traditional cuisine.

Like other Saudi cities, The Nejdi Kabsa is the most traditional lunch for Jeddan people. The Yemeni Mandi is also popular as a lunch meal.

Grilled meat has a good market in Jeddah such as Shawarma, Kofta and Kebab. During Ramadan Sambousak and Ful are the most popular meals during Dusk.

American food is also popular in the city. McDonald's, Burger King, Domino's Pizza and KFC among others are widely distributed in Jeddah. Chinese and Eastern food are also popular.

Open-air art

During the oil boom in the late 1970s and '80s, there was a focused civic effort at bringing art to Jeddah's public areas. As a result, Jeddah contains an unusually large number of modern open air sculptures and works of art, typically situated in roundabouts, which makes it to this day the largest open-air art gallery in the world. Sculptures include works by a variety of artists, ranging from the obscure to international stars such as Jean/Hans Arp, César Baldaccini, Alexander Calder, Henry Moore, Joan Miró and Victor Vasarely and often depict elements of traditional Saudi culture - coffee pots, incense burners, palm trees, etc. The fact that Islamic tradition prohibits the depiction of living creatures, notably the human form, has made for some very creative modern art, ranging from the tasteful to the bizarre and downright hideous. These include a mounted defunct propeller plane, a giant geometry set, a giant bicycle, and a huge block of marble with several cars protruding out of it at odd angles.

Media

Jeddah is served by four major Arabic-language newspapers, Asharq Al-Awsat, Al-Madina, Okaz, Al-Bilad, as well as one major English-language newspaper, The Saudi Gazette. Okaz and Al-Madina is Jeddah's and some other Saudi cities' primary newspaper with over a million readers focusing mainly on issues that affect the city.

Jeddah is the largest radio and television market in Saudi Arabia. Television stations serving the city area include Saudi TV1, Saudi TV2, Saudi TV Sports, Al-Ekhbariya, ART channels network and hundreds of cable, satellite and other specialty television providers.

The Jeddah TV Tower is a Template:M to ft high television tower with an observation deck at Jeddah. The tower started construction in 2006 and finished in 2007 and is a part of the new branch of Ministry of Information in Jeddah.

See also: Jeddah TV Tower
KAU soccer Stadium

Sport

Jeddah hosts the oldest sport clubs in Saudi Arabia. Al-Ittihad was the first club in the country, being established in 1928.

Soccer is the most popular sport in Jeddah, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli are well known soccer - and some other games - teams in the Saudi Premier League and the AFC Champions League. They've been the FIBA Asia Champions Cup winners also.

There is several public soccer stadiums in Jeddah such as:

Accent

Main article: Hejazi Arabic

The Jeddah City area has a distinctive regional speech pattern called the Hejazi dialect, alternatively known as Meccan or Makkawi. It is often considered to be one of the most recognizable accents within Arabic language.

Pronunciations in Hejazi differ from other Gulf dialects in some respects. The Classical Arabic qaaf (ق) is pronounced as /g/ sound, as in "get". Hijazi Arabic is also conservative with respect to the sound of the pronunciation of the letter ğim (ج), which is very close to the two sounds considered, by specialists, to be the best candidates for the way it was pronounced in Classical Arabic, namely, the voiced palatal plosive /ɟ/ and the palatalized velar stop /gʲ/.[citation needed] This stands in contrast with many dialects in the region which use /g/ or /ʒ/ for ğim instead. Some speakers replace the interdental /θ/ with /t/ or /s/.

The Hejazi dialect also contains fairly recent borrowings from other Arabic dialects, including Levantine and Egyptian Arabic.

Life

Life in Jeddah is different from many cities for many reasons. Firstly, Jeddah is an international city; it has many people coming from all over the world, who share their cultures. Secondly, it has many historical buildings [11], with traditional designs, and it has lots of buildings near the beach. [12] It also has very nice beaches and a Corniche [13] where people spend a very good time and relax. Also, Jeddah has the tallest fountain [14] in the world, named King Fahd Fountain. Last but not least, it has the annual Jeddah Festival. During the festival, there are many games and activities held in the city. There are shopping sprees, water skiing competitions, art exhibitions, and music festivals. Not only that, the prices of the things that are sold there are reasonably cheap.

Cityscape

File:Image-Untitled-Jeddah-afternoon-2copy.JPG
City skyline
An example of the buildings in the Old city

Old Jeddah

Main article: AL-Balad, Jeddah

The Old City with its traditional multistory buildings and merchant houses has lost ground to more modern development. However, the city's recent generations have come to appreciate its traditions more and have persevered in having many of the older buildings carefully preserved.

Resorts

The city has a lot of popular resorts, including Durrat Al-Arus, Crystal Resort, Al Nakheel Village, Sands, Sheraton Abhur, and many other splendid resorts. Many are renowned for their preserved Red Sea marine life and offshore coral reefs.

Hotels

The increasing occupancy rates of hotels every year depends on the number of tourists and hajj pilgrims. In the last few years, Jeddah received more than 2.5 millions pilgrims per year.[15]

Consulates

One of three consulates of the United States of America in Saudi Arabia is located in Jeddah, along with consulates for 67 other countries such as United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and People's Republic of China as well as countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Arab League states.

Landmarks

File:DSC00051-NCB.JPG
NCB Tower
File:DSC0005-JCH-N.JPG
Jeddah Municipality Tower

King Fahd Fountain

Main article: King Fahd's Fountain

Jeddah's King Fahd's Fountain is a major landmark built in the 1980s and listed by the Guinness World Records organization as the highest in the world where the water jet can reach Template:M to ft.[16], and can be seen from very far distances. The fountain was donated to the City of Jeddah by the late King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz which is where the name is derived.

NCB Tower

Main article: National Commercial Bank

Built in 1983 and believed to be the highest tower in Saudi Arabia during the 1980s, with a height over Template:M to ft. The National Commercial Bank is Saudi Arabia's first bank.

IDB Tower

Main article: Islamic Development Bank

The Islamic Development Bank is a multilateral development financing institution. It was founded by the first conference of Finance Ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), convened 18 December 1973. The bank officially began its activities on 20 October 1975.

File:DSC00030-isl-bank1.JPG
IDB Tower (left) TV Tower (right)

Jeddah Municipality Tower

Main article: Jeddah Municipality

This is the headquarters of the metropolitan area of Jeddah, the new building of the Municipality is one of Jeddah's highest towers.

Education

See also: List of universities in Saudi Arabia

The school system in Jeddah has many public and private schools for both males and females. As of 2005, there were 849 public and private schools for males and another 1,179 public and private schools for female students.[17] The medium of instruction in both public and private schools is Arabic with emphasis on English as a second language, but some private schools which are by foreign entities such as (International schools) use the English language for medium of instruction. They also allow the mixing between males and females while other schools do not.

For higher education, the city has several universities and colleges. The following list includes some of them:

Transport

Main article: King Abdulaziz International Airport
Jeddah Seaport

Airport

Jeddah is served by King Abdulaziz International Airport which is one of the world's busiest airports. The airport has four passenger terminals. One is the Hajj Terminal, a special outdoor terminal covered by very huge tents, which was constructed to handle the more than 2 million pilgrims who pass through the airport during the Hajj season. The Southern Terminal is used for Saudi Airlines flights with the Northern Terminal for foreign and other national airlines. The Royal Terminal is a special terminal for VIPs, foreign Kings and Presidents, and even the Saudi Royal Family.

Seaport

Main article: Jeddah Seaport

Moreover, the Jeddah Seaport which is the 28th busiest seaport in the world (2005) handles the majority of Saudi Arabia's commercial movement.

Roads and Rails

Jeddah does not have any rapid transit system but a current plan to connect the city to the capital, Riyadh, via a train is under construction.

Modern streets connect the city parts to each other, these streets are often under mercy of sewage workers or floods.

File:DSC00093-m.r..JPG
Bad traffic on Medina Road

Sister cities

Jeddah has 24 sister cities (aka "twin towns") which are selected based on economic, cultural and political criteria.

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Columns "div col" Yes Yes {{div col}} – {{div col end}}
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See also

Notes

  1. ^ An article in Al-Riyadh Newspaper
  2. ^ Middleeasthub.com: About Jeddah - Middle East Hub
  3. ^ Ibn Battota's Safari :Tuhfat Al-Nothaar Fe Gharaa'ib Al-Amsaar - Chapter: From Cairo to Hejaz to Tunisia again , ISBN 9-953341-80-X
  4. ^ SaudiCities.com - General Info
  5. ^ - Battle of Diu
  6. ^ britannica.com
  7. ^ Asia Rooms.com - Makkah Gate in Jeddah
  8. ^ Average and recorded climate of jeddah at BBC Weather
  9. ^ Saudi Arabian Water & Power Forum, www.ksawpf.com -- Commerce of Jeddah
  10. ^ Al-Sharq Al-Awsat Newspaper - Report about number of mosques
  11. ^ http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/culturecapsulesf2001/Al-Faris%20web/images/oldb41.jpg]
  12. ^ [1]
  13. ^ [2]
  14. ^ [3]
  15. ^ www.expedia.co.uk
  16. ^ treklens.com King Fahd Fountain - treklens.com
  17. ^ Statistical information department of the ministry of education:Statistical summary for education in Saudi Arabia (AR)
  18. ^ ibnsina.edu.sa
  19. ^ bmcmedcollege.net

References

  • Farsi, Hani M.S. (Mohamed Said): Jeddah: city of art: the sculptures and monuments. London: Stacey International, 1991. ISBN 0-905743-66-0
  • Facey, William & Grant, Gillian: Saudi Arabia by the First Photographers . ISBN 0-905743-74-1
  • Tarabulsi, Mohammed Yosuf: Jeddah: A Story of a City . 2006 - King Fahd National Liberary ,Riyadh. ISBN 9-960524-13-2
  • John F. Keane: Six months in the Hijaz : journeys to Makkah and Madinah 1877-1989. Manchester : Barzan Publishing, 2006. ISBN 0-954970-11-X
  • Al-Khaldi, Ibrahim: The Bedouin Photographer - Al-Mosawwir Al-Badawi. Kuwait, 2004.
  • Badr El-Hage: Saudi Arabia : caught in time 1861-1939 1997 Published by Garnet, Reading. ISBN 1-859640-90-7
  • Captain G. S. Froster : A trip Across the Peninsula - Rehla Abr Al-Jazeera. Mombai - India, 1866.
  • From Bullard to Mr ChamberLain. Jeddah , 1925 Feb. (No.# secrets) - Archieved Post.
  • Al-Rehani: Nejd and it's followers.
  • Al-Turki, Thuraya: Jeddah: Um Al-Rakha wal Sheddah. Published by Dar Al-Shrooq.
  • Al-Harbi, Dalal: King Abdulaziz and his Strategies to deal with events : Events of Jeddah. 2003 , King Abdulaziz national library. ISBN 9-960624-88-9 .
  • Didier, Charles: Sejour Chez Le Grand-Cherif De La Mekke. Librairie De L. Hachette et, Rue Pierre.
  • Didier, Charles: Rehla Ela Al-Hejaz - A trip to Hejaz - Translated from (Sejour Chez Le Grand-Cherif De La Mekke) into Arabic. 1854, Paris. ISBN 9-960677-14-1 .

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