Jeddah

There are at least two etymologies of Jeddah, according to Jeddah Ibn Al-Qudaa'iy, the chief of the Quda'a clan. The more common account has it that the name is derived from جدة Jaddah, the Arabic word for "grandmother". According to folk belief, the Tomb of Eve, who is considered the grandmother of humanity, is located in Jeddah. The Maghrebi traveler Ibn Battuta visited Jeddah during his world trip around 1330. He wrote the name of the city into his diary as "Jiddah". The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office and other branches of the British government formerly used the older spelling of "Jedda", contrary to other English-speaking usages, but in 2007, it changed to the spelling "Jeddah". T. E. Lawrence felt that any transcription of Arabic names into English was arbitrary. In his book Revolt in the Desert, Jeddah is spelled in three different ways on the first page alone. …

Traces of early activity in the area are attested by Thamudic inscriptions excavated in Wadi Briman (وادي بريمان), east of the city, and Wadi Boweb (وادي بويب), northwest of the city. The oldest mashrabiya found in Jeddah dates back to the pre-Islamic era. Some believe that Jeddah was inhabited before Alexander the Great, who led a naval expedition to the Red Sea, by fishermen who considered it a center from which they sailed, as well as a place for rest and well-being. According to the Ministry of Hajj, Jeddah has been settled for more than 2,500 years. Excavations in the old city have been interpreted to give the fact that Jeddah was founded as a fishing hamlet by the Yemeni Quda'a tribe (Arabic: بني قضاعة), who left to settle in Makkah (Mecca) after the collapse of Marib Dam in Yemen in 115 BC. Jeddah first achieved prominence around A.D. …

Jeddah is located in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coastal plain (called Tihamah). Jeddah lies in the Hijazi Tihama (تهامة الحجاز) region which is in the lower Hijaz mountains. Historically, politically and culturally, Jeddah was a major city of Hejaz Vilayet, the Kingdom of Hejaz and other regional political entities according to Hijazi history books. It is the 100th largest city in the world by land area. Jeddah features an arid climate (BWh) under Köppen climate classification, with a tropical temperature range. Unlike other Saudi Arabian cities, Jeddah retains its warm temperatures in winter, which can range from 15 °C (59 °F) at dawn to 28 °C (82 °F) in the afternoon. Summer temperatures are extremely hot, often breaking the 40 °C (104 °F) mark in the afternoon. Summers are also quite steamy, with dew points often exceeding 27 °C (80 °F), particularly in September. …