[edit]
See also: Timeline of Jeddah
Jeddah in 1938
Pre-Islam[edit]
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.
Under the Caliphates[edit]
Jeddah first achieved prominence around A.D. 647, when the third Muslim Caliph, Uthman Ibn Affan, turned it into a port making it the port of Makkah instead of Al Shoaib port, which was southwest of Makkah.
The Umayyads inherited the entire Rashidun Caliphate including Hejaz and ruled from 661 to 750. In 702, Jeddah was briefly occupied by pirates from the Kingdom of Axum. However, Jeddah remained a key civilian harbor, serving fishermen and pilgrims travelling by sea for the Hajj. It is also believed that the Sharifdom of Makkah, an honorary Viceroy to the holy land, was first started in this period of the Islamic Caliphate. Jeddah has been established as the main city of the historic Hijaz province and a historic port for pilgrims arriving by sea to perform their Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca.
In 750 in the Abbasid Revolution, the Abbasids successfully took control of almost the whole Umayyad Empire, excluding Morocco (Maghrib) and Spain (Al-Andalus). From 876, Jeddah and the surrounding area became the object of wars between the Abbasids and the Tulunids of Egypt, who at one point gained control of the emirates of Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Hejaz. The power struggle between the Tulunid Governors and the Abbasids over Hejaz lasted for nearly twenty-five years, until the Tulunids finally withdrew from Arabia in 900.
In 930 AD, the main Hejazi cities of Medina, Mecca and Taif were heavily sacked by the Qarmatians. It is probable, though not historically confirmed, that Jeddah itself was attacked.[citation needed]
Soon after, in early 935, the Ikhshidids, the new power in Egypt, took control of the Hejaz region. There are no historical records that detail the Ikhshidid rule of Hejaz. At this point in time, Jeddah was still unfortified and without walls.[citation needed]
The Fatimids, Ayyubids, and Mamluks[edit]
Tabula Rogeriana, a reproduction of one of the most advanced early world maps, by Muhammad al-Idrisi produced in 1154 shows the location of Jeddah. This is a south-up map orientation.
In 969 AD, the Fatimids from Algeria took control in Egypt from the Ikhshidid Governors of Abbasids and expanded their empire to the surrounding regions, including The Hijaz and Jeddah. The Fatimids developed an extensive trade network in both the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean through the Red Sea. Their trade and diplomatic ties extended all the way to China and its Song dynasty, which eventually determined the economic course of Tihamah during the High Middle Ages.
After Saladin's conquest of Jerusalem in 1171, he proclaimed himself sultan of Egypt, after dissolving the Fatimid Caliphate upon the death of al-Adid, thus establishing the Ayyubid dynasty. Ayyubid conquests in Hejaz included Jeddah, which joined the Ayyubid dynasty in 1177 during the leadership of Sharif Ibn Abul-Hashim Al-Thalab (1094–1201). During their relatively short-lived tenure, the Ayyubids ushered in an era of economic prosperity in the lands they ruled and the facilities and patronage provided by the Ayyubids led to a resurgence in intellectual activity in the Islamic world. This period was also marked by an Ayyubid process of vigorously strengthening Sunni dominance in the region by constructing numerous madrasas (Islamic schools) in their major cities. Jeddah attracted Muslim sailors and merchants from Sindh, Southeast Asia and East Africa, and other distant regions.
In the year 1258, after the fall of Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Empire, to the Mongols, Hejaz became a part of the Mamluk Sultanate.
The Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, having found his way around the Cape and obtaining pilots from the coast of Zanzibar in AD 1497, pushed his way across the Indian Ocean to the shores of Malabar and Calicut, attacked fleets that carried freight and Muslim pilgrims from India to the Red Sea, and struck terror into the surrounding potentates. The Princes of Gujarat and Yemen turned for help to Egypt. Sultan Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri accordingly fitted out a fleet of 50 vessels under the Governor of Jeddah, Hussein the Kurd (aka. Mirocem). Jeddah was soon fortified with a wall, using forced labor, as a harbor of refuge from the Portuguese, allowing Arabia and the Red Sea to be protected.
Ottoman Empire[edit]
Main articles: Hejaz Vilayet and Attack on Jeddah (1541)
Portuguese attack in 1517 by Gaspar Correia (c. 1496–1563) - originally from Lendas da India by Gaspar Correia.
In 1517, the Ottoman Turks conquered the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt and Syria during the reign of Selim I.
The Ottomans rebuilt the weak walls of Jeddah in 1525 following the defense of the city against the Lopo Soares de Albergaria's Armada at the Siege of Jeddah (1517). The new stone wall included six watchtowers and six city gates. They were constructed to defend against the Portuguese attack. Of the six gates, the Gate of Mecca was the eastern gate and the Gate of Al-Magharibah, facing the port, was the western gate. The Gate of Sharif faces south. The other gates were the Gate of Al-Bunt, Gate of Al-Sham (also called Gate of Al-Sharaf), and Gate of Medina, facing north. The Turks also built The Qishla of Jeddah, a small castle for the city's 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 to the north, the Gate of Mecca to the east, the Gate of Sharif to the south, and the Gate of Al-Magharibah on the seaside.
Jeddah became a direct Ottoman Eyalet, while the remaining Hejaz under Sharif Barakat II became a vassal state to the Ottoman Empire eight years after the Siege of Jeddah in 1517. The Portuguese attempted to attack the port again in 1541, but were repelled.
Parts of the city wall still survive today in the old city. Even though the Portuguese were successfully repelled from the city, fleets in the Indian Ocean were at their mercy. This was evidenced by the Battle of Diu. The Portuguese soldiers' cemetery can still be found within the old city today and is referred to as the site of the Christian Graves.
Ahmed Al-Jazzar, the Ottoman military man mainly known for his role in the Siege of Acre, spent the earlier part of his career at Jeddah. In Jeddah in 1750, he killed some seventy rioting nomads in retaliation for the killing of his commander, Abdullah Beg, earning him the nickname "Jezzar" (butcher).
On 15 June 1858, rioting in the city, believed to have been instigated by a former police chief in reaction to British policy in the Red Sea, led to the massacre of 25 Christians, including the British and French consuls, members of their families, and wealthy Greek merchants. The British frigate HMS Cyclops, anchored at the port, bombarded the city for two days in retaliation.
First Saudi State and Ottoman–Saudi War[edit]
Main article: Ottoman-Saudi War
In 1802, Nejdi forces conquered both Mecca and Jeddah from the Ottomans. When Sharif Ghalib Efendi informed Sultan Mahmud II of this, the Sultan ordered his Egyptian viceroy Muhammad Ali Pasha to retake the city. Muhammad Ali successfully regained the city in the Battle of Jeddah in 1813.
World War I and the Hashemite Kingdom[edit]
Main articles: Arab Revolt and Kingdom of Hejaz
Mohammed Abu Zenada, one of the Chiefs of Jeddah and the advisor to the Sharif during the surrender to King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud in 1925.
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 a war with Ibn Saud, who was the Sultan of Nejd. Hussein abdicated following the fall of Mecca, in December 1924, and his son Ali bin Hussein became the new king.
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia[edit]
King Abdulaziz sitting with Abdullah Ali Reda on the day he entered Jeddah in 1925
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 Second Battle of Jeddah. He deposed Ali bin Hussein, who fled to Baghdad, eventually settling in Amman, Jordan, where his descendants became part of its Hashemite royalty.
As a result, Jeddah came under the sway of the Al-Saud dynasty in December 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 after it fell within the new province of Makkah, whose provincial capital is the city of Mecca.
From 1928 to 1932, the new Khuzam Palace was built as the new residence of King Abdul Aziz in Jeddah. The palace lies south of the old walled city and was constructed under the supervision of the engineer Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden. After 1963, the palace was used as a royal guesthouse; since 1995, it has housed the Regional Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography.
The remaining walls and gates of the old city were demolished in 1947. In 1939, a military airstrip was built in Jeddah, serving as the first airport in Jeddah. It was upgraded into the headquarters of the RSAF by the 1950s. On 14 October 1952, Jeddah Airport was officially inaugurated and opened under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Saud Bin Abdulaziz.
A fire in 1982 destroyed some ancient buildings in the old town center, called Al-Balad, but much is still preserved. A house-by-house survey of the old districts was made in 1979, showing that some 1000 traditional buildings still existed, though the number of structures with great historic value was far less. In 1990, a Jeddah Historical Area Preservation Department was founded.
The modern city has expanded wildly beyond its old boundaries. The built-up area expanded mainly to the north along the Red Sea coastline, reaching the new airport during the 1990s and since edging its way around it toward the Obhur Creek, some 27 km (17 mi) from the old city center.
Main article: Demolitions in Jeddah
In October 2021, Saudi authorities, led by Mohammad bin Salman, initiated a large-scale demolition and eviction plan in neighborhoods in the southern part of Jeddah to make way for the Jeddah Central Project, a revitalization project under Saudi Vision 2030. The demolitions affected 558,000 people in more than 60 neighborhoods. Amnesty International confirmed through official documents that some of the residents were notified about evictions only 24 hours before, while others were between 1–6 weeks. In some cases "evacuate" was written on the buildings, while the state media and billboards informed others about the demolitions to others. Saudi state media claimed the majority of affected neighborhoods were "rife with diseases, crime, drugs and theft" and home to predominantly undocumented immigrants. In January 2022, Saudi authorities announced a compensation scheme that accounted for 47% of those evicted.
