Jeddah (English: /ˈdʒɛdə/ JED-ə), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda (/ˈdʒɪdə/ JID-ə; Arabic: جِدَّة‎, romanized: Jidda, Hejazi Arabic pronunciation: [ˈ(d)ʒɪd.da]), is the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located along the Red Sea coast in the Hejaz region.

[14] On official Saudi maps and documents, the city name is transcribed "Jeddah", which is now the prevailing usage, although some street signs still use the older Jiddah.

[18] 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 after the collapse of Marib Dam in Yemen in 115 BC.

[citation needed] 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.

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.

[26][27] 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.

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.

[28] 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.

[31] 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.

He deposed Ali bin Hussein, who fled to Baghdad, eventually settling in Amman, Jordan, where his descendants became part of its Hashemite royalty.

[34] 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.

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 Ob'hur Creek, some 27 km (17 mi) from the old city center.

[40] Saudi state media claimed the majority of affected neighborhoods were "rife with diseases, crime, drugs and theft" and home to predominantly undocumented immigrants.

Jeddah cuisine is popular as well, with dishes like Foul, Shorabah Hareira (Hareira soup), Mugalgal, Madhbi (chicken grilled on stone), Madfun (literally meaning "buried"), Magloobah, Kibdah, Manzalah (usually eaten at Eid ul-Fitr), Magliya (a local version of falafel) and Saiyadyia able to be acquired in many traditional restaurants around the city, such as Althamrat, Abu-Zaid, Al-Quarmooshi, Ayaz, and Hejaziyat.

The most popular local fast-food chain, begun in 1974, is Al Baik, with branches in Jeddah and the neighboring cities of Makkah, Madinah and Yanbu.

[55][56] During the oil boom in the late 1970s and 1980s, there was a focused civic effort led by Mohamed Said Farsi, who was then the city's mayor,[57][58] to bring art to Jeddah's public areas.

Sculptures include works by Jean/Hans Arp, César Baldaccini, Alexander Calder, Henry Moore, Joan Miró, Hubert Minnebo and Victor Vasarely.

[71] The Old City known as Al-Balad, with its traditional multistory buildings and merchant houses that often still belong to the families that inhabited them before the oil-era, has lost ground to more modern developments.

In 2019, the Saudi crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman, issued a royal decree ordering the Ministry of Culture to restore 50 historical buildings in Jeddah.

Located in the south and also named after its orientation, its landmarks include: By far the most famous site in the old town, it was built in 1881 for Omar Nasseef Efendi, governor of Jeddah at the time, and served as the royal residence of King Abdulaziz after he conquered the city.

Located in the southwest, some of its landmarks are: Founded by Sheikh Abdul Raouf Khalil in 1996, this museum not only presents the rich Islamic cultural heritage of the city, but also its pre-Islamic history that goes back 2500 years; it traces the various civilizations that inhabited the region.

Located in the downtown district, it boasts of a large collection of items and artifacts that belonged to the Ottoman Turks and the fishermen tribes who were the first inhabitants of the region.

Construction began in April 2013 and there was steady progress, but in January 2018, building owner JEC halted structural concrete work with the tower about one-third completed due to labor issues with a contractor following the 2017–19 Saudi Arabian purge.

[87] It spans an area of 30 square kilometers (12 sq mi)[88] on the Red Sea, and has many facilities, including swimming beaches, huts, a floating marina dock, washrooms, restaurants, parks, dancing fountains, playgrounds, and access to Wi-fi.

Jeddah is part of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road that runs from the Chinese coast to the Upper Adriatic region with its rail connections to Central and Eastern Europe.

[112] At mid-day on 6 December 2004, militants loyal to the regional affiliate of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda launched an attack on the U.S. Consulate, killing five employees.

[113] Closed-circuit video feeds documented that the Saudi security personnel assigned to protect the facility fled when the vehicle holding the terrorists pulled up to the front gate and ran past the Delta barrier.

[119] In 2022, the Houthis launched a missile attack against an Aramco facility near the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, where the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was held.

[120] Prior to the construction of a waste treatment plant, Jeddah's wastewater was disposed of by either discharge into the sea or via absorption into deep underground pits.

Meanwhile, eyewitnesses told local newspaper Arab News that East Jeddah was swamped and floodwater was rushing west towards the Red Sea, turning streets into rivers once again.