Al-Magar is possibly one of the first cultures in the world where widespread agriculture and the domestication of animals occurred, particularly that of the horse, during the Neolithic period, before climate changes in the region resulted in desertification.

Led by Usma bin Luai (Arabic: عصمة بن لؤي), the Tayy sacked the mountains of Aja and Samra from Banu Tamim in northern Arabia in their exodus from Yemen circa CE 115.

The Tayy Shammaris became pastoral nomadic camel herders and horse breeders in northern Najd for centuries with a sedentary faction ruling the tribal league from within their capital city of Ha’il.

They established the Kingdom of Kinda in Najd in central Arabia unlike the organized states of Yemen; its kings exercised an influence over a number of associated tribes more by personal prestige than by coercive settled authority.

In the 5th and 6th centuries AD, the Kindites made the first real concerted effort to unite all the tribes of Central Arabia through alliances, and focused on wars with the Lakhmids.

Al-Ḥārith ibn 'Amr, the most famous of their kings, finally succeeded in capturing the Lakhmid capital of al-Ḥirah in southern modern-day Iraq.

[11] The most authentic opinion according to "Saifur Rahman al Mubararakpuri", however, is that the Dhat Ar-Riqa' campaign took place after the fall of Khaibar (and not as part of the invasion of Nejd).

The rules relating to the prayer of fear, which Muhammad observed at the Dhat Ar-Riqa' campaign, were revealed at the Asfan invasion and, these scholars say, took place after Al-Khandaq.

Muhammad received intelligence reports that they were planning a raid on Medina, so he dispatched a force of 150 men under the leadership of Abu Salama 'Abd Allah ibn 'Abd al-Asad to make a sudden attack on this tribe.

[12][13] After Prophet Muhammad's death, previously dormant tensions between the Meccan immigrants, the Muhajirun, and the Medinan converts, the Ansar, threatened to split the Ummah.

Before launching Khalid ibn Al-Walid against Tulayha, Abu Bakr sought ways and means of reducing the latter's strength, so that the battle could be fought with the maximum prospects of victory.

Malik avoided direct contact with Khalid's army and ordered his followers to scatter, and he and his family apparently moved away across the desert.

Ikrimah ibn Abi-Jahl, one of the corps commanders, was instructed to make contact with Musaylima at Yamamah, but not to engage in fighting until Khalid joined him.

In addition to this Abu Bakr assembled a fresh army of Ansar and Muhajireen in Medina that joined Khalid's corps at Butah.

The Caliphate's use of these once-rebellious tribes allowed Abu Bakr and Umar to quickly deploy battle hardened men and experienced generals such as Al-Qa'qa' ibn Amr al-Tamimi into the front-lines against the Persians and Byzantines.

Many of members of the conquering tribes of Najd soon shifted into the Levant, Persia and North Africa, playing a role in future conflicts in the caliphate, becoming governors and even birthing emirates such as the Aghlabids.

In the 16th century, the Ottomans added the Red Sea and Persian Gulf coast (the Hejaz, Asir and al-Ahsa) to the Empire and claimed suzerainty over the interior.

[24][25] The emergence of what was to become the Saudi royal family, known as the Al Saud, began in Najd in central Arabia in 1744, when Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the dynasty, joined forces with the religious leader Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab,[26] founder of the Wahhabi movement, a strict puritanical form of Sunni Islam.

[36] Although this revolt failed in its objective, the Allied victory in World War I resulted in the end of Ottoman suzerainty and control in Arabia.

[31] After the conquest of the Hejaz, the Ikhwan leadership turned to expansion of the Wahhabist realm into the British protectorates of Transjordan, Iraq and Kuwait, and began raiding those territories.

At the same time, the Ikhwan became disenchanted with Ibn Saud's domestic policies, which appeared to favor modernization and the increase in the number of non-Muslim foreigners in the country.

The eastern sections (historically better known as Al-Yamama) are marked by oasis settlements with much farming and trading activities, while the rest has traditionally been sparsely occupied by nomadic Bedouins.

Under modern-day Saudi Arabia, however, Najd is divided into three administrative regions: Ha'il, Al-Qassim, and Riyadh, comprising a combined area of 554,000 km2 (214,000 sq mi).

Before the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was formed, the native population in that area was largely made up of tribal Arabs: some of them were part of the majority class of sedentary farmers and merchants who lived in villages and towns dotted around central Arabia; others (a minority of inhabitants) were nomads (bedouins) who roamed between the towns and villages of Najd, much like Hejaz.

The rest of the population consisted mainly of Arabs who were unaffiliated with any tribes; most of these lived in the towns and villages of Najd and worked in various trades such as carpentry, or as Sonnaa' (craftsmen).

During the 15th through the 18th centuries, there was a considerable tribal influx from the west, increasing both the nomadic and settled population of the area and providing a fertile social environment for the Wahhabi movement.

[41] The region is traditionally known as a Hanbali stronghold, and after the 18th century became known for its strict interpretation of Islam and is generally considered a bastion of religious conservatism.

Practically, Salafis maintain that Muslims ought to rely on the Qur'an, the Sunnah and the 'Ijma (consensus) of the salaf, giving them precedence over later Islamic hermeneutic teachings.

[44] Bahiyyih Nakhjavani's first novel The Saddlebag – A Fable for Doubters and Seekers describes events set in the Najd plateau along the pilgrimage route between Mecca and Medina in 1844–1845.

A contest held in the Middle East brought light to a new character in famed SNK Playmore video game, The King of Fighters XIV.