Al-Jauf Province
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الجوف al-Jauf
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| Basic data | |
| Country | Saudi Arabia |
| Capital | Sakaka |
| surface | 100,212 km² |
| Residents | 440,009 (2010) |
| density | 4.4 inhabitants per km² |
| ISO 3166-2 | SA-12 |
| politics | |
| governor | Faisal bin Nawaf bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud |
Coordinates: 30 ° 0 ' N , 38 ° 0' E
al-Jauf ( Arabic الجوف, DMG al-Ǧauf , also Al Jawf ) is one of the 13 provinces of Saudi Arabia . It is located in the north of the country. Jauf has 361,676 inhabitants (2004 census), the area of the province is 100,212 km². Jauf borders clockwise on the provinces of al-Hudud asch-schamaliyya , Ha'il and Tabuk , and on Jordan . The province consists of the two depressions of Wadi Sirhan and al-Jauba north of the Nefud desert.
The capital of the province is Sakaka , and Faisal bin Nawaf bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud has been the provincial governor since December 2018 . The province is divided into three governorates:
- Sakākā
- al-Quraiyāt
- Dūmat al-Jandal
history
The history of human settlement in the region goes back to the early Paleolithic , the oldest and most important evidence of this is Wadi al-Shuwaihitiyya. Dumat al-Jandal was the center of the oldest known Arab state. From the third century BC to the beginning of the second century AD, the Nabataeans ruled al-Jauf. The region was of strategic importance as it was on a trade route to the east.
In 630 al-Jauf was one of the first regions to introduce Islam as a religion. In the Abbasid period, al-Jauf lost its economic importance. In 1793 the Al Saud took control of the area, which was conquered by the Ottomans in the 19th century . Under Abd al-Aziz Al Saud , al-Jauf came to the emerging Saudi Arabia. At that time the capital of the region was moved from Dumat al-Jandal to Sakaka.
literature
- David E. Long: Culture and customs of Saudi Arabia . Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005. ISBN 0-313-32021-7
