Al Jawf Region

Jawf (Arabic: al - Jawf 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. Jawf has 361 676 inhabitants ( 2004 census ), the area of ​​the province is 100,212 km ². Jawf bordered clockwise by the provinces of al - Hudud ash- schamaliyya, Ha'il and Tabuk, and to Jordan. The province consists of the two depression of Wadi Sirhan and al - Dschauba north of Nefud Desert.

The provincial capital is Sakaka, provincial governor, Prince Fahd ibn Badr ibn Abd al - Aziz Al Saud. The province is divided into three provinces:

• Sakaka
• Al - Quraiyāt
• DUMAT al - Jandal

History

The history of human settlement of the region dates back to the early Paleolithic, the oldest and most important example of this is Wadi al- Schuwaihitiyya. Dumat al - Jandal was the center of the oldest known Arab state structure. From the third century BC until the beginning of the second century AD, ruled by the Nabateans over al - Jawf. The area was of strategic importance, as it was located on a trade route to the East.

In 630 al - Jawf was one of the first regions in which Islam was introduced as a religion. In Abbasid al - Jawf time lost its economic importance. 1793 took over the Al Saud power over the area that could be but conquered in the 19th century by the Ottomans. Under Abd al - Aziz Al Saud al - Jawf came again to the emerging Saudi Arabia. At that time the capital of the region of al - Jandal Dumat was moved to Sakaka.