Riyadh is the capital and most populous city
of Saudi Arabia. During the Pre-Islamic era the city at the
site was called Hajr and was reportedly founded by the tribe
of Banu Hanifa. Hajr served as the capital of the province of Al
Yamamah, whose governors were responsible for most of central and
eastern Arabia during
the Umayyad and Abbasid eras. Al-Yamamah broke away from
the Abbasid Empire in 866 and the area fell under the rule of
the Ukhaydhirites, who moved the capital from Hajr to nearby Al Kharj.
The city then went into a long period of decline. In the 14th century, North
African traveller Ibn Battuta wrote of his visit to Hajr, describing
it as "the main city of Al-Yamamah, and its name is Hajr". Ibn
Battuta goes on to describe it as a city of canals and trees with most of its
inhabitants belonging to Bani Hanifa, and reports that he continued on
with their leader to Mecca to perform the Hajj.
From the 1940s, Riyadh "mushroomed"
from a relatively narrow, spatially isolated town into a spacious metropolis. When
King Saud came to power, he made it his objective to modernize Riyadh, and
began developing Annasriyyah, the royal residential district, in 1950. Following
the example of American cities, new settlements and entire
neighborhoods were created in grid-like squares of a chess board and
connected by high-performance main roads to the inner areas. The grid pattern
in the city was introduced in 1953. The population growth of the town from
1974-1992 averaged 8.2 percent per year.
It is the city which is never ending and above
all the most happening city in the country. A trip to Riyadh will not only
mesmerize your eyes but also will nourish your soul.
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