Nejd

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The central plateau region of Saudi Arabia.

A geographically isolated region of the Arabian peninsula, Najd (the Arabic word for plateau or highland) is bounded in the south by the great sand desert, the Rub al-Khali, and on the east by a long, narrow strip of sand desert known as al-Dahna. To the north lies another sand desert, the Nafud, and to the west, Najd is separated from the Red Sea coast by the mountains of Hijaz and Asir. The plateau is divided into three regions: southern Najd, the home of the eighteenth-century Wahhabi movement and the original home of the ruling Al Saʿud family (main city, Riyadh); Qasim, an agricultural district in the center of Najd (main city, Unayza); and Jabal Shammar in the north (main city, Ha'il). Because of its geographic isolation, Najd, unlike other areas of the Gulf and Arabian Sea, was not subject to European colonialism. Most of the great camel-herding bedouin ranged at least part of the year in Najd, but the bulk of its permanent population were town dwellers and semi-nomadic oasis gardeners. Najd is today the central administrative district and home to the capital city of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh.

— ELEANOR ABDELLA DOUMATO