Deep time
Al-Kharj lies about 80 km southeast of Riyadh and, with roughly 373,000 people in the 2022 census, is the province's second governorate by population after the capital. In 2018 a joint Saudi-French archaeological mission found sites here dating back about one hundred thousand years.
Excavations have also turned up early first-millennium BC iron objects, a bronze sword 56 cm long, farms from the eleventh century, Thamudic inscriptions and early undotted Arabic script. In al-Saih stands King Abdulaziz's Palace, built in 1940 of gypsum-faced stone.
Water and the dairy capital
Al-Saih is often called the dairy capital of the Kingdom, and the governorate's farms produce dairy, poultry, vegetables, wheat and dates for other regions and the Gulf states. Its springs, among them al-Saih, Mawan and al-Khabi, together with its valleys, make it a place for excursions and camping.
The governorate is made up of thirty-two centres, and its Industrial City spreads over more than 99 million m². In 2022 its Tourism Development Committee staged a Dairy and Food Festival.