Location, area and population
Najran is one of the Kingdom's thirteen administrative regions, in its southwest. It borders the Eastern Province to the north and northeast, the Riyadh Region to the north, the Asir Region to the west and Yemen to the south. It covers about 130,000 km², 6.6% of the Kingdom.
The 2022 Saudi census counted about 592,300 residents, roughly 1.8% of the national population, making Najran the eleventh most populous region, with a density of about four people per km².
Emirate and governorates
The regional Emirate was established after the unification of the Kingdom and sits in Najran city, the administrative capital; it reports to the Ministry of Interior. Prince Jalawi bin Abdulaziz bin Musaed bin Jalawi was appointed governor on 12 November 2014 (19 Muharram 1436 AH), and Prince Turki bin Hathloul bin Abdulaziz deputy governor, with the excellent rank, by Royal Order on 22 April 2017 (25 Rajab 1438 AH).
Besides Najran city, the region has six governorates: Sharorah in Category A, and Habuna, Badr al-Janub, Yadmah, Thar and Khubash in Category B, with about 65 administrative centres.
Land and climate
The Empty Quarter reaches into the central and eastern parts of the region, and its highest point stands 2,224 m above sea level. Nature reserves cover about 9.23% of its territory.
Wadi Najran, one of the largest valleys in the Kingdom, is a 150 km seasonal watercourse. Rising in Yemen, it runs southwest to northeast through Najran city, which it splits into northern and southern halves, then through Khubash, and drains into the Empty Quarter east of that governorate. Its tributaries include Wadi al-Husn, Wadi al-Ard and Wadi Marwan, and the Wadi Najran Dam on its course holds about 85 million m³. It is the region's main water source, and the silt it carries enriches the farms along its banks.
The climate is broadly hot in summer and cold in winter, varying with the terrain; temperatures range from 14 to 37°C over the year, and rain falls on the highlands. Northeasterly winds blow in winter and summer, easterly and southeasterly winds in spring.
A land settled since the earliest ages
Najran is among the oldest places of human settlement in Arabia and has more than 100 archaeological sites. Oldowan stone tools found at Shu'ayb Dahda, west of Wadi Najran, are put at 1.2 to 1.8 million years old, and Bir Hima was settled during the wet phase between the fifth and fourth millennia BCE. In 2017 (1438 AH) more than thirty specialised archaeological missions and teams were working in the region.
Najran was the main transit station on the trade routes between southern Arabia and the Levant, used by caravans carrying spices and incense, and early Sabaean inscriptions point to its importance in the mid-first millennium BCE. Inscriptions in Musnad, Thamudic and Kufic script are found across the region; among the dated Kufic ones is a text at al-Okhdood from 190 AH.
Al-Okhdood, ancient Najran
The al-Okhdood archaeological site marks the ancient city of Najran. It lies on the southern bank of Wadi Najran between the villages of al-Qabil and al-Jurbah, covers about 5 km², and its settlement goes back to the first millennium BCE. At its heart is a citadel enclosed by a wall 235 m long and 220 m wide, with the remains of some 25 buildings of dressed stone and clay whose rocks bear animal drawings and inscriptions.
The site takes its name from the story of the People of the Ditch told at the opening of Surat al-Buruj in the Quran, in which the Himyarite king Dhu Nuwas threw the Christians of Najran into a fiery ditch after they refused to convert to Judaism. Caravans used it as a station on the Incense Route, and the kingdoms of southern Arabia competed to control it.
Survey work began in 1979 (1399 AH), followed by successive excavation seasons. They uncovered, in the northeast of the site, the oldest mosque in the Najran region, along with a large granite millstone, gold rings with butterfly-shaped bezels, soapstone vessels, and metal plaques and stone stelae inscribed in Musnad. In 2018 (1439 AH) a pottery jar full of silver coins was found, some of them of the Qatabanian king Yada'ab Yanuf, who ruled in the second half of the first century CE; in 2023 a Musnad inscription on granite, 230 cm long and 48 cm high, the longest found in the region, came to light together with a bronze bull's head. The site is overseen by the Heritage Commission.
At the northwestern corner of al-Okhdood stands the Najran Regional Museum, built in 1983 (1403 AH), opened in 1987 (1407 AH) and redeveloped in 2015 (1436 AH). Its five galleries run from prehistory to the unification of the Kingdom.
Hima, a library in stone
UNESCO's World Heritage Committee inscribed the Ḥimā Cultural Area on the World Heritage List in 2021 (1442 AH), and the region celebrated the listing under the patronage of the Heritage Commission on 24 May 2022 (21 Shawwal 1443 AH). Set on an ancient caravan route in the southwest of the Kingdom, it includes the oldest known toll station on a major desert caravan route, and wells more than 3,000 years old that still yield fresh water.
Its six component parts, covering 242.17 hectares, may hold more than 100,000 petroglyphs recording hunting and ways of life of a culture that spans some 7,000 years, with inscriptions in South Arabian Musnad, Thamudic, Nabataean, Greek and Arabic. More than 13 locations carry scenes of hunting and herding and human figures larger than life, and here is the inscription in which King Yusuf As'ar Yath'ar recorded his victory over the Abyssinians in 518 CE.
Architecture and crafts
Najran keeps a distinctive built heritage: 34 historic villages, old palaces and castles, mud-walled lanes and mud watchtowers. A leading landmark is the historic Emirate Palace in the Aba Saud quarter, built on 625 m² and notable for its construction and plan.
The historic Aba Saud quarter has nine markets specialised in handicrafts, among them the markets for al-mizab, al-mishrab, palm-frond weaving, al-mihrak, pottery, soapstone, and textiles and weaving, alongside a market for the region's celebrated daggers, known locally as the janbiyah, and leatherwork.
Economy
The economy rests on trade, mining and industry, with trade contributing the largest share of regional GDP at 24.4%. In Thar Governorate, northwest of Najran, the al-Masane al-Kobra mine holds more than 8.2 million tonnes of copper and zinc ore, and the Qayyan gold mine has reserves of about 4 million tonnes. The industrial city in Habuna Governorate has 27 operating factories with investments estimated at SAR 2.75 billion.
Najran is also fertile farmland and an important source of citrus for the Kingdom; agricultural land makes up about 40% of its area.
Transport and education
Najran Regional Airport, in the administrative capital, lies between 54 and 326 km from the governorates. With a capacity of 1.4 million passengers, it handled 5,858 domestic flights and 726,181 passengers in 2022.
The region has one public university, Najran University, east of the administrative capital, with branches across the governorates.