There is a need for a new, comprehensive study on the historical development of the City of Jeddah. Located on the west coast of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Jeddah is often referred to as "the Bride of the Red Sea." As noted by Bokhari (1978), the city was the site of ancient settlements, dating back to more than 2,000 years ago (pp. 55-56). A source from the fourth century B.C. indicates that Alexander the Great traveled through a village on the site during his passage from Makkah [Mecca] to the Red Sea (Jeddah, the bride of the Red Sea, pp. 48-49). Jeddah's importance as a trade center and port city became especially apparent after the seventh century C.E., with the spread of Islam throughout the Middle East. Because of its proximity to Makkah, Jeddah soon became established as a "gateway" for pilgrims making their way to the Holy City (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ministry of Information, 1991, p. 91). At the same time, the flow of pilgrims through Jeddah caused the city to become increasingly important as an economic and cultural center. By the tenth century C.E., Jeddah was "a truly flourishing commercial town" (Bokhari, 1978, p. 112).
In the fifteenth century, the city became even more important as a trade center. This occurred because political conditions caused European merchants to shift from ports on the Black Sea and the Persian Gulf to those on the Red Sea in order to continue conducting their trade with the Far East (Harrow & Larkin, 1985, p. 54). The opening of the Suez Canal in Egypt in 1869 further increased Jeddah's importance as a center for international commerce and trade. From the sixteenth century to the early twentieth century, the City of Jeddah, as well as the surrounding region of the Hejaz, was under the domination of the Ottoman Empire. In the 1920's, the area was conquered by King Ibn Saud, and thus Jeddah became part of Saudi Arabia when the Kingdom was formed in 1932. In the 1930's, oil was d...