Najd

Najd نَجْدٌ
Historical region of Arabia
At-Turaif District, a World Heritage Site Tuwaiq Shammar Mountains of Ha'il Skyline of Riyadh Al Masmak Palace
Map of the Najd region in the middle region of the Arabian Peninsula
Coordinates: 25°N 44°E / 25°N 44°E / 25; 44
Country	Saudi Arabia
Largest city	Riyadh
Provinces	Riyadh, Al-Qassim, Ha'il
Population	10,627,701 (2,022 census)

Najd (Arabic: نَجْدٌ, Arabic pronunciation: [nad͡ʒd] ^ⓘ), or Nejd, is the central region of Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula. Its boundaries cannot be precisely determined due to varying geographical and political limits throughout history.^[1] It is bounded by the Hejaz region to the west, the Nafud desert in al-Jawf to the north, ad-Dahna Desert in al-Ahsa to the east, and Rub' al-Khali to the south.^[1][2]

Administratively, Najd is divided into three main regions: the Riyadh region which features Wadi Hanifa and the Tuwaiq escarpment, which houses easterly Yamama with the Saudi capital, Riyadh since 1824,^[3] and the Sudairi region, which has its capital in Majmaah. The second region, Al-Qassim, houses the fertile oases and date palm orchards spread out in the region's highlands along Wadi Rummah in central Najd with its capital in Buraidah, the second largest Najdi city, with the region historically contested by the House of Rashid to its north and the House of Saud to its east and south. The third administrative unit is northerly Ḥa'il, which features the mountains of Jabal Shammar housing the Tayy capital of Ḥa'il.

The Najd region is where about a third of Saudi Arabia's modern population resides. It is the home of the House of Saud, from which it pursued its unification with Hejaz since the time of the Emirate of Diriyah.^[4]