{{Short description|Ancient settlement in Saudi Arabia}}{{About||district in the Hadhramaut Governorate of Yemen|Hajr District}} {{Infobox ancient site|name=Hajr al-Yamamah|native_name=حَجْر اليَمامَة|native_name_lang=ar|image=Yamama english.jpg|caption=Location of Hajr in al-Yamama region|region=West Asia|builder=Tasm and Jadis (folklore)<br /> Hanifites|location=Riyadh Province, Saudi Arabia|built=Upper Paleolithic period|abandoned=16th century AD; disintegrated into various towns which later became part of Old Riyadh}}
'''Hajr''' ({{langx|ar|حَجْر|Ḥajr}}), also known as '''Hajr al-Yamamah''' ({{langx|ar|حَجْر اليَمامَة|Ḥajr al-Yamāmah}}) or '''Khadra Hajr''',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Facey |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dITBAAAAIAAJ&q=old+riyadh%5C |title=Riyadh, the Old City: From Its Origins Until the 1950s |date=1992 |publisher=Immel |isbn=978-0-907151-32-6 |language=en}}</ref> was an ancient city founded by the Hanifites<ref>{{cite book |last=Sonbol |first=Amira |title=Gulf Women |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a2BtIjMscqcC&pg=PT99 |date=29 March 2012 |publisher=Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing |isbn=978-99921-94-84-3 |edition=en |page=99}}</ref> that roughly emerged in 5th century pre-Islamic Arabia and existed until 16th century in modern-day Riyadh<ref>{{Cite web|title=المسالك::اليمامة مدينة حسنة خصبة ذات أنهار وأشجار|url=http://www.almasalik.com/locationPassage.do?locationId=31274&languageId=ar&passageId=7442|access-date=2021-11-22|website=www.almasalik.com}}</ref> in the Najd region of present-day Saudi Arabia.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-04-01|title=«حجر اليمامة»... مدينة الإرث التاريخي والحضاري والمفارقات العجيبة|url=https://aawsat.com/home/article/2893406/%C2%AB%D8%AD%D8%AC%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A9%C2%BB-%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B1%D8%AB-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AE%D9%8A-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%B6%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%A8%D8%A9 |access-date=2021-11-22|website=الشرق الأوسط|language=ar}}</ref>
Hajr was the seat of the historical al-Yamama region until 866 AD when the Ukhaydhirites seceded the area from the control of the Abbasids and shifted their capital to al-Kharj. Consequently, Hajr underwent severe economic and political decline due to prolonged droughts besides simultaneously being gripped in feudalistic conflicts with its neighbors such as Diriyah and Manfuhah.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=الرياض: تاريخ، وتراث، ورؤية|url=https://www.rcrc.gov.sa/res/ada/ar/Publications/Riyadh-Oasis-of-Heritage-and-Vision-Arabic/index.html#35 |access-date=2021-11-22|website=www.rcrc.gov.sa|language=ar}}</ref> Hajr subsequently witnessed gradual fragmentation and disintegration and eventually got succeeded by various rival towns such as Migrin (or Miqrin) and Miʼkal by the end of 16th century,<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=2009-05-20|title=التاريخ السياسي لبلاد اليمامة (1/2)|url=http://www.alukah.net/culture/0/5902/ |archive-url=|access-date=2021-11-22|website=www.alukah.net|language=ar}}</ref> though the name Hajr continued to appear in local folk poetry.
== History == According to various historical accounts and folklore, Hajr was founded by the lost Arabian tribes of Tasm and Jadis in around 1st millennium BC.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=2020-09-25|title=أين حجر اليمامة؟|url=https://www.al-jazirah.com/2020/20200925/rl4.htm |access-date=2021-11-22|website=www.al-jazirah.com|language=ar}}</ref> Archaeological surveys show that the city dates back to the Upper Paleolithic era.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2002-10-26|title=قبائل «طسم وجديس وعنزة» استوطنت حجر «الرياض» منذ قرنين قبل الإسلام الرياض قلب الجزيرة العربية «الجزء الأول» 1/6|url=https://www.al-jazirah.com/2002/20021026/hv1.htm |access-date=2021-11-26|website=www.al-jazirah.com}}</ref> After their extermination in a genocide led by the Himyarite king Hassan Yuha'min, it was merged into the Yemenite Kingdom of Kinda<ref>{{Cite book|last=Johnson|first=Scott Fitzgerald|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KEYSDAAAQBAJ&dq=tasm+and+jadis+kinda&pg=PA267|title=The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0-19-027753-6|pages=267|language=en}}</ref> and was later inhabited by Banu Hanifa<ref name=":2" /> nearly two centuries before the advent of Islam.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2005-01-05|title=منتزه سلام العائلي في الرياض في حديث مع ذاكرة التاريخ (1 -2) بقلم: عبدالرحمن الرويشد|url=https://www.al-jazirah.com/2005/20050105/fe1.htm |access-date=2021-11-24|website=Al Jazirah}}</ref> After the advent of Islam by 7th century, most of its inhabitants converted to Islam and became part of the new Rashidun Caliphate and then the Umayyad Caliphate. After the overthrow of the Umayyads in the Abbasid Revolution in 8th century, Hajr became part of the Abbasid Caliphate and was still the seat of al-Yamama region until it was seceded by the prevailing Ukhaydhirites in 866 AD when they made al-Kharj their new capital. Consequently, Hajr underwent severe economic and political decline due to prolonged droughts besides simultaneously being indulged in feudalistic conflicts with its neighbors such as Diriyah and Manfuhah.<ref name=":0" /> Hajr eventually witnessed steady fragmentation and was succeeded by various rival towns such as Migrin (or Miqrin) and Miʼkal by the end of 16th century.<ref name=":1" /> After 1578, Najdi chroniclers stopped mentioning Hajr by name.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Firro |first=Dr Tarik K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n2WaEAAAQBAJ&dq=muqrin+hajr+riyadh&pg=PT9 |title=Wahhabism and the Rise of the House of Saud |date=2018-07-12 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |isbn=978-1-78284-578-2 |language=en}}</ref> Famous 14th century Moroccan traveler and explorer Ibn Battuta travelled to Hajr<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RqFiDwAAQBAJ&dq=%D8%AD%D8%AC%D8%B1+%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A9+%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%86+%D8%A8%D8%B7%D9%88%D8%B7%D8%A9&pg=PT143|title=مجلة الفيصل: العدد 332|date=2004-04-01|publisher=مركز الملك فيصل للبحوث والدراسات الإسلامية|pages=332|language=ar}}</ref> and described it as "a good, fertile city with rivers and trees, inhabited by sects of Arabs, and most of them are from Banu Hanifa, which is their country in the past, and their ruler is Tufail bin Ghanem"
== References == {{reflist}}
Category:History of Najd Category:Ancient cities of the Middle East