A History of Jeddah
The Gate to Mecca in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

An urban history of Jeddah from the late Ottoman period to the present day, seen through its diverse and changing population.

Ulrike Freitag (Author)

9781108478793, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 March 2020

404 pages
23.5 x 16.8 x 2.2 cm, 0.76 kg

'An in-depth and lively history of Jeddah. With her command of both local and foreign literature and the use of an astonishing documentation, Ulrike Freitag make us dive into the history of Mecca's 'entrance' up to the present, and into the connecting point of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.' Philippe Pétriat, Panthéon-Sorbonne University

Known as the 'Gate to Mecca' or 'Bride of the Red Sea', Jeddah has been a gateway for pilgrims travelling to Mecca and Medina and a station for international trade routes between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean for centuries. Seen from the perspective of its diverse population, this first biography of Jeddah traces the city's urban history and cosmopolitanism from the late Ottoman period to its present-day claim to multiculturalism, within the conservative environment of the Arabian Peninsula. Contextualising Jeddah with developments in the wider Muslim world, Ulrike Freitag investigates how different groups of migrants interacted in a changing urban space and how their economic activities influenced the political framework of the city. Richly illustrated, this study reveals how the transformation of Jeddah's urban space, population and politics has been indicative of changes in the wider Arab and Red Sea region, re-evaluating its place in the Middle East at a time when both its cosmopolitan practices and old city are changing dramatically against a backdrop of modernisation and Saudi nation-building.

1. Introduction: why Jeddah?
2. Between sea and land: Jeddah through the ages
3. The changing faces of Jeddah
4. The changing urban space of Jeddah
5. Solidarity and competition: the socio-cultural foundations of life in Jeddah
6. The economic lifelines of Jeddah: trade and pilgrimage
7. Governing and regulating diversity: urban government in Jeddah
8. The disappearance and return of old Jeddah: on the temporality of translocal relations.

Subject Areas: Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], Middle Eastern history [HBJF1]