# Al-Kharj

Kharj (Arabic: الخرج) is a governorate in central Saudi Arabia. It is one of the important governorates in Saudi Arabia. Located southeast of the capital, Riyadh, it covers an area of 7640 mi$^2$ (19,790 km$^2$) and has a population of 376,325 people, according to the statistics of the General Authority for Statistics for 2010. The city of Al-Saih (Arabic: السيح) is the capital of modern Kharj and its administrative and economic center.

## History

Al-Kharj, with its historical monuments, is an important destination for researchers and those interested in the history of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and of its founder, King Abdulaziz. Al-Kharj has some of the factors that are considered essential for tourism in the Kingdom and has sought to grow archeology tourism, as there is a feast of archaeological monuments, perhaps the most important of which is the King Abdulaziz Palace. The historical site located in Al-Aziziyah (Arabic: العزيزية) district in the heart of Al-Saih City. It was built in 1359 AH (1940-1941 AD) in the center of Al-Saih City.
Among the historical palaces abound in Al-Kharj is "Abu Jafan Palace" (Arabic: قصر أبو جفان), located east of the city of Al-Saih. It was built during the reign of King Abdulaziz in 1366 AH (1946-1947 AD) for those coming from the eastern regions and for pilgrims to the Great Mosque of Mecca, which is still open to visitors.
The city of Dalam (Arabic: الدلم), which has a historical value to Alkharj governorate, abounds with many archaeological monuments and witnessed many historical battles such as a fierce battle between King Abdulalaziz and Ibn Rashid (Arabic: ابن رشيد).
The town of Yamama (Arabic: اليمامة), located in the north of the city of Al-Saih, is one of the oldest towns in the Arabian Peninsula (Arabic: شبة الجزيرة العربية). In the northeastern corner of the town is one of the oldest settlements, Al-Banna (Arabic: البنة). It is part of the old settlement on the site before Islam. Pieces of pottery were found in surrounding areas of the town and indicate a settlement that extends from the mid-3rd millennium BC. Also, three ancient coins have been found on the site, as well as accessories made of silver and bronze.

## Geography

There are many valleys that flow into Alkharj, the most important of which are the Hanifa Valley (Arabic: وادي حنيفة), the Haniyeh (Arabic: الحنية) Valley and the Al-Sahba Valley (Arabic: السهباء). Also, Alkharj is known for the presence of ʿayūn (Arabic: عيون “eyes”), which are cavities inside the earth. The cavities in Al-Kharj, during the summer period, are popular with visitors who come to see them from inside and outside the Kingdom, especially for citizens of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. The “eyes” of Al-Kharj have long been distinguished by their cold water during the summer and warm during the winter, as these massive wells were flooding with water and running in large quantities like a river in the desert, especially in the valleys that penetrate the city of Al-Saih and have acquired the name for the flow of water in it. Al-Kharj is known for being a year-round water land that gained its name in ancient times from the content of its geographical nature, which was characterized by the abundance of its agricultural production, the fertility of its lands and the sweetness of its water, as it has many natural springs that used to supply farms and agricultural projects with water through a group of channels and streams of water.
The ʿAyn of al-Dila (Arabic: عين الضلع), a spring located in the southwest of the city of Al-Saih, is one of the largest “eyes” in the Kingdom, in addition to the presence of many wells and springs with mineral sulfur water, which has been an important place since ancient times, the most famous of which are ʿAyn Samha (Arabic: عين سمحة), ʿAyn Umm Khaysa (Arabic: العين المخيسة), ʿAyn al-Dila (Arabic: عين الضلع) and ʿAyn Farzān (Arabic: عين فرزان). The wells have remained the main source of water supplies for all uses in the Alkharj Oasis, and its quantities and levels have started gradually decreasing over the past two decades as a result of increasing the withdrawal and the consumption of water from the feeding layer after the expansion of digging artesian wells by farmers, especially major agricultural and animal projects, which in return led to a stoppage of the natural flow in the eyes and the gradual depletion of the deeper eyes, the depth rangeing between 5 and 16 m, then the deepest.

### Climate

The climate of Al-Kharj is continental and is very hot through the summer and cold through the winter, and there is little rain. The weather cools down at night in mid-September, and the cold becomes more intense in December and January. The average maximum temperature in winter is 18 °C and the lowest 5 °C, and in the summer, the average maximum temperature is 48 °C and the lowest of 31 °C.

## Economy

Al-Saih is a main and active city and is the modern capital of Al-Kharj and its administrative and economic center, with a population of more than 376,000 people.
It is also worth noting what the city is known for in terms of its characteristics and what it possesses of advantages and constituents as it is one of the rich regions with all the economic rectifiers that attract investment and settlement. Also, natural resources, geographical location, and population density are undoubtedly factors that give the city a successful environment for investment if the optimal exploitation is used to create a strong, effective, and solid economic entity that will be a tributary of diversification of income sources and support for the national and local income, in addition to creating job opportunities for the promising manpower, especially the auxiliary city of the country's political capital.
The city of Al-Saih is the home to many significant economic and government installations, perhaps the most noted of which are the General Corporation for Military Industries, which is the only military factory in the Persian Gulf, and Prince Sultan Air Base, which is one of the largest air bases in the world and includes the main supply and supply base for the Saudi Arabian Army, the general of arms and savings, and many branches of the various military sectors of the Saudi Ministry of Defense.
Al-Kharj is considered a first-class agricultural region, as it has been and a food basket since ancient times, with its diverse agricultural crops. Al-Kharjis a source of weight for agricultural production, as it produces more than 26% of vegetable production in the Kingdom and embraces the largest companies, farms, dairy factories and poultry, whose products cover the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and Jordan. Some of these companies are the well-respected Almarai company, Al Safi Danone, Al Azizia, Mazraa Dairy, and Al Kharj Dairy.
The leadership of Al-Kharj comes back to the dairy industry and related technology for that industry. Al-Kharj has been crowned as the capital of dairy industry, as a result of a good seed planted by the unifier of the country, Abdulaziz, which is the first seed for dairy production in the Kingdom, when he directed the establishment of the Alkharj Agricultural Project in 1354 AH (1935-1936 AD). Currently, Alkharj produces more than 65 percent of the Saudi milk production and acquires the largest dairy farms and factories in the Kingdom and the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Al-Kharj organized the first dairy festival under the slogan of "Alkharj is the capital of dairy industry" in the month of Jumada Al-Awwal 1429 AH (May 2008) and is considered the first of its kind in the Kingdom and the first in the Persian Gulf; it has witnessed the popularity and admiration of visitors.

## Education

The city is home to a number of state schools, which are fully funded by the government, and public and international schools teaching foreign curricula. The city is also home to Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University.

## Transportation

Al-Kharj is one of the important strategic locations on the Saudi map, as it is a crossroads linking it to the rest of the regions in the Kingdom and even to neighboring countries. Al-Kharj is connected by a highway to the capital, Riyadh, and is the first highway in the centre, which was established in 1980. The highway through Al-Kharj links the capital with the 'Asir Region, in the south of the Kingdom, and then to Yemen.
There is also a road that links Alkharj with the eastern region, the Gulf Cooperation Council states, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. It connects the Arab states of the Persian Gulf with the Asir region and Yemen through the city of Al-Saih and between Al-Kharj and Al-Ahsa, which is under expansion. Beside the railway line that runs through Al-Kharj from Riyadh to the eastern region. There is currently in the city of Al-Saih a freight train station, and the weights of trucks are transferred to a dry port.

## Notable people

* Abdullah Matroud (born 1963), Saudi Qari