Al-Jār

Al-Jar was the Red Sea landing place associated with Yanbu al-Nakhl and the caravan route inland to Medina. It stood on the Hejaz coast at the end of a valley of springs and date gardens. Unlike a self-contained port city, Al-Jar served an inland oasis: goods and travellers came down from Yanbu al-Nakhl, crossed the coastal plain, and then boarded ships on the Red Sea.

The port was already known before Islam and became prominent after the conquest of Egypt. Grain and other goods from Egypt and the wider Mediterranean world could be landed at Al-Jar for transport to Medina. Its rise was tied to the maritime route that used Egyptian ports in the north and harbours in the Hejaz. Arab geographers knew the passage, while ships approaching the coast had to negotiate reefs and difficult approaches.

Later coastal trade shifted toward Yanbu al-Bahr, but the older Al-Jar corridor remained part of the region’s transport geography. The name linked the shoreline, the wadi settlements, and the roads toward Medina; water and dates supported the inland terminus, and the road supplied the landing place. For a location of this size, the essential history lies in that combined function as a beach harbour and caravan outlet, rather than in an independent urban tradition.