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Regional capital in Saudi Arabia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Haʼil (Arabic: حَائِل Hāʼil) is a city in north-western Saudi Arabia. It is the capital and largest city of Ha'il Region, with a population of about 498,575 (2022).[1]
This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2013) |
Haʼil
حَائِل | |
---|---|
![]() Qishlah Palace in Ha'il | |
Coordinates: 27°31′N 41°41′E | |
Country | ![]() |
Region | Ha'il Region |
Government | |
• Governor | Abdulaziz bin Sa'ad bin Abdulaziz |
• Mayor | Ibrahim Aburas |
Elevation | 992 m (3,255 ft) |
Population (2022 census[1]) | |
• City | 448,623 |
• Metro | 498,575 (Ḥaʼil governorate) |
Time zone | UTC+3 |
Area code | (+966) 016 |
Website | www |
Haʼil is largely agricultural, with significant grain, date, and fruit production. A large percentage of the kingdom's wheat production comes from Haʼil Province, where the area to the northeast, 60 to 100 km (37 to 62 miles) away, consists of irrigated gardens. Historically, Haʼil derived its wealth from being on the camel caravan route of the Hajj. Haʼil is well known for the generosity of its people throughout Saudi Arabia and the Arab world as it is the place where Hatim al-Tai lived. It is also the homeland of the Rashid royal family, historical rivals to Saudi royal family.[2]
The construction of the Hejaz railway between Damascus and Medina, together with new inexpensive steamship routes to Jeddah, undermined the traditional camel caravan economy of Ha'il.[3]
The city of Ha'il was the capital of the Emirate of Jabal Shammar from 1836 until the Saudi conquest of the emirate in 1921.[4] The emirate was led by a monarchy of the House of Rashīd. The first emir, Abdullah bin Ali Al Rashid, took power with his brother emir Obaid and Jabbr's sons. Abdullah bin Rashid continued constructing the Barzan Palace in Ha'il which had been started by Mohammad Ibn Ali. After the death of Abdullah Al Rashid (in 1848) his son and successor, Talal, completed the palace.
During the Rashidi period many foreign travellers visited Ha'il and the Rashidi emirs, and described their impressions in different journals and books, including those of Georg August Wallin (1845), William Gifford Palgrave (1865), Lady Anne Blunt (1881), Charles Montagu Doughty (1888), and Gertrude Bell (1914). Rashid emirs were considered relatively tolerant towards foreigners, including traders in Ha'il:
"Many of these traders belonged to the Shiyaa sect, hated by some Sonnites, doubly hated by the Wahabees. But Telal affected not to perceive their religious discrepancies, and silenced all murmurs by marks of special favor towards these very dissenters, and also by the advantages which their presence was not long in procuring for the town."[5]
The last Rashidi emir was ousted from power by Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia in 1921. Ibn Saud then gave orders to destroy the Barzan Palace and also ordered the leaders of Al Rashid and Al Sabhan to move from Ha'il to Riyadh, and he assigned one person from the mentioned families, as temporary emir Prince Ibraheem bin Salem Al Sabhan in order to assure the loyalty from the Ha'il people and Shammar. After this, Ha'il fell into steep decline, as witnessed by E. Rutter in 1931:
"Hail seems like a city marooned among the sand...the population of Hail was plainly in decline. Numbers of houses in the northern quarter of the town were in ruins...many people of Hail had fled to the comfortable realms of King Faisal of Iraq."
Ha'il is the centre of Saudi Arabia's agricultural program,[citation needed] and most of the wheat crops of the kingdom come from the area surrounding the city. There are also a number of dairy farms for the production of dairy products near the city.
Ha'il has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh) with hot summers and cool winters with frequent frosts. It has a somewhat milder climate than other Saudi cities due to its higher altitude.
Climate data for Hail (1991-2020) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 29.0 (84.2) |
31.4 (88.5) |
36.0 (96.8) |
38.5 (101.3) |
42.3 (108.1) |
43.4 (110.1) |
44.4 (111.9) |
46.0 (114.8) |
44.0 (111.2) |
38.6 (101.5) |
33.4 (92.1) |
28.0 (82.4) |
46.0 (114.8) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 17.8 (64.0) |
20.4 (68.7) |
24.3 (75.7) |
29.7 (85.5) |
34.8 (94.6) |
38.7 (101.7) |
39.7 (103.5) |
40.4 (104.7) |
38.2 (100.8) |
32.7 (90.9) |
24.2 (75.6) |
19.6 (67.3) |
30.0 (86.1) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 10.9 (51.6) |
13.3 (55.9) |
17.3 (63.1) |
22.7 (72.9) |
28.0 (82.4) |
32.0 (89.6) |
33.2 (91.8) |
33.6 (92.5) |
30.8 (87.4) |
25.0 (77.0) |
17.2 (63.0) |
12.5 (54.5) |
23.0 (73.5) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 4.1 (39.4) |
6.0 (42.8) |
9.8 (49.6) |
15.0 (59.0) |
20.0 (68.0) |
22.9 (73.2) |
24.0 (75.2) |
24.5 (76.1) |
21.8 (71.2) |
16.6 (61.9) |
10.4 (50.7) |
5.8 (42.4) |
15.1 (59.1) |
Record low °C (°F) | −10.0 (14.0) |
−5.8 (21.6) |
−1.4 (29.5) |
5.2 (41.4) |
10.4 (50.7) |
16.5 (61.7) |
17.7 (63.9) |
18.0 (64.4) |
14.0 (57.2) |
8.0 (46.4) |
−1.0 (30.2) |
−5.6 (21.9) |
−10.0 (14.0) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 10.8 (0.43) |
6.2 (0.24) |
16.7 (0.66) |
11.5 (0.45) |
6.3 (0.25) |
0.1 (0.00) |
0.1 (0.00) |
0.1 (0.00) |
0.0 (0.0) |
5.6 (0.22) |
15.4 (0.61) |
7.0 (0.28) |
79.9 (3.15) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 1.6 | 1.0 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 1.2 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 1.6 | 2.6 | 1.3 | 13.4 |
Average relative humidity (%) (daily average) | 53 | 43 | 37 | 31 | 22 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 18 | 27 | 46 | 53 | 31 |
Average dew point °C (°F) | 0 (32) |
0 (32) |
1 (34) |
3 (37) |
3 (37) |
1 (34) |
2 (36) |
4 (39) |
3 (37) |
3 (37) |
4 (39) |
2 (36) |
2 (36) |
Source 1: World Meteorological Organization,[8] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: Time and Date (humidity and dewpoints, 1985-2015) |
The University of Ha'il (UoH) started as a community college, called Ha'il Community College (HCC), under the auspices of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) in September 1998. HCC was the first Community College to open in a planned expansion of educational opportunities for Saudi Arabian high school graduates. HCC started by offering three-year associate degree programs in Business Administration, Computer Systems, and Electronic Engineering and Instrumentation. Later on, HCC offered three Bachelor degree programs in Applied Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, and Management Information Systems. The University of Ha'il was officially established on 14 June 2006.[11] The university consisted of five colleges: College of MedicineCollege of Pharmacy & Medical Sciences, College of Science, College of Engineering, College of Computer Science & Computer Engineering, and Community College. The first students were admitted on 11 February 2006. In 2007, two existing colleges joined the university, the men's Ha'il Teachers College (now called the College of Education)and the Girls College of Education. These two colleges were originally under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. The university enrollment has now grown to more than 32,000 students.[citation needed]
The University has several campuses inside the city, and is expanding. It has as a new campus under construction, which is located to the north of the city and covers an area of more than 9,000,000 m2 (96,875,194 sq ft).[citation needed]
Ha'il is located on Saudi Arabian highways 65,66,70 and 400, and is connected to 3 main highways, Madinah, Buraydah, and Jouf Highways, which connect Ha'il with the northern borders of Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom of Jordan.[citation needed]
Ha'il has an important logistical role in northern Saudi Arabia's rail system (SAR). In 2008 Ha'il is the site of a concrete sleeper plant for railway construction. A railway (the north–south line) was completed in 2015 that extends from Riyadh to Al-Hadeetha in northern Saudi Arabia through Ha'il as part of the expansion of the Saudi railway system railway. A new SAR railway passenger station was completed in 2015. It is planned that commercial operation of this station will start in the fourth quarter of 2017 with trips to Riyadh.[citation needed]
Ha'il Regional Airport (IATA: HAS, ICAO: OEHL) is an airport offering both domestic and international flights, located to the southeast of Ha'il city. The airport is served by domestic carriers (Flynas, Flyadeal, Nesma Airlines, and Saudia) and foreign carriers (Air Arabia, flydubai, Jazeera Airways and Nile Air). A new international airport was planned to be constructed near Ha'il city, in the Prince Abdulaziz Bin Mousaed Economic City (PABMEC), as Ha'il has a strategic location in the Middle East because it takes only one hour by plane to reach 11 Arab capitals.[12][13]
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