Sakakah

Sakākā, often spelled Sakakah (Arabic: سَكَاكَا) is a city in northwestern Saudi Arabia which is the capital of Al-Jawf Province.^[2] It is located just to the north of the An Nafud desert. Sakakah had a population of 204,174 at the 2022 census.^[3]

Sakakah سَكَاكَا
City
Sakakah seen from the International Space Station
Sakakah Location in Saudi Arabia
Coordinates: 29°58′11″N 040°12′00″E
Country	Saudi Arabia
Province	Al-Jouf
First settled	3rd-2nd millennium BC
Area
• City	100 km2 (40 sq mi)
• Urban	475 km2 (183 sq mi)
• Metro	9,420 km2 (3,640 sq mi)
Elevation	566 m (1,857 ft)
Population  (2022 census[1])
• City	204,174
• Density	2,000/km2 (5,300/sq mi)
• Urban	241,669(Sakakah governorate)
• Metro	296,010

History

Sakaka is considered one of the oldest inhabited sites within the Arabian peninsula, settled as far back as 4000 years ago.^[4]

The city was mentioned in the 8th century - 7th century BCE as an Assyrian civilization's site.

Sakakah is an oasis town on an ancient caravan route across the Arabian peninsula, which ran from the Mediterranean sea coast to the central and southern parts of the Arabian Peninsula.^[5]

Modernization

In recent years, the Saudi government has been providing more seed capital to Al-Jawf region, especially in Sakaka in hopes of developing the economically starved region of the kingdom. For this reason, the city has new government buildings, schools and hospitals and are built adjacent to crumbling ruins of older buildings. One major feature of the city is the rapidly expanding Al Jouf University (Jami'at Al-Jawf), founded in 2005.^[6] Sakaka is a small but expanding city with much construction in progress. It has three major hospitals: King Abdul Aziz Specialist Hospital, Prince Mutaib Hospital and child and maternity care hospital.^{[citation needed]} There is a newly established Oncology Center and a Cardiac Center.^{[citation needed]} A big ongoing project is the 1,000-bed Prince Muhammed Bin Abdulaziz Medical City which is under construction.^{[citation needed]}

Education

The King hopes that Al Jouf University will become a pillar of social, cultural, and intellectual advancement in Saudi Arabia.^{[citation needed]} There are several government-run schools and some private schools.^{[citation needed]} The city has three English schools, Sakaka International School, which is an international, mostly Egyptian School and has an American curriculum, the other Al-Jouf International school with British curriculum and the third one is Al Motaqadimah International School with American curriculum.

Transportation

The city is served by Al-Jawf Airport which has domestic flights and International flights to some of the major cities in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia Railways also has a station in Sakakah on its Riyadh–Qurayyat line.

Preceding station	Saudi Arabia Railways			Following station
Qurayyat Terminus		Riyadh–Qurayyat		Ḥaʼil towards Riyadh North Station

Services at Jouf station

Agriculture

Al-Jawf is notable for its abundant agricultural water, making possible the cultivation of dates (200,000 palms) and olives (12,000,000 trees), as well as other agricultural products. Farms number around 16,000, and agricultural projects around 1,500. It is the home to agribusiness farms such as Watania Farms,^[7] the largest organic farm in the kingdom. The fertile agricultural land of Al-Jawf is due largely to underground water, which drew delegates of King Abdul Aziz. They were sent to the town of Sakaka and Dumat Al-Jandal and Qurayat, requesting resident tribes there to join the nascent kingdom. Sakaka is home to many Saudi families that can proudly trace their lineage to a few large, old tribes that have dominated the area since time immemorial.

Historical places

• 
  Rajajil standing stones sign Board
• 
  Omar Mosque in Dumat Al-Jandal
• 
  Mard Castle

The history of Al-Jawf dates back more than four thousand years. It is the home of many historic & prehistoric archaeological sites such Za'bal Castle & Well, the Omar ibn Al-Khattab Mosque, located in Dowmat Al-Jandal and Mard Castle (just south of Sakaka). There are also the ancient Rajajil standing stones in Sakaka, dating back nearly 6,000 years.^{[citation needed]}

Climate

The Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as hot desert (BWh).^[8]

Climate data for Sakakah (1991–2020)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	30.3 (86.5)	32.6 (90.7)	37.2 (99.0)	40.4 (104.7)	43.9 (111.0)	45.4 (113.7)	47.7 (117.9)	47.2 (117.0)	45.2 (113.4)	41.4 (106.5)	37.5 (99.5)	30.0 (86.0)	47.7 (117.9)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	16.2 (61.2)	19.0 (66.2)	23.7 (74.7)	29.5 (85.1)	34.7 (94.5)	38.8 (101.8)	40.5 (104.9)	41.1 (106.0)	38.2 (100.8)	32.4 (90.3)	23.3 (73.9)	18.0 (64.4)	29.6 (85.3)
Daily mean °C (°F)	10.0 (50.0)	12.5 (54.5)	17.0 (62.6)	22.6 (72.7)	27.9 (82.2)	31.6 (88.9)	33.4 (92.1)	33.6 (92.5)	30.7 (87.3)	25.2 (77.4)	16.8 (62.2)	11.6 (52.9)	22.7 (72.9)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	4.5 (40.1)	6.4 (43.5)	10.2 (50.4)	15.4 (59.7)	20.4 (68.7)	23.7 (74.7)	25.6 (78.1)	25.8 (78.4)	23.0 (73.4)	18.2 (64.8)	11.2 (52.2)	6.1 (43.0)	15.9 (60.6)
Record low °C (°F)	−6.0 (21.2)	−7.0 (19.4)	0.0 (32.0)	1.0 (33.8)	11.0 (51.8)	15.0 (59.0)	17.0 (62.6)	18.8 (65.8)	12.0 (53.6)	6.5 (43.7)	−1.4 (29.5)	−4.4 (24.1)	−7.0 (19.4)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	13.4 (0.53)	7.9 (0.31)	6.5 (0.26)	3.1 (0.12)	1.8 (0.07)	0.1 (0.00)	0.0 (0.0)	0.1 (0.00)	0.5 (0.02)	4.5 (0.18)	12.8 (0.50)	9.7 (0.38)	60.3 (2.37)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1mm)	1.9	1.6	1.3	0.7	0.6	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.1	0.9	1.8	1.5	10.5
Average relative humidity (%)	57	45	35	27	19	15	16	16	19	28	41	53	31
Source: World Meteorological Organization,[9] Jeddah Regional Climate Center (humidity 1985-2010)[10]

See also

• Saudi Arabia portal

• List of cities and towns in Saudi Arabia
• Sirhan Valley