Najd

Najd, also Nejd, region in central Saudi Arabia. A plateau region, it is bounded on the west by the mountains of Al Ḩijāz (the Hejaz) and on all other sides by sand deserts. The region is sparsely inhabited except for a string of oases. The national capital, Riyadh, is located here. Najd became the center of the Wahhabi reform movement of Islam in the 18th century (see Wahhabis). The Wahhabi leader and sultan of Najd, Ibn Saud, began the consolidation of what was to become Saudi Arabia, with the capture of Riyadh in 1901.