The Islamic religion's holiest city of Mecca (also known as Mekka or Makkah) is located in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It's importance as a holy city for Muslims harks back to it being the birthplace of the founder of Islam, Mohammed. The prophet Mohammed was born in Mecca, located approximated 50 miles from the Red Sea port city of Jidda, in the year 571. Mohammed fled to Medina, now also a holy city, in the year 622 (…
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…visit by the British explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton (who translated the 100 stories of the Arabian Knights and discovered the Kama Sutra) in 1853. Burton disguised himself as an Afghani Muslim to visit and write Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al Madinah and Mecca. Mecca sits in a valley surrounded by low hills; it's population is approximately 550,000. Though Mecca is definitely the religious capital of Saudi Arabia, remember that the Saudi political capital is Riyadh.