The dates capital of Arabia — Al Qassim's gracious merchant city where the world's largest date market opens each autumn
Unayzah (also spelled Anaiza or Onaizah) is the second city of Al Qassim province in central Saudi Arabia, famous across the Arab world as the cultural and commercial heart of the dates trade — the Al Qassim region produces roughly a quarter of global date output, and Unayzah's seasonal date market, open each autumn, draws buyers from across the Gulf, Iran, and beyond. The city has a long tradition of merchant wealth: the Al Bassam family's restored 19th-century heritage house — a mud-brick courtyard mansion with original furnishings — is one of the finest examples of Najdi domestic architect…
Unayzah prospered as a Najdi merchant city from at least the 18th century, its traders maintaining caravan connections to Mecca (400km southwest), Kuwait (500km north), and the Hejaz coast. The Al Bassam trading family became wealthy through the Indian Ocean cloth and pearl trade in the 19th century. Unayzah was one of the few cities in the Najd to resist full Saudi/Wahhabi incorporation — the city fell to the first Saudi state in the late 18th century but was known for periodic resistance. The date market tradition predates the Saudi state: regional tribes converged on the oasis each autumn…