Mecca or
Makkah ( ) is a city in the
Hejaz in
Saudi Arabia. It is the capital of that kingdom's
Makkah Region. The city is located inland from
Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level. Its resident population in 2012 was roughly 2 million, although visitors more than triple this number every year during the
hajj ("pilgrimage") period held in the twelfth Muslim lunar month of
Dhu al-Hijjah.