Yanbu' al Bahr

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NASA photograph of Yanbu' al Bahr

Yanbu, Saudi Arabia

Yanbu' al Bahr (Arabic: ينبع البحر "spring by the sea"), also known simply as Yanbu, Yambo, or Yenbo, is a major Red Sea port in the Al Madinah province of western Saudi Arabia. It is approximately 350 kilometers north of Jeddah (at 24°05′N 38°00′E). The population is 188,430 (2004 census).

Yanbu's history dates back at least 2500 years, when it was a staging point on the spice and incense route from Yemen to Egypt and the Mediterranean region. Yanbu served as a supply and operational base for Arab and British forces fighting the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. It remained a small port town until 1975, when the Saudi government designated it as one of the country's two new industrial centres (the other being Al Jubayl on the Persian Gulf).

The city is subdivided into three smaller villages, which are about 15 minutes drive by car away from each other. The Town (often call "Al-Balad") which means the actual city which has most of the population and all the shops centers etc. Second is Yanbu Al-Nakhel (Al-Nakheel), which is very old and mainly only has farms. And finally the industrial city, Yanbu Al-Sina'iya (literally "the industrial Yanbu), established around 1975 with a very modern housing architecture. It houses all the major refineries and petrochemical installations and still growing very fast.

Yanbu is an important petroleum shipping terminal and is also home to three oil refineries, a plastics facility, and several other petrochemical plants. It is the country's second port (after Jiddah) and serves as the main port for the holy city of Medina, 160km (100 miles) to the east. The natural harbour is protected on both sides by wide coral reefs. Three major oil pipelines lead across the desert from the oilfields in the east to terminate at the Red Sea in Yanbu. Yanbu also has a domestic airport (code YNB) and a naval base. The naval base called Al-Minhalapin utilizes islands and underwater facilities to protect the landmass.

A new highway now passes through Yanbu linking Jeddah to the northern parts of the kingdom and the neighboring countries Syria, Jordan etc.

Yanbu International School is a K-12 school located in Yanbu Al-Sinaiyah.