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Muslim tradition attributes the beginning of Mecca to Ishmael's descendants. In the 7th century, the Islamic prophet Muhammad proclaimed Islam in the city which was by then an important trading center. After 966, Mecca was led by local sharifs under the hegemony of the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman authority collapsed in 1916 and the local rulers established the Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz.[5] The Hejaz kingdom, including Mecca, was absorbed by the Saudis in 1925. In its modern period, Mecca has seen tremendous expansion in size and infrastructure.
Archeology found no inscriptions or mentionings of Mecca from before that time, even though other cities and kingdoms in that region are well documented.

According to Islamic tradition, the history of Mecca goes back to Abraham (Ibrahim) who built the Kaaba with the help of his eldest son Ishmael in around 2000 BCE when the inhabitants of what was then known as Bakkah had fallen away from the original monotheism of Abraham through the influence of the Amelkites.[15] However, outside of Islamic tradition, little is known about the Kaaba before the 5th century CE.

Around the 5th century CE, the Kaaba was a place of worship for the deities of Arabia's pagan tribes. Mecca's most important pagan deity was Hubal, which had been placed there by the ruling Quraysh tribe[16][17] and remained until the 7th century CE.

In the 5th century, the Quraysh took control of Mecca, and became skilled merchants and traders. In the 6th century they joined the lucrative spice trade as well, since battles in other parts of the world were causing trade routes to divert from the dangerous sea routes to the more secure overland routes. The Byzantine Empire had previously controlled the Red Sea, but piracy had been on the increase. Another previous route, that from the Persian Gulf via the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, was also being threatened by exploitation from the Sassanid Empire, as well as being disrupted by the Lakhmids, the Ghassanids, and the Roman–Persian Wars. Mecca's prominence as a trading center surpassed the cities of Petra and Palmyra.[18][19]Saudi Arabia, located in the west of the country, with an extended coastline. It has an area of 164,000 km² and a population of 5,797,971 (2004 census). Its capital is the sacred city of Mecca, but its largest city is Jeddah, which is also Saudi Arabia's main port city. The governor of the province is Prince Khalid Al-Faisal, a son of the late King Faisal.