According to
Yaqut's 13th-century geographical encyclopedia ''
Mu'jam Al-Buldan'', Manfuha was built a few centuries before
Islam at the same time as Hajr (now Riyadh) by members of the
Banu Hanifa tribe and their cousins from the tribe of
Bakr. Manfuha was home to the famous Arab poet
Al-A'sha, who died at around the same time as the
Muslim prophet
Muhammad, but little is heard of Manfuha after that time. At the turn of the 20th century, its population was made up largely of members of
Banu Hanifa and
Bakr (who by now had come to identify themselves with the related tribe of
'Anizzah), as well as members of
Tamim and
Subay'. Like all
Nejdi towns, its population also included a large percentage of non-tribally-affiliated tradesmen (
sonnaa'), as well as many slaves and freedmen working as agricultural labourers. Like Riyadh, the town was surrounded by gardens and palm groves. In the late 18th century, Manfuha fell under the rule of the energetic ruler of Riyadh,
Deham ibn Dawwas, who at the time was vigorously resisting the expansion of the new
Wahhabist state established by the
Al Saud clan of neighbouring
Diriyah (see
First Saudi State). Both towns eventually succumbed to the
Saudis, however, who ruled over Manfuha until their state was destroyed by an
Ottoman-
Egyptian invasion in 1818. From then on, the town's fortunes largely followed those of its neighbour, Riyadh, returning to Saudi rule under
Turki ibn Abdallah in 1824, then falling under the rule of the
Al Rashid clan of
Ha'il in the 1890s, before reverting to Saudi rule less than ten years later under the founder of
Saudi Arabia,
Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud. As the neighbouring Saudi capital expanded exponentially in the 20th century, fueled by the country's oil wealth, the walls of both Manfuha and Riyadh were torn down, and Manfuha was quickly swallowed in whole by the growing metropolis. Today, Manfuha is among the poorer districts of Riyadh as most of its original inhabitants have left to newer districts of the capital. Some of the town's old mud-brick buildings remain, as well as an ancient observation tower. A wide avenue cuts through the centre of Manfuha, named Al-A'sha Street, after its most famous son. Manfuha is now a neighbourhood in southern Riyadh. ==References==