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1757 Hajj Caravan Raid
The 1757 Hajj caravan raid was the plunder and massacre of the Hajj caravan of 1757 on its return to Damascus from Mecca by Bedouin tribesmen. The caravan was under the protection of an Ottoman force led by the ''Wali'' (provincial governor) of Damascus, Husayn Pasha, and his deputy Musa Pasha, while the Bedouin were led by Qa'dan al-Fayez of the Bani Sakher tribe. An estimated 20,000 pilgrims were either killed or died of hunger or thirst as a result of the raid. Although Bedouin raids on the Hajj caravan were fairly common, the 1757 raid represented the peak of such attacks. Historian Aref Abu-Rabia called it the "most famous" raid against a Hajj caravan. The attack caused a crisis in the Ottoman Government. Husayn Pasha was dismissed and senior officials such as the ''kizlar agha'' (chief eunuch), Aboukouf, and the former ''wali'' of Damascus, As'ad Pasha al-Azm, were executed for their alleged negligence or involvement, respectively. Background Performing the Hajj (ann ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qatraneh
Al Qatraneh or Al Qatrana is a small town in Jordan.King Abdullah II of Jordan, ''Our Last Best Chance'', New York, New York: Viking Press, 2011, p. 56 It is located 90 miles south of Amman.Matthew Teller, ''Rough guide to Jordan'', London: Rough Guides, 2002, pp334335/ref> It belongs administratively to Karak Governorate. History The town is famous for its historic Qasr Al-Qatraneh, which was built in the Ottoman era as a waystation for pilgrims on their way to Hajj. Geography The town lies on the Desert Highway, in the desert plain east of the Mountains of Moab, on the borders between Karak and Amman Governorates. The town is located on one of the tributaries of the Mujib River. Demographics In the census of 2004, the town had a population of 6,949. The male to female ratio was 51% to 49%. Jordanian citizens made up 95% of the population. The estimated population in 2010 is about 8,300. See also *Al-Qatraneh district *Qatrana Power Plant Al Qatrana power plant (Qatrana ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The region is bounded by the Turkish Straits to the northwest, the Black Sea to the north, the Armenian Highlands to the east, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and the Aegean Sea to the west. The Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean seas through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the Balkan peninsula of Southeast Europe. The eastern border of Anatolia has been held to be a line between the Gulf of Alexandretta and the Black Sea, bounded by the Armenian Highlands to the east and Mesopotamia to the southeast. By this definition Anatolia comprises approximately the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey. Today, Anatolia is sometimes considered to be synonymous with Asian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dhat Al-Hajj
Dhat al-Hajj is an archaeological site in the Tabuk Province of Saudi Arabia, located north of Tabuk and south of the border with Jordan. Beginning sometime in the Middle Ages, Dhat al-Hajj served as a rest stop and watering place on the Hajj caravan route connecting Egypt and Syria to the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The Ottomans fortified the site in the late 16th century. It fell into ruin by the early 18th century and was taken over by Bedouin tribesmen, though it was restored in later decades. The fort is a three-story square structure built around a courtyard and reservoir. History The earliest possible reference to Dhat al-Hajj was by the 9th-century geographer al-Idrisi, who described the site as a settlement named Damma.Petersen 2012, p. 130. Historian Alois Musil identified Damma (or Dimneh) with Dhat al-Hajj, but archaeologist Andrew Petersen asserts Musil's claim to be speculative and unreliable. According to Petersen, the 13th-century geographer Yaqut al- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Balqa (region)
The Balqa ( ar, البلقاء; transliteration: ''al-Balqāʾ''), known colloquially as the Balga, is a geographic region in central Jordan generally defined as the highlands east of the Jordan Valley in between the Zarqa River to the north and the Wadi Mujib gorge to the south. The Balqa was part of the Byzantine Empire, Byzantine province of Arabia Petraea and home to the Arab tribes of Judham, Lakhm and Bali (tribe), Bali. After the Muslim conquest of the Levant, 630s Muslim conquest, it became part of Jund Dimashq (the military district of Damascus). The Umayyad dynasty, Umayyad family maintained interests in the region before the founding of the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), a period in which the Balqa prospered. Starting from the reign of Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, Abd al-Malik (), the Balqa was assigned its own sub-governor. The caliphs Yazid II and his son al-Walid II lived in the Balqa as princes and caliphs, building several Desert castles, palatial residences. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tabuk, Saudi Arabia
Tabuk ( ar, تَبُوْك '), also spelled ''Tabouk'', is the capital city of the Tabuk Region in northwestern Saudi Arabia. It has a population of 667,000 (as of 2021). It is close to the Jordanian–Saudi Arabia border, and houses the largest air force base in Saudi Arabia. History Ptolemy mentioned a place by the name 'Tabawa', at the northwestern corner of Arabia. This name may be a reference to 'Tabuka' or 'Tabuk'. If this is true, the town may be as old as Ptolemy's time. Pre-Islamic Arab poets, such as Antra and Nabiqa, mentioned its mountain 'Hasmi' in their poems. Tabouk became famous for the Expedition to Tabuk in 630 CE, during the period of prophet Muhammad. Since then, it remained a gateway of North Arabia. It was also visited by a number of European travelers such as Doughty in 1877 and Huber in 1884. Tabuk was captured by the Arab forces in 1918, 3 weeks after the British capture of Damascus. Tabuk became a centre of military activity during the 1991 Gulf Wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daraa
Daraa ( ar, دَرْعَا, Darʿā, Levantine Arabic: , also Darʿā, Dara’a, Deraa, Dera'a, Dera, Derʿā and Edrei; means "''fortress''", compare Dura-Europos) is a city in southwestern Syria, located about north of the border with Jordan. It is the capital of Daraa Governorate, historically part of the ancient Hauran region. The city is located about south of Damascus on the Damascus–Amman highway, and is used as a stopping station for travelers. Nearby localities include Umm al-Mayazen and Nasib to the southeast, Al-Naimah to the east, Ataman to the north, al-Yadudah to the northwest and Ramtha, Jordan to the southwest. According to the Syrian Central Bureau of Statistics, Daraa had a population of 97,969 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of a ''nahiyah'' ("sub-district") which contains eight localities with a collective population of 146,481 in 2004. By the 3rd-century, it gained the status of a ''polis'' (self-governed city). Roman historian E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hauran
The Hauran ( ar, حَوْرَان, ''Ḥawrān''; also spelled ''Hawran'' or ''Houran'') is a region that spans parts of southern Syria and northern Jordan. It is bound in the north by the Ghouta oasis, eastwards by the al-Safa (Syria), al-Safa field, to the south by Jordan's desert steppe and to the west by the Golan Heights. Traditionally, the Hauran consists of three subregions: the Nuqrah and Jaydur plains, the Jabal al-Druze massif, and the Lajat volcanic field. The population of the Hauran is largely Arab, but religiously heterogeneous; most inhabitants of the plains are Sunni Muslims belonging to large agrarian clans, while Druze form the majority in the eponymous Jabal al-Druze and a significant Greek Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox and Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Greek Catholic minority inhabit the western foothills of Jabal al-Druze. The region's largest towns are Daraa, Ar Ramtha, al-Ramtha and al-Suwayda. From the mid-1st century BCE, the region was governed by the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. is a city in Western Asia. Situated on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, it is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world and is considered to be a holy city for the three major Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Both Israelis and Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their Capital city, capital, as Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there and the State of Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power. Because of this dispute, Status of Jerusalem, neither claim is widely recognized internationally. Throughout History of Jerusalem, its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, Sie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaza City
Gaza (;''The New Oxford Dictionary of English'' (1998), , p. 761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory in Palestine, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza...". ar, غَزَّة ', ), also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of 590,481 (in 2017), making it the largest city in the State of Palestine. Inhabited since at least the 15th century BCE, Gaza has been dominated by several different peoples and empires throughout its history. The Philistines made it a part of their pentapolis after the Ancient Egyptians had ruled it for nearly 350 years. Under the Roman Empire Gaza experienced relative peace and its port flourished. In 635 CE, it became the first city in Palestine to be conquered by the Muslim Rashidun army and quickly developed into a center of Islamic law. However, by the time the Crusaders invaded the country starting in 1099, Gaza was in ruins. In later centuries, Gaza experienced several ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ma'an
Ma'an ( ar, مَعان, Maʿān) is a city in southern Jordan, southwest of the capital Amman. It serves as the capital of the Ma'an Governorate. Its population was approximately 41,055 in 2015. Civilizations with the name of Ma'an have existed at least since the Nabatean period—the modern city is just northwest of the ancient town. The city is an important transport hub situated on the ancient King's Highway and also on the modern Desert Highway. History Ma'an was founded by the Minaeans (known as "Ma'in" in Arabic), an ancient Arab people based in Yemen, between the 2nd and 4th century BCE.Museum With No Frontiers, p. 203. The site was located on a major trade route and was settled by Minaean traders and merchants. Local tradition has it that the city was named after "Ma'an", the son of Lot.Gibb, p. 897. During the Byzantine era in Syria, Ma'an was part of the territory of the Arab Christian tribe of Banu Judham who served as vassals for the Byzantines in Transjordan. In t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan River. Jordan is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south and east, Iraq to the northeast, Syria to the north, and the Palestinian West Bank, Israel, and the Dead Sea to the west. It has a coastline in its southwest on the Gulf of Aqaba's Red Sea, which separates Jordan from Egypt. Amman is Jordan's capital and largest city, as well as its economic, political, and cultural centre. Modern-day Jordan has been inhabited by humans since the Paleolithic period. Three stable kingdoms emerged there at the end of the Bronze Age: Ammon, Moab and Edom. In the third century BC, the Arab Nabataeans established their Kingdom with Petra as the capital. Later rulers of the Transjordan region include the Assyrian, Babylonian, Roman, Byzantine, Rashidun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syrian Desert
The Syrian Desert ( ar, بادية الشام ''Bādiyat Ash-Shām''), also known as the North Arabian Desert, the Jordanian steppe, or the Badiya, is a region of desert, semi-desert and steppe covering of the Middle East, including parts of southern Syria, eastern Jordan, northern Saudi Arabia, and western Iraq. It accounts for 85% of the land area of Jordan and 55% of Syria. To the south it borders and merges into the Arabian Desert. The land is open, rocky or gravelly desert pavement, cut with occasional wadis. Location and name The desert is bounded by the Orontes Valley and the volcanic field of Harrat al-Shamah to the west, and by the Euphrates to the east. In the north, the desert gives way to the more fertile areas and to the south it runs into the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. Some sources equate the Syrian Desert with the ''"Hamad Desert"'' while others limit the name ''Hamad'' to the southern central plateau. A few consider the Hamad to be the whole region and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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