Balila (Arabic: بليلا) is a town in far northwest
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 Rive ...
, between
Irbid
Irbid ( ar, إِربِد), known in ancient times as Arabella or Arbela (Άρβηλα in Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek), is the capital and largest city of the Irbid Governorate. It also has the second largest metropolitan population in ...
and
Jerash
Jerash ( ar, جرش ''Ǧaraš''; grc, Γέρασα ''Gérasa'') is a city in northern Jordan. The city is the administrative center of the Jerash Governorate, and has a population of 50,745 as of 2015. It is located north of the capital city ...
located in the
Jerash Governorate
Jerash Governorate ( ar, محافظة جرش) is one of 12 governorates in Jordan. It is located in the northwestern side of the country. The capital of the governorate is the city of Jerash.
Jerash Governorate has the smallest area of the 12 ...
. It covers 40 km², and has a population of over 8,000.
Name
''Balila'' is
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
for "high point". It is located at the foot of the mountains bordering Syria known as Huran, which translates to "flat land".
History
Balila is located near the border of
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
and Occupied Palestine. The Roman Empire utilized Balila as a remote hub to link between their colonies.
In 1838 Balila was noted as being in ruins.
The Jordanian census of 1961 found 761 inhabitants in Balila.
[Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p]
19
/ref>
Economy
Balila's economy relies on both public and private sectors, local commerce and farming.
Culture
Balila is a small quiet town in Jerash, the people there are famous because of their higher education levels. As other towns in Jordan around 40% of capital workers work in Jordan military and 40% in education jobs. Balila Consist of seven families all of them migrate from another town in Jerash called Migbelah, so people around Balila call the Magableh in connection to their original town. The Magableh family originated from the famous tribe Bani Tamim which had a great impact on the Arab world. These families are Bani-Mousa, Alokaili, Sowan, Okahsat, Masalha, Bani Yousef, Al-Gablan, Akawnah. All of them back to one grandfather. the total population is about 7,000 people. In the days of Othman's Khilafat and until the mid-eighties of the 20th century, the people of Balila worked in their farms after that they start higher education evolution, as a result of that 65% of the population hold a university degree, and 85% of those born after 1980 hold the first degree, many of them holding also the second degree and the doctoral degree.
References
Bibliography
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Municipalities in Jordan
Populated places in Jerash Governorate