Al-Sawda ( ar, السودا, also spelled Sauda or al-Soda) is a town in northwestern

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 ...

, administratively part of the

Tartus Governorate Tartus Governorate, also transliterated as Tartous Governorate, ( ar, مُحافظة طرطوس / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ṭarṭūs'') is one of the 14 governorates of Syria. It is situated in western Syria, bordering Latakia Governorate to the ...

, located 15 kilometers northeast of

Tartus ) , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = Tartus corniche Port of Tartus • Tartus beach and boulevard Cathedral of Our Lady of Tortosa • Al-Assad Stadium&n ...

. Nearby localities include

Annazah Anizah or Anazah ( ar, عنزة, ʻanizah, Najdi Arabic, Najdi pronunciation: ) is an Arabian tribe in the Arabian Peninsula, Upper Mesopotamia, and the Levant. Genealogy and origins Anizah's existence as an autonomous tribal group, like ma ...

to the northeast,

Maten al-Sahel Maten al-Sahel ( ar, متن الساحل), also known as Maten Arnouk ( ar, متن عرنوق‎), is a village in Tartus Governorate, northwestern Syria Originally named for the prominent Arnouk family land owners, the Syrian government renamed ...

to the northwest,

Husayn al-Baher Husayn al-Baher ( ar, حصين البحر, also spelled Husain al-Bahr or Hussein al-Baher) is a village in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Tartus Governorate, located north of Tartus. Nearby localities include Maten al-Sahel to t ...

to the west, Dweir al-Shaykh Saad to the southwest,

Awaru Awaru ( ar, عورو; also spelled Uru) is a hamlet in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the al-Sawda municipality of the Tartus Governorate, located northeast of Tartus. Nearby localities include al-Sawda to the north, Khawabi to the e ...

to the south,

Khirbet al-Faras Khirbat Al Faras ( ar, خربة الفرس) is a Syrian city administratively belonging to Tartus Governorate located in the Khawabi region, its distance from city of Tartus about 20 km. Khirbat Al Faras has an altitude of 300 meters and sur ...

to the southeast and

Khawabi Khawabi ( ar, الخوابي), also spelled Qala'at al-Khawabi ( ar, قلعة الخوابي) is a village and medieval citadel in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Tartus Governorate, located 20 kilometers northeast of Tartus and 12 ...

to the east. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Sawda had a population of 4,064 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of the al-Sawda ''

nahiyah A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...

'' ("sub-district") which contained 27 localities with a collective population of 32,925 in 2004.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Tartus Governorate. The inhabitants are predominantly

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

s,Balanche, 2006, p. 47. of the

Greek Orthodox Church The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also call ...

History

The name ''al-Sawda'' is Arabic for "black" which reflects upon the black

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

ic stone that al-Sawda's inhabitants previously used to construct the buildings of their town, including the main church. During the late Ottoman era, basalt-based masonry served as a principal industry in al-Sawda, employing up to 400 inhabitants by the beginning of the French Mandate period. The industry declined with the advent of cement and iron construction in the region. During the Ottoman era (1516-1918), the administrative center of the vicinity ("subdistrict") was based at the

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagree ...

town and medieval castle of

. There are still several Ottoman-era structures as well as a church in the town.Lee, 2010, p. 173. However, during the period of

French Mandate The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (french: Mandat pour la Syrie et le Liban; ar, الانتداب الفرنسي على سوريا ولبنان, al-intidāb al-fransi 'ala suriya wa-lubnān) (1923−1946) was a League of Nations mandate foun ...

rule that soon followed the Ottoman withdrawal from Syria, the center of the vicinity was moved to al-Sawda by the French authorities, because unlike Khawabi, al-Sawda's inhabitants did not participate in the

1919 Syrian Revolt The Alawite revolt (also called the Shaykh Saleh al-Ali Revolt) was a rebellion, led by Shaykh Saleh al-Ali against the French authorities of the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration and later as part of the Franco-Syrian War against the newl ...

led by Sheikh Salih al-Ali who hailed from the region. During the French Mandate, al-Sawda's status overtook that of Khawabi, as people who would normally being traveling to the latter for commercial transactions went to al-Sawda instead. While Khawabi rapidly declined, al-Sawda became a dynamic center having a clinic, a secondary school and a wide range of shops. However, in 1967, during the early stages of

Baathist Ba'athism, also stylized as Baathism, (; ar, البعثية ' , from ' , meaning "renaissance" or "resurrection"Hans Wehr''Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic'' (4th ed.), page 80) is an Arab nationalist ideology which promotes the creation ...

rule in Syria, the center for the ''

mantiqah Minṭaqah ( ; plural ''manāṭiq'' ) is a first-level administrative division in Saudi Arabia and Chad and for a second-level administrative division in several other Arab countries. It is often translated as ''region'' or ''district'', but the ...

'' ("district") was relocated by the Ministry of Local Affairs to al-Shaykh Badr which in 1970 had a population of 467 (and a lack of services) compared to al-Sawda's population of 1,103. Today al-Sawda is the center of a ''nahiyah'' in the

Tartus District Tartus District ( ar-at, منطقة طرطوس, manṭiqat Ṭarṭūs) is a district of the Tartus Governorate in northwestern Syria. The administrative centre is the city of Tartus ) , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = ...

, while al-Shaykh Badr has grown to become a significantly larger town and center of the al-Shaykh Badr District.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sawda Populated places in Tartus District Towns in Syria Eastern Orthodox Christian communities in Syria Greek Orthodoxy in Syria