Yalda ( ar, يلدا, Yaldā, also spelled Yelda) is a town in southern

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

Rif Dimashq Governorate Rif Dimashq Governorate ( ar, محافظة ريف دمشق, ', literally, the "Governorate of the Countryside of Damascus", Damascus Suburb) is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in the southwestern part of the c ...

, located on the southern outskirts of

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

to the west of the

Yarmouk Camp Yarmouk ( ar, مُخَيَّم ٱلْيَرْمُوْك / ALA-LC: ', ) is a district of the city of Damascus, populated by Palestinians, with hospitals and schools. It is located from the center of Damascus and within municipal boundaries (but n ...

. Nearby localities include

al-Hajar al-Aswad Al-Hajar al-Aswad ( ar, اَلْحَجَرُ ٱلْأَسْوَدُ, al-Ḥajaru l-Aswad, lit=The Black Stone) is a Syrian city just south of the centre of Damascus in the Darayya District of the Rif Dimashq Governorate. According to the Syr ...

Jaramana Jaramana ( ar, جرمانا) is a city in southern Syria, administratively part of the Rif Dimashq Governorate in the Ghouta plain. Its location, 3 kilometers southeast of the Syrian capital, makes it a bustling town in the greater Damascus metro ...

Sayyidah Zaynab Sayyidah Zaynab ( ar, السيدة زينب, as-Sayyidah Zaynab; meaning "Lady Zaynab"), commonly known as Sitt Zaynab ( ar, ست زينب), is a town in the Rif Dimashq Governorate of Syria, south of Damascus, the national capital. With a popula ...

al-Sabinah Al-Sabinah ( ar, السبينة) is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the Rif Dimashq Governorate, located southwest of Damascus in the western Ghouta. Nearby localities include Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, Darayya Darayya ( ar, دَ ...

and

Babbila Babbila ( ar, ببيلا, also spelled Bebbila) is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the Rif Dimashq Governorate, located on the southern outskirts of Damascus to the east of the Yarmouk Camp. Nearby localities include al-Hajar al ...

. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Yalda had a population of 28,384 in the 2004 census.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Rif Dimashq Governorate. The town is also in the Babbila ''

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 ...

'' consisting of 13 towns and villages with a combined population of 341,625.

History

The town has ancient ruins including foundations of hewn stone and

Corinthian columns The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order w ...

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 ...

. Yalda was visited by Syrian geographer

Yaqut al-Hamawi Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) ( ar, ياقوت الحموي الرومي) was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine Greek ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th-13th centuries). He is known fo ...

in the early 13th-century, during

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni ...

rule. He noted that it was "a village lying some 3 miles from

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

. The final ''n'' is sometimes left out, and the name pronounced Yalda."le Strange, 1890, p
552
/ref>

References

Bibliography

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External links

google map
{{Rif Dimashq Governorate, markaz Populated places in Markaz Rif Dimashq District