Ma'ariya (, also transliterated ''Ma'ari''), also known as Umm Sharq, is a village in southern
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
, administratively part of the
Daraa Governorate
Daraa Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ') is one of the fourteen Governorates of Syria, governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in the south-west of the country and covers an area of 2594 km2. It is bordered by Jordan to the south, Quneitra G ...
, located west of
Daraa
Daraa (, Levantine Arabic: ) is a city in southwestern Syria, north of the border with Jordan. It is the capital of Daraa Governorate in the Hauran region. Located south of Damascus on the Damascus–Amman highway, it serves as a way sta ...
. According to the
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Ma'ariya had a population of 1,083 in the 2004 census.
History
Ottoman period
In 1596 Ma'ariya appeared in the
Ottoman tax registers as part of the ''
nahiya
A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, 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 divisi ...
'' (subdistrict) of Jawlan Sharqi in the
Qada of Hauran
The Hauran Sanjak (, ) was a sanjak of the Ottoman Empire, spanning the southern areas of Ottoman Syria, located in modern-day Syria and Jordan. The city of Daraa was the sanjak's capital. The sanjak had a population of 182,805 in 1914.
Subdistr ...
. It had an all
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
population consisting of 5 households. A fixed tax−rate of 25% was paid on wheat (450
akçe
The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (anglicized as ''akche'', ''akcheh'' or ''aqcha''; ; , , in Europe known as '' asper'') was a silver coin mainly known for being the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. It was also used in other states includi ...
), barley (180 a.), summer crops (70 a.), goats and/or beehives (50 a.), in addition to taxes occasional revenues (50 a.); a total of 900 akçe.
In 1884, American archaeologist
Gottlieb Schumacher
Gottlieb Schumacher (21 November 1857 – 26 November 1925) was an United States, American-born civil engineer, architecture, architect and archaeology, archaeologist of Germans, German descent, who was an important figure in the early archaeol ...
described Ma'ariya (which he spelled 'M'arri') as an "uninhabited spot, where there are scattered ruins of considerable extent, but no remains of archaeological interest". He noted it laid just east of Arqub al-Rahwa, which called the presumed Biblical
Argob
The Lajat (/ALA-LC: ''al-Lajāʾ''), also spelled ''Lejat'', ''Lajah'', ''el-Leja'' or ''Laja'', is the largest lava field in southern Syria, spanning some 900 square kilometers. Located about southeast of Damascus, the Lajat borders the Haura ...
, and that both sites were built on the same hill shoulder. The name 'M'arri' was that of a Muslim saintly figure buried in a close-by cavernous area underneath a terebinth tree.
Bedouin
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...
s from the local Manadhira tribe grew tobacco, grain and vegetables on the slopes by the site.
2024 invasion by Israel
In December 2024
Israel invaded further into Syria. On 19 December, it was reported that the Israeli military has prevented Syrian farmers in Ma'ariya from accessing their fields.
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
Kafer el Ma-map; 21K{{Daraa Governorate, daraa
Populated places in Daraa District
Villages in Syria