Al-Kharsa (Arabic: الخرسا) is a village situated in the Shahba District of Suwayda Governorate, in southern Syria. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Al-Kharsa had a population of 547 in the 2004 census.[1] Its inhabitants are predominantly Druze, with a Sunni Muslim Bedouin minority.[2]
Al-Kharsa
الخرسا | |
|---|---|
Village | |
  Al-Kharsa | |
| Coordinates: 32°55′25″N 36°29′37″E / 32.92361°N 36.49361°E | |
| PAL | 289/260 |
| Country |  Syria |
| Governorate | Suwayda |
| District | Shahba |
| Subdistrict | Ariqah |
| Population (2004 census)[1] | |
• Total | 547 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
History
editIn 1596, Najran appeared in Ottoman tax registers under the name of Harsa, as being in the nahiya of Bani Miglad in the Qada Hawran. It had a population of 13 households, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 40% on various agricultural products, such as wheat (750 a.), barley (180 a.), summer crops (150 a.), goats and beehives (50 a.), in addition to "occasional revenues" (70 a.); a total of 1,200 akçe.[3]
In 1838, it was noted as a ruin, el-Khursa, situated "in the Lejah, east of Dama".[4]
Religious buildings
edit- Maqam Umm al-Kabash (Druze Shrine)
- Omar ibn al-Khattab Mosque
See also
editReferences
edit- 1 2 General Census of Population and Housing 2004 Deprecated link archived 2013-01-12 at archive.today. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Al-Suwayda Governorate. (in Arabic)
- ↑ "Druze communities in the Middle East". British Druze Society. Archived from the original on September 11, 2011.
- ↑ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 218
- ↑ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. 156
Bibliography
edit- Hütteroth, W.-D.; Abdulfattah, K. (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. ISBN 3-920405-41-2.
- Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Vol. 3. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.