Al-Karak
Al-Karak
الكرك | |
---|---|
City | |
Nickname: Qir of Moab | |
Coordinates: 31°11′0″N 35°42′0″E / 31.18333°N 35.70000°E | |
Grid position | 216/065 |
Country | Jordan |
Governorate | Karak Governorate |
Greater Karak Municipality | 1893 |
Government | |
• Mayor | Mohammed Maaitah |
Area | |
• Metro | 765 km2 (295 sq mi) |
Elevation | 930 m (3,051 ft) |
Population (2015)[2] | |
• City | 32,216[1] |
• Metro | 351,169 |
Time zone | GMT +2 |
• Summer (DST) | +3 |
Area code | +(962)2 |
Al-Karak (
Al-Karak lies 140 kilometres (87 mi) to the south of Amman on the ancient King's Highway. It is situated on a hilltop about 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) above sea level and is surrounded on three sides by a valley. Al-Karak has a view of the Dead Sea. A city of about 32,216 people (2005[1]) has been built up around the castle and it has buildings from the 19th-century Ottoman period. The town is built on a triangular plateau, with the castle at its narrow southern tip.
History
Iron Age to Assyrian period
Al-Karak has been inhabited since at least the
Hellenistic to Early Muslim period
During the late
The area eventually fell under the power of the
Al-Karak contains some of the oldest Christian communities in the world, dating as early as the 1st century AD.
Crusader, Ayyubid and Mamluk periods
Al-Karak fell within the
The castle was in Crusader hands for only 46 years. It had been threatened by
Al-Karak was the birthplace of
, author of the earliest medieval Arabic treatise intended solely for surgeons.In 1355, Ibn Battuta visited and wrote: "Al Karak is one of the strongest and most celebrated fortresses of Syria. It is called also Hisn al Ghurab (the Crow's Fortress), and is surrounded on every side by ravines. There is only one gateway, and that enters by a passage tunnelled in the live rock, which tunnel forms a sort of hall. We stayed four days outside Karak, at a place called Ath Thaniyyah.[11]
The castle played an important role as a place of exile and a power base several times during the
Ottoman period
In 1596 Al-Karak appeared in the
Al-Karak is dominated by the Al Majali tribe,[14] the Tarawneh tribe and the Maaitah tribe.[15] The Ghassanid tribe is believed to be the first to inhabit the site of modern al-Karak.[citation needed] The tribe consists of the families: Suheimat, Halasa{Halaseh}, Dmour, Mbaydeen, Adaileh, Soub, and Mdanat and Karakiyeen.
In 1844 Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt sent an expedition west of the Dead Sea. His troops occupied the castle at al-Karak but they were starved out with much loss of life.
Mohammed Al-Majali who had control of Al-Karak in 1868, was involved in the events that led to the destruction of the Moabite Stone.[16]
In 1893 the Sublime Porte
One estimate of the population of the town and the surrounding area at this time gives a total of 10,000. Of these, 8000 were
Karak revolt and Arab Revolt
The
During the Arab Revolt (1916–1918), the Turkish Army abandoned al-Karak after Sherif Abdullah ibn Hamza led a 70 horsemen attack on Mezraa. This Ottoman naval base was rendered useless, after the destruction of the flotilla used to transport grain across the Dead Sea, on 28 Jan. 1918.[25][26]
British Mandate, Emirate of Transjordan
Following the
In the 1920s, Al-Karak had a population of 8,000 and had the third largest urban population (after
Kingdom of Jordan
In 1961, the population of Karak town was 7,422 persons,[29] of whom 1,622 where Christian.[30]
In August 1996, there were food riots in the town after the government increased the price of bread.[31]
The town and castle were the scene of an attack by gunmen on 18 December 2016 in which at least 19 people were killed; 13 Jordanian civilians and security forces, a Canadian tourist, and all 5 attackers.[32]
Climate
Al-Karak has a
Climate data for Al-Karak | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 9.4 (48.9) |
10.8 (51.4) |
14.3 (57.7) |
18.7 (65.7) |
23.5 (74.3) |
27.2 (81.0) |
29.9 (85.8) |
30.3 (86.5) |
28.8 (83.8) |
23.3 (73.9) |
16.2 (61.2) |
10.9 (51.6) |
20.3 (68.5) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 5.1 (41.2) |
6.5 (43.7) |
9.3 (48.7) |
13.2 (55.8) |
17.5 (63.5) |
21.1 (70.0) |
22.9 (73.2) |
23.3 (73.9) |
21.8 (71.2) |
17.1 (62.8) |
11.2 (52.2) |
6.7 (44.1) |
14.6 (58.4) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 0.7 (33.3) |
2.1 (35.8) |
4.2 (39.6) |
7.6 (45.7) |
11.5 (52.7) |
14.9 (58.8) |
15.8 (60.4) |
16.2 (61.2) |
14.8 (58.6) |
10.9 (51.6) |
6.2 (43.2) |
2.4 (36.3) |
8.9 (48.1) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 86 (3.4) |
75 (3.0) |
68 (2.7) |
17 (0.7) |
4 (0.2) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
5 (0.2) |
32 (1.3) |
72 (2.8) |
359 (14.1) |
Source: climate-data |
Demographics
Al-Karak's metropolitan population was estimated to be 68,800 in 2013, making up 31.5% of the total population of the Karak Governorate. Most of the population of the city is Muslim (75%) and there is also a significant Christian population (25%). In general, the percentage of Christians in al-Karak is among the highest in Jordan.[citation needed]
Cuisine
Al-Karak is famous for its traditional Jordanian lamb dish called mansaf.
Gallery
-
Karak is known for its crusader castle, one of the largest castles in the region
-
A street in al-Karak
-
An al-Karak city police vehicle
-
Mosque
-
A statue of Saladin and mosque behind in the city center
Notable people
- Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
See also
References
- ^ a b "Jordan: Governorates, Major Cities & Urban Localities - Population Statistics, Maps, Charts, Weather and Web Information".
- ^ (in Arabic) > [1]
- Hitti, 1970, p. 641.
- ^ Moujaes, Anthony. "Four refugee families living in Jordan share their stories with Mid-East delegation". United Church of Christ. Archived from the original on 24 September 2016.
- ^ Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. III, coll. 729-734
- ^ Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, Leipzig 1931, p. 454
- ^ Runciman, 1951, p. 230
- ^ Runciman, 1951, p. 468. "after the last horse had been eaten."
- ^ Hitti, 1970, p. 652
- ^ a b c Le Strange, 1890, p. 479
- ^ Le Strange, 1890, pp. 479−480
- ^ Holt, 1986, pp. 86, 128
- ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 171
- ^ Bliss, 1895, p. 217
- ^ Dowling and the Al Mdanat tribe the first Christian Tribe in the region, 1896, pp. 328, 329. Records the Mujely being "unreasonable in there treatment" of visitors in 1817 (Irby and Mangles), 1851 (De Saulcy), 1872 (Canon Tristram) and 1893 (John Edward Gray Hill and his wife Caroline).
- ^ Doughtey, 1921, p. 26
- ^ Bliss, 1895, p. 203
- ^ Bliss, 1895, p. 220
- ^ a b Dowling, 1896, p. 329
- ^ Hill, 1896, 24
- ^ Hill, 1896, p. 24. Who also notes that in 1896 there were three Jews living in the town.
- ISBN 9004119124.
- ISBN 9780520224223.
- ISBN 9781860643316. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
- ^ Lawrence, T.E. (1935). Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Garden City: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc. pp. 484.
- ISBN 9780300226393.
- ^ Sykes, 1965/1967, pp. 52,53
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica (1929), Volume 22. Page 414.
- ^ Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 6
- ^ Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, pp. 115-116
- ISBN 1-900949-69-5. Page 227.
- ^ "Jordan attack: Canadian among seven dead in Karak shooting". BBC News. 18 December 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
Bibliography
- Bliss, F.J. (1895). "Narrative of an Expedition to Moab and Gilead in March, 1895". Quarterly Statement - Palestine Exploration Fund. 27: 203–235.
- Doughtey, C.M. (1921). Travels in Arabia Deserta. London: P.L. Warner.
- Dowling, T.E. (1896). "Kerak in 1896". Quarterly Statement - Palestine Exploration Fund. 28: 327–332.
- Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics (1964). First Census of Population and Housing. Volume I: Final Tables; General Characteristics of the Population (PDF).
- Gubser, Peter (1973). Politics & Change in Al-Karak, Jordan, A Study of a Small Arab Town & Its District. ISBN 0-19-215805-8.
- Hill, G. (1896). "A journey east of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, 1895". Quarterly Statement - Palestine Exploration Fund. 28: 24–47.
- ISBN 0-333-09871-4.
- Holt, P.M. (1986). The Age of the Crusades. The Near East from the Eleventh century to 1517. Longman. ISBN 0-582-49302-1.
- Hütteroth, Wolf-Dieter; Abdulfattah, Kamal (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.
- Irby, C.L.; Mangles, J. (1823). Travels in Egypt and Nubia, Syria, and Asia Minor; during the years 1817 & 1818. London: Printed for Private Distribution by T. White & Co. (pp. 361, 444, 456)
- Le Strange, G. (1890). Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- )
- )
- ISBN 0-521-06162-8.
- Saulcy, L.F. de (1854). Narrative of a journey round the Dead Sea, and in the Bible lands, in 1850 and 1851. Vol. 1, new edition. London: R. Bentley. (pp. 368 ff)
- Sykes, C.(1965). Cross Roads to Israel: Palestine from Balfour to Bevin. New English Library Edition (pb) 1967.
- Tristram, H.B. (1873). The land of Moab; travels and discoveries on the east side of the Dead sea and the Jordan. New York: Harper and brothers.