Ghuta
33°30′00″N 36°25′15″E / 33.50000°N 36.42083°E Ghouta (
Name
Ghouta is the Arabic term (ghuta) for 'garden'.[1]
Geography
The Ghouta is an
The Ghouta is historically the most celebrated 'green zone' (a verdant, fertile area around an urban center) in the
The size of the Ghouta has varied considerably at different times and according to different surveys and estimates. In the 20th century, the Syrian journalist Muhammad Kurd Ali approximated that it spanned an area 20 by 10 kilometers (12.4 mi × 6.2 mi),[5] while a 2000 a survey reported that the region spanned 19,000 hectares.[6]
History
The
Since ancient times, canals dug by Damascenes provided irrigation of land on either side of the Barada, increasing the size of the Ghouta to the south and east of the city.[8] Separating the city from the dry grasslands bordering the Syrian Desert, the Ghouta has historically provided its inhabitants with a variety of cereals, vegetables and fruits.[9]
Ottoman period
Throughout much of the 19th century, most of the Ghouta farmlands were held by middle-class, small-scale landholders, who the historian James Reilly terms as "gentleman farmers".[10] This type of land tenure was enabled by "the intensive and commercial nature of irrigated agriculture", according to Doumani.[10] These farmers, part of whom were tenants and the other part possessors of usufruct rights, did not cultivate the lands themselves, but hired laborers with the considerable revenues they derived from their small plots.[10]
In the early 20th century, an estimated three-quarters of the Ghouta's lands were owned by small and middle-sized planters, known as zurra, a rare occurrence among the agricultural regions of the Levant at that time. The remainder of the lands were owned by members of the Damascene urban elite.[10]
French colonial period
Ghouta was the site of a French offensive against Druze rebels in 1926.[11]
Independent Syria
In 1965, the first small-scale state-owned farm collectives in Syria were established in the Ghouta, afterward spreading to other areas of the country.[12]
Eventually the irrigated agricultural area in the Damascus countryside reached a size of 370 square kilometers (140 sq mi). In the 1980s, urban growth from Damascus started replacing agricultural use with housing and industry, shrinking the green zone.[13]
Before the
Syrian Civil War
During the
In mid-2017, the main rebel faction in the area was
The residents described the life under the control of Islamist rebels as "hell" to a Channel 4 correspondent as they were forcibly conscripted, prevented from leaving and had no water and electricity.[20]
In February 2018, the Syrian army launched an
List of settlements in Ghouta
See also
References
- al-Jawlān, al-Biqāʿ and al-Hūla.[7]
- ^ Lehrman 1980, p. 190.
- ^ a b Grehan 2007, p. 23.
- ^ a b Taylor, p. 40.
- ^ a b Doumani 2017, p. 247.
- ^ Grehan 2007, pp. 23, 237, note 3.
- ^ Elhadj 2006, p. 149, note 293.
- ISBN 1-873938-14-4
- ^ "Damascus - Landscape - City site". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
- ^ Al Zoughbi, Samira (2005). "An Analysis of Agriculture-Environment Interactions and Policy Options for Sustainable Agriculture in Eastern Al Ghouta (Syria)" (PDF). Farming Systems and Poverty: Making a Difference -- Proceedings of the 18th International Symposium of the International Farming Systems Association: A Global Learning Opportunity. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. p. 31. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 7, 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
- ^ a b c d Doumani 2017, p. 258.
- ^ "11. French Syria (1919-1946)". uca.edu. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
- ^ Heydemann 1999, p. 195.
- LCCN 87600488.
- ^ Alsaafin, Linah (6 February 2015). "Syria's Eastern Ghouta: the latest casualty of war". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
- ^ Almohibany, Amer (22 October 2017). "In Syria region under regime siege, children die of hunger". France 24. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
- ^ "Damascus on Edge as War Seeps into Syrian Capital". New York Times. 10 February 2013.
- ^ Which rebel groups are fighting in Syria's eastern Ghouta?, Deutsche Welle, 20.02.2018
- ^ Explainer: Who's fighting whom in Syria's Ghouta?, BBC Monitoring, 22 February 2018
- ^ Wisam Franjieh In Besieged Eastern Ghouta, Rebel Infighting Increases Civilian Suffering, Syria Deeply, Aug. 1, 2017
- ^ Channel 4, Inside Ghouta as Syrian government fully controls Damascus for the first time in seven years, 24 May 2018
- ^ Loveluck, Louisa. "Dozens killed in apparent chemical weapons attack on civilians in eastern Ghouta — rescue workers". Washington Post. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
- ^ "Syrian army announces eastern Ghouta free of militants: state media". Reuters. 14 April 2018.
Bibliography
- Doumani, Beshara (8 June 2017). Family Life in the Ottoman Mediterranean: A Social History. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-76660-9.
- Elhadj, Elie (2006). Experiments in Achieving Water and Food Self-Sufficiency in the Middle East. Boca Raton. ISBN 1-58112-298-5.)
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Grehan, James (2007). Everyday Life and Consumer Culture in Eighteenth-Century Damascus. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-98676-0.
- Heydemann, Steven (1999). Authoritarianism in Syria: Institutions and Social Conflict, 1946-1970. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-2932-3.
- Lehrman, Jonas (1980). Earthly Paradise: Garden and Courtyard in Islam. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-04363-4.
- Taylor, Malissa Anne. Fragrant Gardens and Converging Waters: Ottoman Governance in Seventeenth-Century Damascus (Thesis). Berkeley: University of California.
External links
- "Damascus, Syria : Image of the Day". NASA. 26 June 2013. Satellite image of wider region showing 2013 green areas.