Surat al-Kahf).[citation needed] The population of Sahab in 2015 was 169,434.[1]
History
Beginning in the 1870s,
Salt in an Ottoman administrative document from 1883.[3] Eventually, the Egyptian families permanently settled and intermarried with the local inhabitants.[2] In 1894, three of the Egyptian clans, the Zyoud, Maharmah and Taharwah, purchased the fields around the khirba (ruined or abandoned village) of Sahab and turned the site into a major farming estate.[2] The population of Sahab was 549 in the 1915 Ottoman census.[4] The clans of Sahab, collectively known as "Masarwat Sahab" (the Egyptians of Sahab), ultimately became fully integrated into Jordanian society and since the 1950s they have gained electoral influence by dint of their numbers.[2] In the 2000s or before, a representative of the community gained a seat in the country's parliament.[2]
In 1961 the population of Sahab was 2,580 inhabitants.[5]
Sahab had been part of
Syrian refugees, 20,000 were migrant laborers from Southeast Asia and 15,000 were Egyptian expatriate workers.[6]
In 1984 the Abdullah II Ibn Al-Hussein Industrial Estate (AIE) was established in Sahab.[7] It is the largest industrial city in Jordan, covering 253 hectares, hosting 457 industries and employing 15,675 employees.[7] Sahab contains the largest cemetery in greater Amman.[8] The city has become known in Jordan mainly as an industrial hub, as well as for its overpopulation and pollution, prompting a 2016 initiative by its mayor Abbas Maharmeh, elected in 2013, to beautify and develop the city into a tourist destination.[8][9] The initiative envisions eleven projects, among which are the transition to solar energy for electricity needs, the establishment of a museum, the creation of green areas, the painting of the city's buildings and the erection of an arabesque gate at the entrance of the town.[9]