Al Hasakah Governorate

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The Al Hasakah Governorate (Arabic: مُحافظة الحسكة, Kurdish: Hesîçe) is a governorate in the far north-east corner of Syria that has the Euphrates river running through it. It is distinguished by its fertile lands, plentiful water, picturesque nature, and more than one hundred archaeological sites.

[edit] Demographics and population

The inhabitants of Al Hasakah are mainly Kurds [1], [2] but minorities include Arabs and Assyrian Christians. The population of the governorate was estimated in 2006 [3] to be 1,225,926.

Location of Al Hasakah

Notable cities in the governorate and their estimated population as in 2006 [4] are :

Qamishli: 86,129
Al Hasakah: 81,809
Amuda: 45,980
Ra's Al Ein: 23,008
Ad Darbasiyah: 21,865
Al Malikiyah: 18,448

[edit] Archaeology

The most prominent archaeological sites are:

Hamoukar:considered by some archaeologists to be the oldest city in the world
Tell Halaf: Excavations have revealed successive civilization levels and beautiful basalt sculptures.
Tell Brak: Situated halfway between al-Hasakah city and the frontier town of al-Qamishli. Excavations in the tell have revealed the Uyun Temple and King Naram-Sin palace-stronghold.
Tell Hittin: 15 layers of occupation have been identified.
Tell Lilan: Excavations began in 1975 and have revealed many artefacts and buildings dating back to the 6th millennium BCE such as a bazaar, temple, palace, etc.

It is well known that the Khabur River, which flows through al-Hasakah for 440 km, witnessed the birth of the some of the earliest civilizations in the world.