| Ras Maska راس مسقا |
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Ras Maska
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Lebanon |
| Governorate | North Governorate |
| District | Koura District |
| Elevation | 150 m (492 ft) |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
| • Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) |
| Postal code | |
| Dialing code | +961 |
Ras Maska (also Ra's Maska or Ras Masqa, Arabic: رأس مسقا ) is a village located in the Koura District in the North Governorate of Lebanon.
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This village is located in the koura district on the hills overlooking the Mediterranean to the south of Tripoli. It is composed of two parts:
- the Northern Ras Maska, nearest to Tripoli is the lowest part of the village located at 60 meters (200 ft) above sea level. The northern part population is in majority Muslim (sunni). Even though it belongs administratively to the Koura district, there are calls to be considered as part of the Greater Tripoli and to be included in the urban Master Plan of Tripoli. It witnessed an important economic development due to its excellent location that hosts many coastal beach resorts.[1]
- the Southern Ras Maska is the highest part of the village at 200 meters (660 ft) above sea level. The southern part population is in majority Christian, and hosts many communities mostly Greek Orthodox, Maronites and evangelicals. Southern Ras Maska is known for its olive agriculture and the high quality of its olive oil industry.
The local population do not exceed two thousand inhabitants. And the main families of Rasmaska are: Abdo, Faraj (فرج), Hajj Youssef, Jalloul ,Sleiman, Antoun, Dayri, Dib, El-Kari, Fahd, Ghajar, Lattouf, Nakhoul, Sarouni and badran.
The name of the village is probably derived from the Aramaic language, Ras meaning Top and Maska meaning Drinking stream." The equivalent meaning could be the Top of the Stream. The geography of the village incites us to favor this meaning more than the equivalent Arabic of Top of Irrigation [2].
Many believe that Ras Maska's name is also derived from the Syriac word meaning "the ascension and progress." In Aramaic, the name means "irrigation." The town maintains an old, 3 km long tunnel called Al-Naqra, which is believed to have been constructed to irrigate the gardens of Tripoli. In the area of Al-Khirbeh are found some sarcophagi carved into rocks, and according to local tradition the towns land is filled with buried gold jars.
Ras Maska is an old village. It figures in the first Ottoman census of 1519. It belonged to the Nahiyat Koura / Anfeh and was inhabited by 14 male adults (more than 15 years old), 80% of them being married[3]. If we adopt the estimation of the Historians[4]), the number of inhabitants of Ras Maska in 1519 would have been of 70 persons.
In the Ottoman census of 1571, the number of male adults was of 26. The population of Ras Maska practically doubled over the period, growing on average by 12 per mil per year to be compared to a growth of the number of inhabitants in the Nahiyat of 6.7% per mil per year.[5]
(French) Municipalité de Ras Maska (French) Lycée Franco-Libanais Alphonse De Lamartine
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