ar-Rihiya

ar-Rihiya
Other transcription(s)
  Arabic ريحيا
ar-Rihiya

Location of ar-Rihiya within the Palestinian Territories

Coordinates: 31°28′46.45″N 35°03′52.93″E / 31.4795694°N 35.0647028°E / 31.4795694; 35.0647028Coordinates: 31°28′46.45″N 35°03′52.93″E / 31.4795694°N 35.0647028°E / 31.4795694; 35.0647028
Governorate Hebron
Government
  Type Village council
Population (2007)
  Jurisdiction 3,949
Name meaning Possibly "The coiled-up snake"[1]

Ar-Rihiya (Arabic: ريحيا) is a Palestinian town located six kilometers southwest of Hebron. The town is in the Hebron Governorate southern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of over 3,949 in 2007.[2]

History

Ottoman era

French explorer Victor Guérin visited the place in 1863, which he called Khirbet el-Harayeh. Local fellahins inhabited ancient underground storage areas.[3]

In 1883, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described the place as being a "large ruin with caves and cisterns, appears to be an ancient site".[4]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, 'Al Rihiyeh had a population 231, all Muslims[5] This had increased slightly at the time of the 1931 census to 243 Muslims, in 38 houses.[6]

In 1945 the population of Ar-Rihiya was 330 Arabs, who owned 2,659 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.[7] 136 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 1,093 for cereals,[8] while 25 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[9]

Footnotes

  1. According to Palmer, 1881, p. 405, the name might also come from "A millstone", or "A plot of ground, about a mile square, above the water level".
  2. 2007 PCBS Census Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. p.119.
  3. Guérin, 1869, pp. 211 -212
  4. Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 377
  5. Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Hebron, p. 10
  6. Mills, 1932, p. 33
  7. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 50
  8. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 94
  9. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 144

Bibliography

External links

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