Al-Asharah

Al-Asharah
العشارة
Town
Al-Asharah
Coordinates: 34°55′13″N 40°33′34″E / 34.92028°N 40.55944°E / 34.92028; 40.55944
Country  Syria
Governorate Deir ez-Zor Governorate
District Mayadin District
Nahiyah Al-Asharah
Occupation Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Population (2004 census)[1]
 • Total 17,537
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
 • Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)

Al-Asharah (Arabic: العشارة‎‎, also spelled al-Ashareh or Esharah) is a town in eastern Syria, administratively part of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate, located along the Euphrates River, south of Deir ez-Zor. Nearby localities include al-Quriyah to the northeast, Makhan and Mayadin to the north, Suwaydan Jazirah to the southeast and Dablan to the south. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Asharah had a population of 17,537 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative seat of a nahiyah ("subdistrict") which consists of seven localities with a total population of 96,001 in 2004. Al-Asharah is the third largest locality in the nahiyah.[1] Its inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslims. From Arabians Tribes of Tayy Al-Rahabi and Al Uqaydat.[2]

Al-Asharah is the administrative center of Nahiya al-Asharah of the Mayadin District.

History

Al-Asharah is built on the site of the ancient Aramean-Assyrian settlement of Terqa.[3][4] A stele dated to 886 BCE honoring the victory of Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta II over the Arameans was found in al-Asharah. The stele is currently located in the National Museum of Aleppo.[3] Terqa was the capital of the Neo-Assyrian kingdom of Khana and continued to develop until the end of the Bronze Age when its decline began. Excavations in al-Asharah revealed evidence that Terqa contained urban institutions and its inhabitants had exploited the area's soil for economic benefit.[4]

In the mid-19th-century, it was noted by the Bombay Geographic Society that al-Asharah was a "little town" that consisted of an unorganized grouping of Arab huts and a population whose traditions suggested the place was ancient.[5] From around that time until the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in 1917, al-Asharah served as the center of a kaza ("district"), bearing its name, that was part of the larger Sanjak of Zor province. The kaza had two nawahi: al-Asharah and al-Busayrah.[6]

In 1920, a meeting between officials and officers of the Sharifian Army and the nascent Kingdom of Syria was held in al-Asharah and hosted by Emir Faisal. There negotiations over the borders between Syria and Iraq were discussed and it was concluded the Abu Kamal would remain a part of the Deir ez-Zor province of Syria.[7]

In the early 1960s al-Asharah was described as a small village built on an artificial mound where Terqa stood.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Deir az-Zawr Governorate. (in Arabic)
  2. ↑ Smith, 1841, p. 174.
  3. 1 2 Nelles Guide, 1999, p. 127.
  4. 1 2 Kuhne, p. 134.
  5. ↑ Bombay Geographic Society, 1844, p. 180.
  6. ↑ Zor Mutasarrıflığı. Tarih ve Medeniyet. 2009.
  7. ↑ Rush, p. 263.
  8. ↑ Boulanger, 1966, p. 490.

Bibliography

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