Al-Sahwah

Al-Sahwah (Arabic: السهوة‎, also spelled el-Sahoa or Sahweh, Turkish: El Sehva[1]); also known as Sahwat al-Qamh or Sehwet el-Kamh is a village in southern Syria, administratively part of the Daraa Governorate, located east of Daraa. Nearby localities include al-Jiza to the southwest, Ghasm to the south, Maaraba, Daraa to the southeast, Umm Walad to the northeast, al-Musayfirah to the north and Kahil to the west. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Sahwah had a population of 3,950 in the 2004 census, making it the least populous locality in the al-Musayfirah nahiyah ("subdistrict").[2]

Al-Sahwah

السهوة[1]
Village
Al-Sahwah
Coordinates: 32°35′46″N 36°22′4″E
Grid position278/222
Country Syria
GovernorateDaraa
DistrictDaraa
SubdistrictAl-Musayfirah
OccupationSyrian Arab Army
Population
 (2004)[2]
 • Total3,950
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)

History

In 1596 Al-Sahwah appeared in the Ottoman tax registers under the name of Sahut al-Qamh, as being part of the nahiya of Butayna in the Qada Hauran. It had an entirely Muslim population consisting of 9 households and 4 bachelors. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 40% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and/or beehives; a total of 3,300 akçe.[3]

There are ruins of an ancient tower and a church in al-Sahwah. Although the buildings are of some significance, they do not differ much from the ancient Roman and Byzantine architecture found throughout the Hauran. The village did not have any Christian residents in the 19th century.[4]

In 1838 the village was classified as a khirba ("abandoned village") by English biblical scholar Eli Smith.[5] In the late 19th-century al-Sahwah had a population of about 350 people living in about 70 households. The village was vulnerable to incursions by Druze raiders, and also had a shortage of water sources. The villagers had to pay a certain sum to the Druze sheikhs ("chiefs"), in order to connect to a water-canal south of the village and fill the village reservoir. If, in the event of a bad harvest, they could not pay this sum, the village would face mass hunger and cattle had to be taken to Bosra for water.[4]

References
  1. Günümüzde Suriye Türkmenleri. — Suriye’de Değişimin Ortaya Çıkardığı Toplum: Suriye Türkmenleri, p. 21 ORSAM Rapor № 83. ORSAM – Ortadoğu Türkmenleri Programı Rapor № 14. Ankara — November 2011, 33 pages.
  2. General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Daraa Governorate. (in Arabic)
  3. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 215
  4. Schumacher, 1897, p. 164.
  5. Smith; in Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Second appendix, B, p. 151

Bibliography
  • Hütteroth, Wolf-Dieter; Abdulfattah, Kamal (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. ISBN 3-920405-41-2.
  • Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. 3. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
  • Schumacher, G. (1897). "Der Südliche Basan". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 19-20: 65–227.
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