Shamsin ( ar, شمسين ''Shamsîn'' also spelled Shemsin, Shamsinn or Shimsan) is a village in central

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, administratively part of the

Homs Governorate Homs Governorate ( ar, مُحافظة حمص / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥimṣ'') is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in central Syria. Its area differs in various sources, from to . It is thus geographical ...

, located south of

Homs Homs ( , , , ; ar, حِمْص / ALA-LC: ; Levantine Arabic: / ''Ḥomṣ'' ), known in pre-Islamic Syria as Emesa ( ; grc, Ἔμεσα, Émesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level ...

. Nearby localities include al-Qusayr to the west,

Damina al-Sharqiya Daminah al-Sharqiyah ( ar, دمينة الشرقية) is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, south of Homs. Nearby localities include Shinshar to the northeast, al-Buwaida al-Sharqiya Al-Buwaidah al-Sharqiy ...

to the northwest,

Shinshar Shinshar ( ar, شنشار, Shinshār, also spelled Shanshar) is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located between Homs to the north, al-Qusayr to the southwest and Shamsin to the south. According to the ...

to the north,

Dardaghan Dardaghan ( ar, دردغان, also spelled ''al-Dardaghan'') is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located southeast of Homs. Nearby localities include Jandar to the west, Hisyah to the southwest and al-Riq ...

to the southeast and

Hisyah Hisyah ( ar, حِسْيَاء, Ḥisyāʾ, also spelled Hasya, Hasiyah, Hesa or Hessia) is a town in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located about 35 kilometers south of Homs. Situated on the M5 Highway between Homs a ...

to the south. According to the Syrian Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Shamsin had a population of 811 in the 2004 census.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Homs Governorate. Its inhabitants are predominantly

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagree ...

History

In 1226, during

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni ...

rule, Syrian geographer

Yaqut al-Hamawi Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) ( ar, ياقوت الحموي الرومي) was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine Greek ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th-13th centuries). He is known fo ...

visited Shamsin, noting it was "a place between Hims (Homs) and

Kara Kara or KARA may refer to: Geography Localities * Kara, Chad, a sub-prefecture * Kára, Hungary, a village * Kara, Uttar Pradesh, India, a township * Kara, Iran, a village in Lorestan Province * Kara, Republic of Dagestan, a rural locality in Da ...

." Under the Ayyubids and later the

Mamluk Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...

s who gained power in 1250, Shamsin was part of Mamlakat Hims ("Kingdom of Homs"), the smallest district in both sultanates. In the mid-19th-century, Shamsin was described as "a small place" by German traveler Albert Socin. During this period, the village was walled and referred to as the site of an old ''khan'' (

caravanserai A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was a roadside inn where travelers ( caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes covering ...

). It was populated by a few families, while the surrounding areas were dominated by the nomadic

`Anizzah Anizah or Anazah ( ar, عنزة, ʻanizah, Najdi pronunciation: ) is an Arabian tribe in the Arabian Peninsula, Upper Mesopotamia, and the Levant. Genealogy and origins Anizah's existence as an autonomous tribal group, like many prominent ...

tribe.Draper, 1854, p. 681.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{Homs Governorate, homs Populated places in Homs District