Abdin (, also transliterated ''Abdeen'' or ''Abidin'') is a village in southern

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, administratively part of the

Daraa Governorate Daraa Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ') is one of the fourteen Governorates of Syria, governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in the south-west of the country and covers an area of 2594 km2. It is bordered by Jordan to the south, Quneitra G ...

, located west of

Daraa Daraa (, Levantine Arabic: ) is a city in southwestern Syria, north of the border with Jordan. It is the capital of Daraa Governorate in the Hauran region. Located south of Damascus on the Damascus–Amman highway, it serves as a way sta ...

. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Abdin had a population of 1,454 in the 2004 census. The village was listed in 16th-century Ottoman tax records. It was abandoned at an unknown point and reestablished by Algerian immigrants associated with the exiled Algerian resistance leader

Emir Abdelkader Abd al-Qadir ibn Muhyi al-Din (6 September 1808 – 26 May 1883; '), known as the Emir Abdelkader or Abd al-Qadir al-Hassani al-Jaza'iri, was an Algerian religious and military leader who led a struggle against the French colonial invasion of ...

in the mid-19th century.

History

Ottoman period

In 1596 Abdin appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as part of the ''

nahiya A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level divisi ...

'' (subdistrict) of Jawlan Sharqi in the

Qada of Hauran The Hauran Sanjak (, ) was a sanjak of the Ottoman Empire, spanning the southern areas of Ottoman Syria, located in modern-day Syria and Jordan. The city of Daraa was the sanjak's capital. The sanjak had a population of 182,805 in 1914. Subdistr ...

. It had an all

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

population consisting of 12 households and 8 bachelors. A fixed tax−rate of 25% was paid on wheat (7,050

akçe The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (anglicized as ''akche'', ''akcheh'' or ''aqcha''; ; , , in Europe known as '' asper'') was a silver coin mainly known for being the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. It was also used in other states includi ...

), barley (3,150 a.), summer crops (1,890 a.), goats and/or beehives (500), in addition to taxes on a water mill (30 a.) and occasional revenues (500 a.); a total of 13,000 akçe. Beginning in 1847, waves of

Algerians Algerians () are the citizens and nationals of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria. The majority of the country's population is composed of Arabs who make up 85% of the population, and there is a Berber minority of 15%. The term also ...

, particularly those associated with the anti-colonial leader Abdelkader al-Djezairi, escaping persecution, war or hardships under French rule in their country arrived in

Ottoman Syria Ottoman Syria () is a historiographical term used to describe the group of divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of the Levant, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Ara ...

. During this first wave (1847–1860), many of the Algerian immigrants were allocated lands by the Ottoman authorities in the

Hauran The Hauran (; also spelled ''Hawran'' or ''Houran'') is a region that spans parts of southern Syria and northern Jordan. It is bound in the north by the Ghouta oasis, to the northeast by the al-Safa field, to the east and south by the Harrat ...

plain and

Jabal Ajlun Jabal Ajlun () is the mountainous region in northwestern Jordan in between the Yarmouk River to the north and the Zarqa River to the south. It is administratively divided between the governorates of Irbid Governorate, Irbid, Ajloun Governorate, Aj ...

hills. Among the villages they settled was Abdin. In the 1880s

Gottlieb Schumacher Gottlieb Schumacher (21 November 1857 – 26 November 1925) was an United States, American-born civil engineer, architecture, architect and archaeology, archaeologist of Germans, German descent, who was an important figure in the early archaeol ...

noted Abdin was a medium-sized village of 150 inhabitants. Its thirty-six huts were built of stone or mud. The village water was supplied by a nearby spring and the lands around it were fertile and cultivated. The

sheikh Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...

of Abdin had an ancient

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

ic block inscribed in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

in the grounds of his home. In the village's vicinity was a ruined

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

, which Schumacher called Jami' Abdin, abutted by a square tower measuring about high and well-built of basaltic blocks. Around 1927, between 150 and 200 Algerians from the village of Sha'ara near

Tiberias Tiberias ( ; , ; ) is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Heb ...

were resettled in Abdin after their village was sold by Abdelkader's son, the

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

-based emir Sa'id, to a Jewish settlement organization.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Kafer el Ma-map; 21K
{{Daraa Governorate, daraa 19th-century establishments in Ottoman Syria Populated places in Daraa District Villages in Syria