Balila (Arabic: بليلا) is a town in far northwest

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

, between

Irbid Irbid (), known in ancient times as Arabella or Arbela (Άρβηλα in Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek), is the capital and largest city of Irbid Governorate. It has the second-largest metropolitan population in Jordan after Amman, with a ...

and

Jerash Jerash (; , , ) is a city in northern Jordan. The city is the administrative center of the Jerash Governorate, and has a population of 50,745 as of 2015. It is located 30.0 miles north of the capital city Amman. The earliest evidence of sett ...

located in the

Jerash Governorate Jerash Governorate () is one of 12 governorates in Jordan. It is located in the northwestern side of the country. The capital of the governorate is the city of Jerash. Jerash Governorate has the smallest area of the 12 governorates of Jordan, ...

. It covers 40 km², and has a population of over 8,000.

Name

''Balila'' is

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

for "high point". It is located at the foot of the mountains bordering Syria known as Huran, which translates to "flat ad green land".

History

Balila is located near the border of

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 ...

and Occupied Jordaninas and some Syrian refugees. The

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

utilized Balila as a remote hub to link their colonies. In 1838 Balila was noted as being in ruins. The Jordanian census of 1961 found 761 inhabitants in Balila.Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p
19
/ref>

Economy

Balila's economy relies on local commerce and farming.

Culture

Balila is a small quiet town in Jerash, the people there are famous because of their higher education levels (the majority of Ph.D. degrees). In other towns in Jordan around 40% of capital employees work in Jordan military and 40% in education jobs. Balila Consist of seven families all of them migrate from another town in Jerash called Migbelah, so people around Balila call the Magableh in connection to their original town. The Magableh family originated from the famous tribe Banu Tamim which had a great impact on the Arab world. These families are Aloqaily, Bani-Mousa, Okahsat, Masalha, Al-Gablan, and Alkawnah. All of them back to one grandfather. The total population is about 8,000-10,000 people. In the days of Othman's Khilafat and until the mid-1980s, the people of Balila worked in their farms after that they start higher education evolution, as a result of that 65% of the population hold a university degree, and 85% of those born after 1980 hold the first degree, many of them holding also the second degree and the doctoral degree.

References

Bibliography

* * {{refend Municipalities in Jordan Populated places in Jerash Governorate