Danhah ()
is a small agricultural and livestock village in the
Emirate of Fujairah
The Emirate of Fujairah ( ' ) is one of the Emirates of the United Arab Emirates, seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, the only one of the seven with a coastline solely on the Gulf of Oman and none on the Persian Gulf. Its cap ...
, northeastern
U.A.E.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as its ...
Geography and history
The village has many small scattered farms, cultivated fields, and lush palm groves,
although it has been greatly affected by the activity of large, now abandoned, quarries. In the vicinity of the current town are the ruins of the old village, which is practically destroyed.
Danhah is located on the banks of the
Wadi Danhah, a tributary of the
Wadi Al Fay.
The
Wadi Danhah, in its middle course, forms a deep and spectacular
gorge
A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tend ...
where erosion caused by water flow has exposed multicolored layers of highly polished, extremely hard, stratified sedimentary rocks, predominantly in reddish, ochre, and white tones.
This picturesque landscape has allowed Danhah to become a popular tourist and hiking destination in recent years, attracting numerous visitors.
Some of the former inhabitants of the Danhah area moved their permanent homes to the surroundings of the village of ''Ghub'',
which has expanded west of the central area of the
floodplain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...
of Dibba ().
Toponymy
Alternative names: Dhanhah, Z̧anḩah, Zahar, Z̧aḩah, Zanhah, Ḍanḥah, Danhah, Dhanha.
The name Danhah (spelled Dhanha and Z̧anḩah), its
wadi
Wadi ( ; ) is a river valley or a wet (ephemerality, ephemeral) Stream bed, riverbed that contains water only when heavy rain occurs. Wadis are located on gently sloping, nearly flat parts of deserts; commonly they begin on the distal portion ...
s,
mountains
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher ...
, and nearby towns, were recorded in the documentation and maps produced between 1950 and 1960 by the British Arabist, cartographer, military officer and diplomat
Julian F. Walker
Sir Julian Fortay Walker CMG MBE (;7 May 1929 – 7 July 2018), also known by his initials J. F. Walker, was a British Arabist, author, cartographer, land surveyor, former military officer and a retired diplomat who worked closely with Sheikh ...
, during the work carried out to establish the borders between the then so-called
Trucial States
The Trucial States, also known as the Trucial Coast, the Trucial Sheikhdoms, or Trucial Oman, was a group of tribal confederations to the south of the Persian Gulf (southeastern Arabia) whose leaders had signed protective treaties, or truce ...
,
[FCO 18/1969 - 1959 - Sketch map drawn by Julian Walker for boundary delimitation: Dibba - The National Archives, London, England ] later completed by the UK Ministry of Defence, with 1:100,000 scale maps published from 1971 onwards.
[Map FCO 18/1787 - 1972 - Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE): Dibba, with handwritten annotations - Scale 1:100,000 - Published by D Survey, Ministry of Defence, United Kingdom (1971) - Edition 3-GSGS - The National Archives, London, England ]
The ''National Atlas of the United Arab Emirates'' does not expressly mention the name of this village, but Wadi Danhah does, spelled Wādī Ḍanḥah.
Population
The area near the Danhah and Wadi Danhah was mainly populated by the
Sharqiyin
The Sharqiyin (, singular Al Sharqi ) is a tribe of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The Sharqiyin were long the dominant tribe along the East coast of the Trucial States (and the second most numerous in the area around the start of the 19th c ...
tribe, specifically the tribal sections or areas of Dhanahana,
[Emirates Wildlife Encyclopedia - Prepared and Researched - Juma Khalifa bin Thalith Al-Himyari - Knowledge and Human Development Authority
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (2014) - pg. 271 - موسوعة الإمارات البرية - إعداد وبحث - جمعة خليفة بن ثالث الحميري - هيئة المعرفة والتنمية البشرية دبي، الإمارات العربية المتحدة ]
Yamāmaḩah, and Fuhūd.
[Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf. Vol. II. Geographical and Statistical. J G Lorimer. 1908', British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/C91/4, in Qatar Digital Library ][Tribes of Trucial States coast - 1958- Ref. FO 371/132894 ]
Near Danhah / Zanhah, there are archaeological remains that testify to human presence in this area since very ancient times.
[Britton, Georgia. “An Archaeological Survey of Northern Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.” Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy, pg. 159 - 2004. <:https://www.academia.edu/48243045/An_archaeological_survey_of_northern_Fujairah_United_Arab_Emirates>]
See also
*
Eastern Arabia
Eastern Arabia () is a region stretched from Basra to Khasab along the Persian Gulf coast and included parts of modern-day Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia (Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province), and the United Arab ...
**
List of wadis of the United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates does not have any permanent rivers, but does have wadis, a permanently or intermittently dry riverbed. This is a list of wadis in United Arab Emirates arranged alphabetically.
A
* Wadi Abadilah, in Fujairah Tribulus - V ...
**
List of mountains in the United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, U.A.E. is not a mountainous country, as most of its territory is desert or semi-desert and relatively flat, but it does have excellent Mountain, mountains, which are part of the Hajar Mountains, located in the nor ...
**
List of wadis of Oman
This is a list of wadis in Oman arranged by drainage basin.
Persian Gulf
* Wadi Bih / Wādī Al-Bayḥ / Wādī al Bīḩ / Wadi Al Biyah, in Musandam (Oman) and Ras Al Khaimah (UAE). Coordinates: 25.7672712, 56.0255513 Map FCO 18/1863 - 1971 ...
**
List of mountains in Oman
Although much of the country has a desert or semi-desert and relatively flat territory, Oman has mountains that include the Hajar Mountains ('), located in the northeast of Oman and the far northeast of the United Arab Emirates. These mounta ...
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Danhah
Villages in the United Arab Emirates
Populated places in the Emirate of Fujairah