Qarmas (, also spelled Qurmus) is a village in northern

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

Hama Governorate Hama Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥamā'') is one of the 14 Governorates of Syria, governorates of Syria. It is situated in western-central Syria, bordering Idlib Governorate, Idlib and Aleppo Governorates to the north, Raqqa Gove ...

, located southwest of

Hama Hama ( ', ) is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located north of Damascus and north of Homs. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. With a population of 996,000 (2023 census), Hama is one o ...

. Nearby localities include

Aqrab Aqrab (, also spelled Akrab) is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located southwest of Hama. Nearby localities include Nisaf and Baarin to the west, Awj to the southwest, Qarmas to the south, Taldou an ...

to the north,

Tell Dahab Tell Dahab (, also spelled Tal Dhahab) is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located northwest of Homs. Nearby localities include Taldou and Kafr Laha, Maryamin and al-Taybah al-Gharbiyah to the southwest, ...

to the east,

Kafr Laha Kafr Laha () is a town in the Homs Governorate north of Homs in northern Syria. In 2004 it had a population of 20,041 according to the Central Bureau of Statistics of Syria. Its inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam is the l ...

to the southeast,

al-Taybah al-Gharbiyah Al-Taybah al-Gharbiyah (, also spelled ''Teiba'' or ''Tayibeh al-Gharbiyeh'') is a town in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, northwest of Homs. Nearby localities include al-Shinyah to the southwest, al-Qabu to the so ...

to the south, Maryamin to the southwest, Awj and Kafr Kamrah to the west and

Baarin Baarin (, ''Baʿrīn'' or ''Biʿrīn'') is a village in northern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located in Homs Gap roughly southwest of Hama. Nearby localities include Taunah and Awj to the south, Aqrab and Houla to th ...

to the northwest. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Qarmas had a population of 5,331 in the 2004 census.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Hama Governorate. Its inhabitants are predominantly

Alawite Alawites () are an Arabs, Arab ethnoreligious group who live primarily in the Levant region in West Asia and follow Alawism, a sect of Islam that splintered from early Shia as a ''ghulat'' branch during the ninth century. Alawites venerate A ...

s. Most of the village's lands are planted with olive and fig groves and vineyards, while near the village is a small fir and oak forest. As of 2010, most of the working inhabitants were engaged in agriculture and livestock. Qarmas has a primary and secondary school.

History

In an Ottoman government record from 1818 Qarmas was listed as part of the village of Maryamin in the mainly Alawite 'Jabal Gharbi' fiscal district (''muqata'a'') of

Hama Sanjak The Hama Sanjak () was a prefecture (sanjak) of the Ottoman Empire, located in modern-day Syria. The city of Hama was the Sanjak's capital. It had a population of 200,410 in 1914. The Sanjak of Hama shared same region with Sanjak of Homs and Sanjak ...

and paid 4,580 qirsh in taxes. In 1838 it was recorded as an

village. In the late 19th or early 20th centuries, the inhabitants of Qarmas sold or 'ceded' their lands to the urban notables of

, turning its Alawite small landowners into tenant farmers. By the early 1930s, the village was owned by the Barazi family of Hama. In March 2007, the Qarmas Municipality was established to administer Qarmas and neighboring Qasraya.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{Hama Governorate, masyaf Populated places in Masyaf District Alawite communities in Syria