Al-Sawda (, also spelled Sauda or al-Soda) is a town in northwestern

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

Tartus Governorate Tartus Governorate, also transliterated as Tartous Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ṭarṭūs''), is one of the 14 governorates of Syria. It is situated in western Syria, bordering Latakia Governorate to the north, Homs and Hama Governo ...

, located 15 kilometers northeast of

Tartus Tartus ( / ALA-LC: ''Ṭarṭūs''; known in the County of Tripoli as Tortosa and also transliterated from French language, French Tartous) is a major port city on the Mediterranean coast of Syria. It is the second largest port city in Syria (af ...

. Nearby localities include Annazah to the northeast, Maten al-Sahel to the northwest,

Husayn al-Baher Husayn al-Baher (, also spelled Husain al-Bahr or Hussein al-Baher) is a village in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Tartus Governorate, located north of Tartus. Nearby localities include Maten al-Sahel to the north, Annazah to the ...

to the west, Dweir al-Shaykh Saad to the southwest,

Awaru Awaru (; also spelled Uru) is a hamlet in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the al-Sawda municipality of the Tartus Governorate, located northeast of Tartus. Nearby localities include al-Sawda to the north, Khawabi to the east, Khirbe ...

to the south,

Khirbet al-Faras Khirbat Al Faras () is a Syrian city administratively belonging to Tartus Governorate located in the Khawabi region, its distance from city of Tartus about 20 km. Khirbat Al Faras has an altitude of 300 meters and surrounded by two rivers. Ac ...

to the southeast and

Khawabi Khawabi (), also spelled Qal'at al-Khawabi () is a village and medieval citadel in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Tartus Governorate, located 20 kilometers northeast of Tartus and 12 kilometers east of al-Sawda. According to the ...

to the east. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Sawda had a population of 4,064 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of the al-Sawda ''

nahiyah 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 ...

'' ("sub-district") which contained 27 localities with a collective population of 32,925 in 2004.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Tartus Governorate. The inhabitants are predominantly

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

s,Balanche, 2006, p. 47. of the

Greek Orthodox Church Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Christianity in Greece, Greek Christianity, Antiochian Greek Christians, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christian ...

History

The name ''al-Sawda'' is Arabic for "black" which reflects upon the black

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 stone that al-Sawda's inhabitants previously used to construct the buildings of their town, including the main church. During the late Ottoman era, basalt-based masonry served as a principal industry in al-Sawda, employing up to 400 inhabitants by the beginning of the French Mandate period. The industry declined with the advent of cement and iron construction in the region. During the Ottoman era (1516-1918), the administrative center of the vicinity ("subdistrict") was based at the

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Musli ...

town and medieval castle of

. There are still several Ottoman-era structures as well as a church in the town.Lee, 2010, p. 173. However, during the period of

French Mandate The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (; , also referred to as the Levant States; 1923−1946) was a League of Nations mandate founded in the aftermath of the First World War and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, concerning the territori ...

rule that soon followed the Ottoman withdrawal from Syria, the center of the vicinity was moved to al-Sawda by the French authorities, because unlike Khawabi, al-Sawda's inhabitants did not participate in the 1919 Syrian Revolt led by Sheikh Salih al-Ali who hailed from the region. During the French Mandate, al-Sawda's status overtook that of Khawabi, as people who would normally being traveling to the latter for commercial transactions went to al-Sawda instead. While Khawabi rapidly declined, al-Sawda became a dynamic center having a clinic, a secondary school and a wide range of shops. However, in 1967, during the early stages of Baathist rule in Syria, the center for the ''

mantiqah Minṭaqah ( ; plural ) is a term used for a first-level administrative division in Saudi Arabia and Chad and for a second-level administrative division in several other Arab countries. It is often translated as ''region'' or ''district'', but th ...

'' ("district") was relocated by the Ministry of Local Affairs to

al-Shaykh Badr Al-Shaykh Badr (, also transliterated ''Sheikh Bader'') is a city in western Syria, administratively part of the Tartus Governorate. Al-Shaykh Badr has an altitude of . According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), al-Shaykh Badr, w ...

which in 1970 had a population of 467 (and a lack of services) compared to al-Sawda's population of 1,103. Today al-Sawda is the center of a ''nahiyah'' in the

Tartus District Tartus District () is a district of the Tartus Governorate in northwestern Syria. The administrative centre is the city of Tartus Tartus ( / ALA-LC: ''Ṭarṭūs''; known in the County of Tripoli as Tortosa and also transliterated from French ...

, while al-Shaykh Badr has grown to become a significantly larger town and center of the

al-Shaykh Badr District Al-Shaykh Badr District () is a district of the Tartus Governorate in northwestern Syria. Administrative centre is the town of al-Shaykh Badr Al-Shaykh Badr (, also transliterated ''Sheikh Bader'') is a city in western Syria, administratively p ...

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sawda Populated places in Tartus District Towns in Syria Eastern Orthodox Christian communities in Syria Greek Orthodoxy in Syria