al-Hasakah
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الحسكة / al-Ḥasaka al-Hasakah |
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| Coordinates | 36 ° 30 ′ N , 40 ° 45 ′ E | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | Syria | ||
| al-Hasakah | |||
| ISO 3166-2 | SY-HA | ||
| height | 300 m | ||
| Residents | 175,000 (2003) | ||
Al-Hasakah ( Arabic الحسكة, DMG al-Ḥasaka , Syrian-Aramaic ܚܣܟܗ , Kurdish حەسیچە Hesîçe ; also Hassaké or Hasakeh ) is the capital of the al-Hasakah governorate in the Jazira region in northeast Syria .
geography
Al-Hasakah and Qamishli , 80 kilometers north of the Turkish border, are the two largest cities in the region. The distance from Deir ez-Zor on the Euphrates is about 175 kilometers by road, to the northwest via Tall Tamir to Ras al-Ain it is almost 80 kilometers.
The city is located 300 meters above sea level on the Chabur , at the confluence of the eastern tributary Jaghdschagh . Both rivers have their origin in Turkey . The river system of the Chabur has enabled agriculture with artificial irrigation for thousands of years. The statistical limit of 250 millimeters of annual precipitation, at which rain-fed agriculture is still possible, runs a few kilometers south of the city. On the way south to the confluence with the Euphrates , agriculture is therefore only possible in a strip a few kilometers wide along the river. To the north of al-Hasakah, in the area of the rain-fed farming zone, the Jazira has been relatively densely populated since ancient times by a fine network of small villages. In Qamishli there is twice as much precipitation on average as in al-Hasakah. From the 1960s onwards, the construction of dams, irrigation canals and the use of powerful diesel pumps to use the groundwater promoted intensive irrigation farming with wheat and cotton in the area in between.
Al-Hasakah is surrounded by several prehistoric settlement mounds . The most famous are Tell Brak , 45 kilometers to the northeast and Tell Knedig , 20 kilometers to the south.
population
The population was estimated at 175,000 for 2003. The population consists of Aramaeans / Assyrians , Kurds , Arabs and Armenians . There are at least four large church buildings in the city as a visible sign of a high number of Christians of different faiths ( Syriacs ).
history
Syrian archaeologists dug in 2007 and 2008 on the 2.5 hectare citadel hill in the city center in the lowest layer of mud brick walls from the New Assyrian period from the 11th to 8th centuries BC. As well as the remains of a Byzantine church from the 5th century; in the layers above they found traces of settlement from the early Islamic period.
In the Ottoman period, the place was insignificant. Today's settlement was built around a French military post established in April 1922. After the displacement and genocide of the Aramaeans in the then Ottoman Empire , many of the refugees came to al-Hasakah in the 1920s, which was now beginning to develop into a city. During the French mandate in the 1930s, numerous villages along the Chabur were founded by Arameans who had fled Iraq because of the Semile massacre . French troops were stationed on the citadel hill during this time. In 1942 there were 7,835 residents in al-Hasakah, several schools, two churches and a gas station. The new city grew into the administrative center of the region from the 1950s. The economic upswing in the cities of Qamishli and al-Hasakah is the result of the irrigation program launched in the 1960s, with which the north-east became the main cotton-growing area, and intensified from the 1970s onwards from the oil production from the oil fields of Qarah Shuk and Rumaylan in the far north-east .
Cityscape
The Chabur flows around the city center in several loops in the south until it takes in the Jaghdschagh a little outside in the east. On the south side of the citadel hill, parts of the massive defensive wall from the Islamic period are still preserved. The bus stop for inner-city minibuses is located there. To the north of this, as is common in Syrian cities, the central square can be recognized by a clock tower. There are two hotels in the business district (two more outside) and a relatively large number of gold jewelry shops. The older, one to two-story houses in the center have given way to up to six-story new buildings since the turn of the millennium. On all sides, the city is growing rapidly and faceless in the outer areas through mostly three-story apartment blocks. A large park with high trees south of the Chabur compensates for this.
