Manācha

مناخة / Manāḫa ; Manacha
	Manacha
	Manacha
Coordinates	15 ° 4 ′ N , 43 ° 44 ′ E Coordinates: 15 ° 4 ′ N , 43 ° 44 ′ E
Basic data
Country	Yemen
Governorate	Sanaa
ISO 3166-2	YE-SN
height	1500 m
Residents	7455 (2012)
	Manacha

In the course of the Magic Carpet company (1949–1950), the entire Teimanim Jewish community emigrated from Yemen to Israel, over 49,000 people. Most of them had never seen an airplane, yet they believed in the biblical prophecy: God promised to return to the children of Israel, carried on eagle wings

Manacha. The city stretches over an exposed mountain ridge and lies north of the Jabal Haraz

Manācha (also Manacha , Menacha , Manakhah ; Arabic مناخة, DMG Manāḫa ) is a Yemeni district capital in Sanaa Governorate . It lies on a narrow ridge between two mountain ranges at an altitude of about 1500 m and on the continuously paved route from Sanaa to al-Hudaida . Sanaa is about 80 km to the east.

For a long time the village was the base of the Ottoman occupation army .

history

Manācha was founded in the 17th century not far from a small Jewish settlement. The place only gained greater importance in 1872, when the Ottomans advanced via al-Hudaida in the direction of Sanaa and strategically used Manācha for military purposes because of its orographic conditions. Manācha became the trading control point for goods from the Red Sea . During the second Ottoman occupation (1872-1918) Manācha was a garrison town and administrative center. Various government buildings, the former telegraph office, the citadel with its granary and a military hospital bear witness to the Ottoman influences in the city. Due to its exposed location, the city managed without a city wall.

The city has about ten mosques. Considering the number of inhabitants, this is a high rate. Most are small and inconspicuous.

A Jewish minority lived in Manācha continuously until shortly after the Second World War , until they moved to the newly founded state of Israel as part of Operation Magic Carpet . With their departure, important craft professions, especially silversmithing, became history.

In the 1950s, several years of drought made life in Manācha difficult. As a result, the population fell to 7,400. The entire administrative unit of Manacha has around 89,400 inhabitants.

economy

Manācha is an important market town in the Harāz Mountains . A stationary market is held daily. There is a weekly market on Sundays. The Manāchas market enjoys special protection through tribal agreements, which is jointly guaranteed. After the Sharia the market leader exercises the Haram of privileges, under which it is forbidden that market participants get involved in disputes and to ensure Marktfrieden. Violations of market peace can lead to loss of goods and ultimately death.

Surroundings

Manācha lies in the so-called western mountain slope . The region is considered to be scenically spectacular. The valleys are deeply cut and convey the image of extreme verticals. The mountain world is very difficult to access, and paths are largely lacking. The western highlands offered protection against invading enemies. It is thanks to these circumstances that the tribal society in the highlands developed autochthonously over centuries.

In order to be able to obtain agricultural products from the rare fertile soils, the population has always been dependent on terraced farming. For this purpose, species-rich dry forests have been cleared since ancient times . Natural vegetation is shown in succulent euphorbias , such as the Euphorbia ammak. Coffee can be grown where the valleys spread.

literature

Edmund Jacoby: The visual world history of the Middle Ages , Gerstenberg, 2005 - 361 pages, ISBN 978-3-8067-4594-8 .
Horst Kopp (Editor): Regional Geography Yemen , Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag Wiesbaden, 2005, ISBN 3-89500-500-2