Al-Taybah

For other places with similar names, see Taybeh (disambiguation).
Al-Tayba
الطيبة
Tayyiba
Village
Al-Tayba

Location in Syria

Coordinates: 34°53′N 38°52′E / 34.883°N 38.867°E / 34.883; 38.867Coordinates: 34°53′N 38°52′E / 34.883°N 38.867°E / 34.883; 38.867
Country  Syria
Governorate Homs Governorate
District Tadmur District
Nahiyah Al-Sukhnah
Named for "the Good"
Control Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Population (2004)
  Total 2,413
Time zone EET (UTC+3)
  Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+2)

Al-Tayba (Arabic: الطيبة, also spelled Tayyiba or Tayibah) is a village in eastern Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate. It is located in the Syrian Desert, near the Euphrates River to the east and al-Sukhnah and the village of al-Kawm to the west. Like many of the other desert towns in Syria, it is situated in a spring-fed oasis. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), al-Taybah had a population of 2,413 in the 2004 census.[1]

History

Al-Taybah is an Arabic name meaning "the Good."[2] In the early 13th-century Syrian geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi noted al-Taybah was a "village in the district of 'Urd, lying between Palmyra and Aleppo."[3]

Al-Taybah was visited in 1616 by Italian explorer Pietro Della Valle, who noted that the presence of several "old relics" in the village. The mosque was well-maintained and appeared to have previously served as a church tower. Residences consisted of mud huts, many of which were reinforced by ancient stone columns.[2]

The village was abandoned sometime in the 18th century with its inhabitants migrating to nearby al-Sukhnah. The modern-day settlement was founded in 1870 after one of the descendants of the 17th-century emigrants from al-Taybah and a resident of al-Sukhnah obtained permission by the governor of the Sanjak of Zor (Deir ez-Zor). He established the new village with ten or twelve other families. The Ottomans set up a gendarmerie post there afterward.[4] In 1838 al-Taybah was classified as an abandoned village by English scholar Eli Smith.[5]

At some point between 1914 and 1918, during World War I when Ottoman authority in Syria was being challenged, al-Taybah was raided and looted by Bedouin tribesmen from the area, resulting in a second exodus of the village's residents. It was reoccupied during French Mandate rule which restored a level of security in al-Taybah.[4] During the Syrian Civil war, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant captured the village.[6]

References

  1. General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Homs Governorate. (Arabic)
  2. 1 2 Musil, 1928, p. 76.
  3. le Strange, p. 545.
  4. 1 2 Mundy and Musallam, p. 42.
  5. Smith, 1841, p. 174.
  6. ISIS expands hold in Syria with control of Palmyra ruins

Bibliography

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/28/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.