Content deleted Content added
→Twin towns – sister cities: removed |
In English sources it's simply Karak. Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
||
| (8 intermediate revisions by 7 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{Short description|City in Karak Governorate, Jordan}}
{{about|
{{Infobox settlement
| official_name
| native_name
| nickname
| settlement_type
| image_skyline
| imagesize
| image_caption
| pushpin_map
| pushpin_relief
| subdivision_type
| subdivision_name
| subdivision_type1
| subdivision_name1
| established_title2
| established_date2
| leader_title
| leader_name
| area_metro_km2
| area_metro_sq_mi
| population_as_of
| population_total
| population_metro
| population_footnotes
| timezone
| utc_offset
| timezone_DST
| coordinates
| grid_position
| area_code
| elevation_m
| elevation_ft
}}
'''Al-Karak''' ({{lang-ar|الكرك}}), in English sources often simply '''Karak''', is a city in [[Jordan]] known for its medieval castle, the [[Kerak Castle]]. The castle is one of the three largest castles in the region, the other two being in [[Syria]]. Al-Karak is the capital city of the [[Karak Governorate]].
Al-Karak lies {{convert|140|km}} to the south of [[Amman]] on the ancient [[King's Highway (ancient)|King's Highway]]. It is situated on a hilltop about {{convert|1000|m}} above sea level and is surrounded on three sides by a valley. Al-Karak has a view of the [[Dead Sea]]. A city of about 32,216 people (2005<ref name="citypopulation.de">{{Cite web|url=https://www.citypopulation.de/Jordan-Cities.html|title=Jordan: Governorates, Major Cities & Urban Localities - Population Statistics, Maps, Charts, Weather and Web Information}}</ref>) has been built up around the castle and it has buildings from the 19th-century [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] period. The town is built on a triangular plateau, with the castle at its narrow southern tip.
Line 41:
==History==
===Iron Age to Assyrian period===
{{main|Kir of Moab}}
Al-Karak has been inhabited since at least the [[Iron Age]], and was an important city for the [[Moab]]ites. In the [[Bible]] it is called ''Qer Harreseth'' or [[Kir of Moab]], and is identified as having been subject to the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]]; in the [[Books of Kings]] ({{bibleverse|2 Kings|16:9}}) and [[Book of Amos]] ({{bibleverse|Amos 1:5, 9:7|multi=yes}}), it is mentioned as the place where the [[Arameans]] went before they settled in the regions in the northern [[Levant]], and to which [[Tiglath-Pileser III]] (r. 745–727 BC) sent the prisoners after the conquest of [[Damascus]]. After the conquest of Damascus, for some number of years later the Shamaili kingdom seized power, but it is unsure for how long. Little has been recorded about their ruling period. In 1958 the remains of an [[El-Kerak Inscription|inscription]] was found in Wadi al-Karak that has been dated to the late 9th century BC.▼
▲Al-Karak has been inhabited since at least the [[Iron Age]], and was an important city for the [[Moab]]ites. In the [[Bible]] it is called ''
===Hellenistic to Early Muslim period===
Line 48 ⟶ 50:
The area eventually fell under the power of the [[Nabateans]]. The [[Roman Empire]] conquered it from them in AD105. The city was known in [[Late Antiquity]] as '''Harreketh'''.
Al-Karak contains some of the oldest Christian communities in the world, dating as early as the 1st century AD.<ref>{{cite web|last=Moujaes|first=Anthony|title=Four refugee families living in Jordan share their stories with Mid-East delegation|url=http://www.ucc.org/news_middle_east_delegation_refugee_families_04292015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924072503/http://www.ucc.org/news_middle_east_delegation_refugee_families_04292015|url-status=dead|archive-date=2016-09-24|website=United Church of Christ}}</ref> Under the [[Byzantine Empire]], '''Charach''' ({{lang-grc-gre|Χαραχ}}, ''Kharkh'') or '''Charach of the Moabites''' ({{lang|grc|Χαραχμωβα}}, ''Kharakhmōba'') was the seat of a [[bishopric]], housing the much venerated Church of Nazareth, and remained predominantly [[Christianity|Christian]] under [[Arab]] rule following the 629 [[Battle of Mu'tah]]. Its bishop Demetrius took part in the [[Council of Jerusalem (536)|council of the three provinces of Palaestina]] held in Jerusalem in 536. Another bishop, by the name of John, is said to have lived in the 9th century.<ref>Michel Lequien, [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ucm.5319060892;view=1up;seq=375 ''Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus''], Paris 1740, Vol. III, coll. 729-734</ref><ref>Pius Bonifacius Gams, [http://www.wbc.poznan.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=65154&dirids=1 ''Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae''], Leipzig 1931, p. 454</ref>
===Crusader, Ayyubid and Mamluk periods===
Line 79 ⟶ 81:
The [[Karak revolt]] erupted on 4 December 1910<ref name=ssl>{{cite book|last=Fischbach|first=Michael R.|title=State, Society, and Land in Jordan|year=2000|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9004119124|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_WAgDMWsyb8C}}</ref> as the [[Governor of Damascus|governor]] of [[Damascus Vilayet|Damascus]] attempted to apply the same measures of conscription, taxation, and disarmament to the inhabitants of Al-Karak that previously provoked the [[Hauran Druze Rebellion]].<ref name=wisc>{{cite book|last1=Heydemann|first1=Steven|author2=Joint Committee on the Near and Middle East|title=War, Institutions, and Social Change in the Middle East|year=2000|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520224223|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tczy5YtB4PEC}}</ref> The uprising ended with an indiscriminate massacre perpetrated by the governor's troops.<ref name=Salibi>{{cite book|last=Salibi|first=Kamal S.|title=The Modern History of Jordan|page=40|publisher=IB.Tauris|year=1998|isbn=9781860643316|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7zdi2sCuIh8C&pg=PA40|access-date=10 June 2016}}</ref>
During the [[Arab Revolt]] (1916–1918), the Turkish Army abandoned al-Karak after Sherif Abdullah ibn Hamza led a 70 horsemen attack on Mezraa. This Ottoman naval base was rendered useless, after the destruction of the flotilla used to transport grain across the Dead Sea, on 28
===British Mandate, Emirate of Transjordan===
Line 87 ⟶ 89:
===Kingdom of Jordan===
In 1961, the population of Karak town was 7,422 persons,<ref>Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/JordanCensusPages/JordanCensus1961-p06.pdf 6]</ref> of whom 1,622
In August 1996, there were [[food riot]]s in the town after the government increased the price of bread.<ref>Mannheim, Ivan (2000) '' Jordan Handbook.'' Footprint Handbooks. {{ISBN|1-900949-69-5}}. Page 227.</ref>
Line 160 ⟶ 162:
==Demographics==
Al-Karak's metropolitan population was estimated to be 68,800 in 2013, making up 31.5% of the total population of the Karak Governorate. Most of the population of the city is [[Islam|Muslim]] (75%) and there is also a significant Orthodox Christian population (25%). In general, the percentage of Christians in al-Karak is among the highest in [[Jordan]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}
==Cuisine==
Line 176 ⟶ 178:
*
==Notable
*[[Muath al-Kasasbeh]], Royal Jordanian Air Force pilot captured, held hostage, and burned alive in Syria in January 2015 by the [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]]
| |||