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Aleppo
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Aleppo ( ['halab], , ) is a city in northern Syria, capital of the Aleppo Governorate; the Governorate extends around the city for over 16,000 km² and has a population of 4,393,000, making it the largest Governorate in Syria by population. Aleppo is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world; it knew human settlement since the eleventh millennium B.C. through the residential houses that were discovered in Tell Qaramel. It was known to antiquity as Khalpe, Khalibon, and to the Greeks as Beroea.
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Aleppo ( ['halab], , ) is a city in northern Syria, capital of the Aleppo Governorate; the Governorate extends around the city for over 16,000 km² and has a population of 4,393,000, making it the largest Governorate in Syria by population. Aleppo is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world; it knew human settlement since the eleventh millennium B.C. through the residential houses that were discovered in Tell Qaramel. It was known to antiquity as Khalpe, Khalibon, and to the Greeks as Beroea. During the Crusades, and again during the French Mandate, the name Alep was used: "Aleppo" is an Italianised version of this. It occupies a strategic trading point midway between the Mediterranean Sea and the Euphrates. Initially, Aleppo was built on a small group of hills surrounding the prominent hill where the castle is erected. The small river Quweq runs through the city.
History
The ancient name of Aleppo, Halab, is of obscure origin. Some have proposed that Halab means 'iron' or 'copper' in Amorite languages since it was a major source of these metals in antiquity. Halaba in Aramaic means white, referring to the color of soil and marble abundant in the area. Another proposed etymology is that the name Halab means "gave out milk," coming from the ancient tradition that Abraham gave milk to travelers as they moved throughout the region. The colour of his cows was ashen (Arab. shaheb), therefore the city is also called "Halab ash-Shahba'" (he milked the ash-coloured).
Because the modern city occupies its ancient site, Aleppo has scarcely been touched by archaeologists. The site has been occupied from around 5000 BC, as excavations in Tallet Alsauda show. It grew as the capital of the kingdom of Yamkhad until the ruling Amorite Dynasty was overthrown around 1600 BC. The city remained under Hittite control until perhaps 800 BC before passing through the hands of the Assyrians and the Persian Empire and being captured by the Greeks in 333 BC, when Seleucus Nicator renamed the settlement Beroea, after Beroea in Macedon. The city remained in Greek or Seleucid hands until 64 BC, when Syria was conquered by the Romans.
The city remained part of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire before falling to Arabs under Khalid ibn al-Walid in 637. In 944, it became the seat of an independent Emirate under the Hamdanid prince Sayf al-Daula, and enjoyed a period of great prosperity, being home to the great poet al-Mutanabbi and the philosopher and polymath al-Farabi. The city was sacked by a resurgent Byzantine Empire in 962, while Byzantine forces occupied it briefly from 974 to 987. The city and its Emirate became an Imperial vassal until the Fatimid conquest in 1000 and Byzantine-Seljuk Wars. The city was twice besieged by Crusaders — in 1098 and in 1124 — but was not conquered.
On August 9, 1138, a deadly earthquake ravaged the city and the surrounding area. Although estimates from this time are very unreliable, it is believed that 230,000 people died, making it the fourth deadliest earthquake in recorded history.
The city came under the control of Saladin and then the Ayyubid Dynasty from 1183.
On January 24, 1260 the city was taken by the Mongols under Hulagu in alliance with their vassals the Frank knights of the ruler of Antioch Bohemond VI and his father-in-law the Armenian ruler Hetoum I. The city was bravely defended by Turanshah, but the walls fell after six days of bombardment, and the citadel fell four weeks later. The Muslim population was massacred, though the Christians were spared. Turanshah was shown unusual respect by the Mongols, and was allowed to live because of his age and bravery. The city was then given to the former Emir of Homs, al-Ashraf, and a Mongol garrison was established in the city. Some of the spoils were also given to Hethoum I for his assistance in the attack. The Mongol Army then continued on to Damascus, which surrendered, and the Mongols entered the city on March 1, 1260.
In September, the Egyptian Mamluks negotiated a treaty with the Franks of Acre which allowed them to pass through Crusader territory unmolested, and engaged the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut on September 3, 1260. The Mamluks won a decisive victory, killing the Mongols' Nestorian Christian general Kitbuqa, and five days later they had re-taken Damascus. Aleppo was recovered by the Muslims within a month, and a Mamluk governor placed to govern the city. Hulagu sent troops to try and recover Aleppo in December. They were able to massacre a large number of Muslims in retaliation for the death of Kitbuqa, but after a fortnight could make no other progress and had to retreat.
The Mamluk governor of the city became insubordinate to the central Mamluk authority in Cairo, and in Autumn 1261 the Mamluk leader Baibars send an army to reclaim the city. In October 1271, the Mongols took the city again, attacking with 10,000 horsemen from Anatolia, and defeating the Turcoman troops who were defending Aleppo. The Mamluk garrisons fled to Hama, until Baibars came north again with his main army, and the Mongols retreated.
On October 20, 1280, the Mongols took the city again, pillaging the markets and burning the mosques. The Muslim inhabitants fled for Damascus, where the Mamluk leader Qalawun assembled his forces. When his army advanced, the Mongols again retreated, back across the Euphrates.
Aleppo returned to native control in 1317,.
In 1400, the Mongol-Turkic leader Tamerlane captured the city again from the Mamluks.. He massacred many of the inhabitants, infamously ordering the building of a tower of 20,000 skulls outside the city.
The city became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1516, when the city had around 50,000 inhabitants. Reference is made to the city in 1606 in William Shakespeare's 'Macbeth.' The witches torment the captain of the ship the Tiger which was headed to Aleppo from England but endured a 567 day voyage before returning unsuccessfully to port.
The city remained Ottoman until the empire's collapse, but was occasionally riven with internal feuds as well as attacks of the plague and later cholera from 1823. By 1901 its population was around 125,000. The city revived when it came under French colonial rule but slumped again following the decision to give Antioch to Turkey in 1938-1939.
Aleppo was named by the Islamic Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) as the capital of Islamic culture in 2006.
Main sights
There is a relatively clear division between old and new Aleppo. The older portions were contained within a wall, 5 km in circuit with seven gates. The huge medieval castle in the city - known as the Citadel of Aleppo - occupies the center of the city.
As an ancient trading centre, Aleppo also has impressive suqs (shopping streets) and khans (commercial courtyards). The city was significantly redesigned after World War II; in 1952 the French architect André Gutton had a number of wide new roads cut through the city to allow easier passage for modern traffic. In the 1970s, large parts of the older city were demolished to allow for the construction of modern apartment blocks.
Buildings
- The Citadel, a large fortress built atop a huge, partially artificial mound rising 50 m above the city. The current structure dates from the 13th century and had been extensively damaged by earthquakes, notably in 1822.
- Great Mosque of Aleppo (Jami‘ al-Kabir), founded c. 715 by Umayyad caliph Walid I and most likely completed by his successor Suleyman. The building contains a tomb associated with Zachary, father of John the Baptist. Construction of the present structure for Nur al-Din commenced in 1158. However, it was damaged during the Mongol invasion of 1260, and was rebuilt. The 45 m-high tower (described as "the principal monument of medieval Syria") was erected in 1090-1092 under the first Seljuk sultan, Tutush I. It has four façades with different styles.
- Madrasa Halawiye, built in 1124 on the original site of the Cathedral of St. Helen, where, according to tradition, a Roman temple stood also. Then Saint Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, built a great Byzantine cathedral there. When the Crusaders invaders were pillaging the surrounding countryside, the city's chief judge converted St. Helena's cathedral into a mosque, and finally in the middle of the 12th century, Nur al-Din founded a madrasa or religious school here. Parts of the 6th century Christian construction, turned into an Islamic school after the Crusaders invasion, and including 6th century Byzantine columns, can be seen in the hall. It has also a fine 14th century mihrab.
- Bimaristan Arghun al-Kamili, an asylum which worked from 1354 until the early 20th century.
- Madrasa Faradis ("School of the Paradise"), defined "the most beautiful of the mosques of Aleppo". It was built by the widow of malek Zahir in 1234-1237, then regent for Nasir Yusuf. Notable is the courtyard, which has a pool in the middle surrounded by arches with ancient columns, sporting capitals with a honeycomb pattern. The same style characterizes the domes of the prayer hall. Also fine is the mirhab, decorated with arabesque motifs.
- Beit Ajiqbash, Beit Ghazale and Bait al-Dallal, 17th-18th centuries houses in the Jdeide quarter, showing fine decorations.
- Khanqah al-Farafra, a 13th century sufi monastery (1237).
- The Shi'a shrine Mashhad al-Hussein ("Memorial of Martyr Hussein"), built in 1183-1260, with a fine mirhab and a stone said to be marked by a drop of Hussein's blood.
- al-Adeliye mosque, built in 1555 the governor of Aleppo Muhammed Pasha. It has a prayer hall preceded by an arcade, with a dome, a mihrab with local faience tiles.
- al-Saffahiyah mosque, erected in 1425, with a preciously decorated octagonal minaret.
- the Ayyubid-era al-Tuteh Mosque, which includes the ancient Roman triumpal arch, which once marked the beginning of the decumanus. It has 12th century kufic inscription and decorations.
- Madrasa Moqaddamiye, the oldest theological school in the city (1168), with a porch sporting arabesque medallions. It was also converted to this use after the ruthless Crusader invasion of Holy Land.
- al-Qaiqan Mosque ("Mosque of the Crows"), with two ancient columns in basalt near the entrance. It includes a stone block with a Hittite inscription
- Madrasa Sultaniye, begun by malek Zahir and finished in 1223-1225 by his son al-Aziz. Noteworthy is the mirhab of the prayer room.
- The small funerary al-Otrush mosque, begun in 1403, in Mameluke style. It has a highly decorated entrance portal in the fine façade.
- Altun Bogha Mosque (1318).
- al-Tavashi mosque (14th century, restored in 1537), with a great façade decorated with colonnettes.
- Mausoleum of Kheir Bey (1514), commissioned by the namesake Mamluk officer.
- Madrasa Zahiriye (1217).
Gates
Economy
The main role of the city was as a trading place, as it sat at the crossroads of two trade routes and mediated the trade from India, the Tigris and Euphrates regions and the route coming from Damascus in the South, which traced the base of the mountains rather than the rugged seacoast. Although trade was often directed away from the city for political reasons, it continued to thrive until the Europeans began to use the Cape route to India and later to utilize the route through Egypt to the Red Sea. Since then the city has declined and its chief exports now are the agricultural products of the surrounding region, mainly wheat, cotton, pistachios, olives, and sheep.
Demographics
Nearly three quarters, or 70% of Aleppo's inhabitants are Sunni Muslims, mainly Arabs, but also Kurds, and other ethnicities, including Adyghe and Albanians, Aramean-Syriacs, Bosnians, Bulgars, Chechens, Circassians, Kabardins and Turkmens. Aleppo has the largest Christian community in the Middle East after Beirut, Lebanon, and the most diverse Christian community in the Orient. Between 15% and 20% of the population are members of Orthodox congregations, particularly the Syriac Orthodox Church amongst the Syriac community in Aleppo. The majority of the Syriac Christians in Aleppo speaks Armenian, since they are from the city of Urfa in Turkey, where Armenian was widley spoken. Although Aleppo was known to have a large Christian population before the 20th century, the influx of Armenian and Syriac refugees caused the city's Christian population to swell greatly. Apart from adherents of the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Armenian Apostolic Church, there were also many Catholics from the Syriacs and Armenian population who came and increased the Catholic presence in the traditionally Eastern Orthodox city. Among the many denominations of the Arab Christian population, the largest congregation by far is that of the Greek Orthodox church, with one of the largest Church structures in the city being the Marr Jerjes (St. George) Greek Orthodox Cathedral. The Christian Arab population of Aleppo also happens to be very varied, with Maronite and Franciscan Catholic, Nestorian and Syriac Orthodox being among the other congregations represented, as well as many other different denominations. There are several Christian-majority areas and Christian quarters in Aleppo, amongst the oldest is the area of Jdeiha (pictured). The areas of Aziziya and Sleimaniya are both in the (relatively) more recent areas built outside the walls of the old city under Ottoman and French rule.
The city has had a large Jewish population since the time of King David. The great synagogue housed the 10th century AD Aleppo codex. That codex is now housed in Jerusalem. Following the 1947 Aleppo Riots, most of Aleppo's 10,000 Jewish residents wanted to migrate to Israel, as part of the Jewish exodus from Arab lands. The Syrian government itself banned Jews from migrating to Israel, so Syrian Jews and allies engaged in covert efforts to help the Jews of Aleppo migrate to Israel from 1948 till the 1990s. The Syrian government repressed Jews and limited many from travelling abroad. In addition to this, the government-controlled media sometimes demonised them by association with the much-maligned Israeli regime, as well as them being under constant suspicion of espionage, after the embarrassing Eli Cohen scandal, when an Israeli spy was almost promoted to a top military and political position at the time that he was discovered.
To this day, the properties and houses of the Jewish families which were not sold after the migration remain uninhabited under protection by the Syrian Government. Most of these properties are in the Al-Jamiliah and Bab Al-Naser areas, and the neighborhoods around the Central synagogue of Aleppo. Currently hundreds of buildings, many of beautiful late Ottoman style stand empty and deteriorating in many sections of town, chained symbolically against repossession by Christians or Muslims, with a strong resolve by many of the Jewish families not to sell their properties in hope of a "return". Eventually, the Syrian government lifted restriction on its Jewish citizens with the sole condition that they did not travel to Israel to settle there. Most travelled to the USA, where a sizeable Syrian Jewish community currently exists in Brooklyn, New York. Today, only a handful of Jewish families still live in Aleppo, and many of the buildings such as the synagogue and the Jewish school remain empty, and are only used rarely for special events and religious ceremonies.
Program for Sustainable Urban Development in Syria
The “Program for Sustainable Urban Development in Syria” (UDP) is a joint undertaking of the German Development Cooperation (BMZ/GTZ), the Syrian Ministry for Local Administration and Environment (MLAE), and several other Syrian partner institutions. The program promotes capacities for sustainable urban management and development at the national and municipal level. Four components have been agreed as major fields of cooperation during the first phase (2007 – 2009):
- Urban development in the city of Aleppo; this includes further support to the rehabilitation of the Old City, as well as to a long-term oriented city development strategy (CDS) and the management of informal settlements.
- Rehabilitation of the Old City of Damascus; this will build on instruments and experiences established during the urban rehabilitation support for Old Aleppo.
- Promoting support structures for municipalities; this includes capacity building, networking, and promoting municipal strength in the national development dialogue.
- Policy advise on urban development; rapid urbanization in Syria requires adequate legislative and institutional frame-conditions as well as specific promotional programs for urban development.
The UDP cooperates closely with other interventions in the sector, namely the EU-supported 'Municipal Administration Modernization' program. It is planned to operate from 2007 to 2016.
Sister cities
Notable people
- Saint Simeon Stylites
- Saint Maron
- Al-Buhturi
- Sayf al-Daula
- Abu Firas al-Hamdani
- Paul of Aleppo, 17th century Archdeacon of Aleppo, traveler and chronicler.
- Phillip Stamma Chessplayer and writer, was born in 1705.
- Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi, thinker and religious reformer.
- Rizq-Allah Hassoun, founded the first Syrian newspaper in 1855.
- Qestaki al-Hemsi, poet of the 19th century.
- Sati' al-Husari, founder of Arab nationalism.
- Omar Abu-Riche, famous contemporary poet.
- Muhammed Faris, first Syrian cosmonaut.
- Moustapha Akkad, film producer and director.
- Hala Gorani, news anchor of CNN International.
- Sabah Fakhri, famous traditional singer.
- Nazim al-Kudsi, former president of Syria.
- Amin al-Hafiz, former president of Syria.
- Wahbi Al-Hariri, artist and architect
- George Tutunjian, Armenian Revolutionary Songs performer.
- Karnig Sarkissian, Armenian Revolutionary Songs performer.
- Levon Ter-Petrossian, former president of the Republic of Armenia.
- Fateh Moudarres, Syrian Painter born in Aleppo in 1922.
- Mo'ayyeduddin Urdi, famous astronomer working in Marageh observatory
- Abd al-Rahman mowakket, scalpture, fine arts, his works are all over the country, .
- Mike Silyan, American entrepreneur and real estate developer
- Hiethem Abdalla, rising Hollywood actor that grew up in Aleppo.
- Muhammad Naji al-Otari, Current Syrian Prime Minister.
- Prof. Dr. Mamoun Fansa, Director, State Museum Nature and Man, Oldenburg - Germany.
- Mohamad Mahfouz Kayali, General, Immigration Chief Executive Officer
See also
Photo gallery
External links
News & Events
- The First Complete website for Aleppo news and services
Governmental Services
- The First Complete Governmental Online Services
External links
- - Local non-profit with information on old city and citadel.
- A walk through from a , with (2006).
- Keith David Watenpaugh, (Princeton: 2006)
(a comprehensive account of Aleppo's diverse middle class in the early-20th Century)
- Heghnar Zeitlian Watenpaugh, (Leiden: 2005)
Photography
- about Aleppo, sorted after the old, the modern city and the souk.
- made in 2003 on Aleppo (a mosque, the Citadel, the souk).
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