Al-Karak

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Al-Karak (Template:Langx), 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 Template:Convert to the south of Amman on the ancient King's Highway. It is situated on a hilltop about Template:Convert 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">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>) grew up around castle. The town is built on a triangular plateau with the castle at its narrow southern tip.

HistoryEdit

Iron Age to Assyrian periodEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

Al-Karak has been inhabited since at least the Iron Age, and was an important city for the Moabites. In the Bible it is called Kir-haresh, Kir-hareseth or Kir of Moab, and is identified as having been subject to the Neo-Assyrian Empire; in the Books of Kings (Template:Bibleverse) and Book of Amos (Template:Bibleverse), 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 prisoners after the conquest of Damascus. Later the Shamaili kingdom seized power, but little has been recorded about this period. In 1958, the El-Kerak Inscription was found in Wadi al-Karak, dated to the late 9th century BC.

Hellenistic to Early Muslim periodEdit

During the late Hellenistic Period, Al-Karak became an important town, taking its name from the Aramaic word for town, Kharkha ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).<ref>Hitti, 1970, p. 641.</ref>

The area eventually became a Nabatean stronghold. The Roman Empire conquered it in 105 AD. The city was known in Late Antiquity as Harreketh.

Al-Karak is home to some of the oldest Christian communities in the world, dating to the 1st century AD.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Under the Byzantine Empire, Charach (Template:Langx, Kharkh) or Charach of the Moabites ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Kharakhmōba) was the seat of the Church of Nazareth, and remained predominantly Christian under Arab rule following the 629 Battle of Mu'tah. Its bishop Demetrius took part in the council of the three provinces of Palaestina held in Jerusalem in 536. Another bishop, by the name of John, is said to have lived there in the 9th century.<ref>Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. III, coll. 729-734</ref><ref>Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, Leipzig 1931, p. 454</ref>

Crusader, Ayyubid and Mamluk periodsEdit

Template:See also Al-Karak fell within the Crusader lordship of Oultrejourdain, the lands east of the River Jordan and the Dead Sea. In 1132, King Fulk of Jerusalem made Pagan the Butler Lord of Montreal and Oultrejourdain. Pagan made his headquarters at al-Karak, where he built a castle on a hill called by the Crusaders Petra Deserti - The Stone of the Desert.<ref>Runciman, 1951, p. 230</ref> His castle, much modified, dominates the town to this day.

The castle was in Crusader hands for only 46 years. It had been threatened by Saladin's armies several times, but finally surrendered in 1188, after the crushing Crusader defeat at the Battle of Hattin and a siege that lasted more than a year.<ref>Runciman, 1951, p. 468. "after the last horse had been eaten."</ref> Saladin's younger brother, Al-Adil, was governor of the district until becoming ruler of Egypt and Syria in 1199.<ref>Hitti, 1970, p. 652</ref> Yaqut (1179–1229) noted that "Al Karak is a very strongly fortified castle on the borders of Syria, towards Balka province, and in the mountains. It stands on a rock surrounded by Wadis, except on the side towards the suburb."<ref name=Strange479>Le Strange, 1890, p. 479</ref> Al-Dimashqi (1256–1327) noted that Karak: "is an impregnable fortress, standing high on the summit of a mountain. Its fosses are the valleys around it, which are very deep. They say it was originally, in Roman days, a convent, and was turned into a fortress. It is now a treasure house of the Turks."<ref name=Strange479/> Abu'l-Fida (1273−1331) noted that Al Karak "is a celebrated town with a very high fortress, one of the most unassailable of the fortresses of Syria. About a day's march from it is Mutah, where are the tombs of Ja'afar at Tayyar and his companions. Below Al Karak is a valley, in which is a thermal bath (hammam), and many gardens with excellent fruits, such as apricots, pears, pomegranates, and others."<ref name=Strange479/>

Al-Karak was the birthplace of Ibn al-Quff (1233–1286), an Arab Christian physician and surgeon, author of the earliest medieval Arabic treatise intended solely for surgeons.

In 1355, Ibn Battuta wrote: "Al Karak is one of the strongest and most celebrated fortresses of Syria. It is called also Hisn al Ghurab (the Crow's Fortress), and is surrounded on every side by ravines. There is only one gateway, and that enters by a passage tunnelled in the live rock, which tunnel forms a sort of hall. We stayed four days outside Karak, at a place called Ath Thaniyyah.<ref>Le Strange, 1890, pp. 479−480</ref>

The castle served as a place of exile and power base during the Mamluk sultanate. Its significance lay in its control over the caravan route between Damascus and Egypt and the pilgrimage route between Damascus and Mecca. In the thirteenth century, the Mamluk ruler Baibars used it during his ascent to power. In 1389 Sultan Barquq was exiled to al-Karak, where he gathered his supporters before returning to Cairo.<ref>Holt, 1986, pp. 86, 128</ref>

Ottoman periodEdit

Template:See also In 1596 Al-Karak appeared in the Ottoman tax registers, situated in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Karak, part of the Sanjak of Ajlun. It had 78 households and 2 bachelors who were Muslim, and 103 households and 8 bachelors who were Christian. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, olive trees/vineyards/fruit trees, a special product (bayt al–mal), goats and bee-hives; in addition to occasional revenues, for a water mill, and a market toll. Their total tax was 15,000 akçe.<ref>Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 171</ref>

Al-Karak was inhabited by the Majali tribe,<ref>Bliss, 1895, p. 217</ref> the Tarawneh tribe and the Maaitah tribe.<ref>Dowling and the Al Mdanat tribe the first Christian Tribe in the region, 1896, pp. 328, 329. Records the Mujely being "unreasonable in their treatment" of visitors in 1817 (Irby and Mangles), 1851 (De Saulcy), 1872 (Canon Tristram) and 1893 (John Edward Gray Hill and his wife Caroline).</ref>

In 1844 Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt sent an expedition west of the Dead Sea. His troops occupied the castle at al-Karak but they were starved out with much loss of life.

Mohammed Al-Majali who had control of Al-Karak in 1868, was involved in the events that led to the destruction of the Moabite Stone.<ref>Doughtey, 1921, p. 26</ref>

In 1893 the Sublime Porte Abdul Hamid II established the sub-province of Ma'an, with a resident governor (mutasarif) in Al-Karak, under the Wāli of Syria based in Damascus.<ref>Bliss, 1895, p. 203</ref> One of the first governors, 1895, was Hussein Helmy Bey Effendi (see also Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha), aged 40, formerly the General Secretary at Damascus. He ruled with a garrison of 1,200 troops, in 3 regiments, mostly conscripts from West of the River Jordan doing their three years of military service. There were also 200 Circassian cavalry.<ref>Bliss, 1895, p. 220</ref><ref name=Dowling329>Dowling, 1896, p. 329</ref> One of his achievements was the disarming of the local population. He also established a Military Hospital with a Jewish doctor; enforced the regulation of coinage and weights and measures; introduced a weekly postal service to Jerusalem, Damascus and Ma'an; and set up agricultural projects such as the planting of 5,000 grape vines at Madeba.

One estimate of the population of the town and the surrounding area at this time gives a total of 10,000. Of these, 8000 were Muslims and 2,000 were Orthodox Christians whose Church, St George, had been built in 1849. The Latin Mission was established in 1874 and in 1886 Al Majali gave permission to the English Mission to work in the town.<ref>Hill, 1896, 24</ref> The town's Orthodox school had 120 boys and 60 girls. The same source notes that the town's Mufti had been educated in Hebron and al Azhar, Cairo, and that there was a newly built mosque.<ref name=Dowling329/> Merchants from Damascus came to the town twice each year.<ref>Hill, 1896, p. 24. Who also notes that in 1896 there were three Jews living in the town.</ref>

Karak revolt and Arab RevoltEdit

The Karak revolt erupted on 4 December 1910<ref name=ssl>Template:Cite book</ref> as the governor of 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>Template:Cite book</ref> The uprising ended with an indiscriminate massacre perpetrated by the governor's troops.<ref name=Salibi>Template:Cite book</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 January 1918.<ref name=TE>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Neil>Template:Cite book</ref>

British Mandate, Emirate of TransjordanEdit

Following the San Remo conference, 1920, Great Britain was given a mandate to govern the area. The newly appointed High Commissioner in Jerusalem, Herbert Samuel, sent several officials east of the River Jordan to create a local administration. Major Alec Kirkbride was based in Al-Karak with a small detachment of policemen. He established what he named The National Government of Moab with himself as president. In January 1921 Emir Abdullah Hussein began assembling an army in Ma'an and announced his intention to attack the French in Syria. After a brief consultation with his superiors Kirkbride's government welcomed the arrival of the Emir. At the Cairo conference, March 1921, Abdullah was recognised by the British as ruler of Emirate of Transjordan.<ref>Sykes, 1965/1967, pp. 52,53</ref>

In the 1920s, Al-Karak had a population of 8,000 and had the third largest urban population (after Amman and Salt with 20,000 each) in Transjordan.<ref>Encyclopædia Britannica (1929), Volume 22. Page 414.</ref>

Kingdom of JordanEdit

In 1961, the population of Karak town was 7,422 persons,<ref>Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 6</ref> of whom 1,622 were Orthodox Christian while the remaining were Muslim.<ref>Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, pp. 115-116</ref>

In August 1996, there were food riots in the town after the government increased the price of bread.<ref>Mannheim, Ivan (2000) Jordan Handbook. Footprint Handbooks. Template:ISBN. Page 227.</ref>

The town and castle were the scene of an attack by gunmen on 18 December 2016 in which at least 19 people were killed; 13 Jordanian civilians and security forces, a Canadian tourist, and all 5 attackers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

ClimateEdit

Al-Karak has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csa). Most rain falls in the winter. The average annual temperature in Al-Karak is Template:Convert. About Template:Convert of precipitation falls annually.

Template:Weather box

DemographicsEdit

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 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.Template:Citation needed

CuisineEdit

Al-Karak is famous for its traditional Jordanian lamb dish called mansaf.

GalleryEdit

Kerak BW 1.JPG

Karak is known for its crusader castle, one of the largest castles in the region
20100924 kerak01.JPG

A street in al-Karak
Jordanian Police Car.jpg

An al-Karak city police vehicle
Z Karak Mosque.jpg

Mosque
Z Karak JO 13.JPG

A statue of Saladin and mosque behind in the city center
20100924 kerak12.JPG

Notable PersonEdit

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
Abu Qutaibah al Majali, Afghan Arab and Al Qaeda recruiter