The Hauran Conflicts of the 1860s: A Chapter in the Rural History of Modern Syria

Abstract

This paper examines the relatively neglected rural history of Syria. It concentrates on the Hauran, a dry-farming region of hills and plains south of the Damascene oasis between the northern Jordan's tributaries and the eastern desert. 1 Although the Hauran is today no longer a region of primary economic importance to Syria as it once was, it is of historical interest because it was the very first of greater Syria's outlying rural zones to be integrated into the developing modern Middle Eastern economy. 2 The Hauran is, moreover, of comparative interest because it held a position in Syria's political economy then which bears many resemblances to the positions held by younger hinterland regions now. The parallels between the situation of the Hauran then and the Syrian north and northeast now, for example, are indeed many. The Hauran in the nineteenth century and these regions today were and are areas forming important hinterland zones for the sustenance of large urban concentrations; areas primarily devoted to the production of Syria's chief earners of foreign exchange; areas in which an important network of regional trade routes exist; areas attracting the interest of urbanbased entrepreneurs; areas of immigration and new settlement to which a variety of mountain, plains, and nomadic peoples are drawn; areas in which development means the integration of the rural zone into, and largely for the benefit of a larger (national) economic entity. Before these considerations can be dealt with, however, it is essential to establish the course of events and the nature and behavior of the factions involved. Using a variety of sources and references, this paper attempts to reconstruct the history of a number of events which occurred in the Hauran in the 1860s. 3 Up until the middle of the nineteenth century the Hauran received the direct attention of the central Ottoman government only during the season of the pilgrimage to Mecca. During a period of approximately thirty to sixty days annually, the pilgrimage passed through the Hauran. Once the Sultan's obligations to organize, provision, and protect this formidable undertaking were fulfilled, however, the Hauran subsided into a condition of near autonomy until the time of the next pilgrimage.The Ottomans' lack of interest in the Hauran might appear paradoxical insofar as this fertile land actually belonged to the state and the people living there

Circassian Refugees and the Making of Amman, 1878–1914

“…The production of Hawrani wheat went up in the wake of increased European demand during the Crimean War (1853-56). 51 Syrian landowning notables and coastal merchants made a profit from the rising cost of grain on global markets. However, the end of the US Civil War (1865) and the opening of the Suez Canal (1869) precipitated the arrival of cheaper American, Indian, and Australian grain in Europe.…”