Yalda, Syria

Yalda يلدا
Village
Yalda
Coordinates: 33°27′46″N 36°19′18″E
Country	Syria
Governorate	Rif Dimashq Governorate
District	Markaz Rif Dimashq
Nahiyah	Babbila
Population  (2004 census)[1]
• Total	28,384
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)

Yalda (Arabic: يلدا, romanized: Yaldā, also spelled Yelda) is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the Rif Dimashq Governorate, located on the southern outskirts of Damascus to the west of the Yarmouk Camp. Nearby localities include al-Hajar al-Aswad, Jaramana, Sayyidah Zaynab, al-Sabinah and Babbila. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Yalda had a population of 28,384 in the 2004 census.^[1] The town is also in the Babbila nahiyah consisting of 13 towns and villages with a combined population of 341,625.^[1]

History

The town has ancient ruins including foundations of hewn stone and Corinthian columns of basalt.^[2]

Yalda was visited by Syrian geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi in the early 13th-century, during Ayyubid rule. He noted that it was "a village lying some 3 miles from Damascus. The final n is sometimes left out, and the name pronounced Yalda."^[3]

References

1. General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Rif Dimashq Governorate. (in Arabic)
2. Porter, 1855, vol 2, p. 10
3. le Strange, 1890, p. 552

Bibliography

• Porter, Josias Leslie (1855). Five years in Damascus: including an account of the history, topography, and antiquities of that city : with travels and researches in Palmyra, Lebanon, and the Hauran. Vol. 2. John Murray.
• Strange, le, Guy (1890). Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

External links

• google map