Shamsin (Arabic: شمسين Shamsîn also spelled Shemsin, Shamsinn or Shimsan) is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located south of Homs. Nearby localities include al-Qusayr to the west, Damina al-Sharqiya to the northwest, Shinshar to the north, Dardaghan to the southeast and Hisyah to the south. According to the Syrian Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Shamsin had a population of 811 in the 2004 census.[1] Its inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslims.[2]
History
In 1226, during Ayyubid rule, Syrian geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi visited Shamsin, noting it was "a place between Hims (Homs) and Kara."[3] Under the Ayyubids and later the Mamluks who gained power in 1250, Shamsin was part of Mamlakat Hims ("Kingdom of Homs"), the smallest district in both sultanates.[4]
In the mid-19th-century, Shamsin was described as "a small place" by German traveler Albert Socin.[5] During this period, the village was walled and referred to as the site of an old khan (caravanserai). It was populated by a few families, while the surrounding areas were dominated by the nomadic `Anizzah tribe.[6]
References
Bibliography
- Socin, A. (1876). Palestine and Syria, Handbook for Travellers. Karl Baedeker.
- Park, E. A. (1854). The Bibliotheca Sacra and American Biblical Repository. Vol. 11. W. F. Draper.
- Le Strange, G. (1890). Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. OCLC 1004386.
- Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Vol. 3. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
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