Tell Salhab

This article is about the town in northern Syria. For the village in the northern West Bank, see Salhab.
Tell Salhab
تل سلحب
Tal Selhab
Town
Tal Salhab, in 2014
Tal Salhab, in 2014
Tell Salhab is located in Syria
Tell Salhab
Tell Salhab
Location in Syria
Coordinates: 35°15′39″N 36°22′56″E / 35.26089°N 36.382223°E / 35.26089; 36.382223
Country Syria
GovernorateHama
DistrictAl-Suqaylabiyah
SubdistrictTell Salhab
Population
 (2004)
 • Total
15,454

Tal Salhab (Arabic: تل سلحب, also spelled Tal Selhab) is a town in the western center of Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located 48 kilometres (30 mi) northwest of Hama. It is situated on the southern edge of the Ghab plain and by the western bank of the Orontes River.[1] Nearby localities include Nahr al-Bared, Al-Asharinah and al-Suqaylabiyah to the north, Deir Shamil and Deir Mama to the south, Tremseh, Mhardeh and Halfaya to the east.

According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Tell Salhab had a population of 15,454 in the 2004 census. It is also the center of a nahiyah ("subdistrict"), part of the Al-Suqaylabiyah District, consisting of 18 localities and with a combined population of 38,783 in 2004.[2] In the early 1960s its population was around 700. Its inhabitants are predominantly Alawites.[3]

The town was the traditional seat of the Jnaid clan, which typically provided the leaders of the Alawite Kalbiyya confederation.[4] In 1978 a 5,200 square metres (56,000 sq ft) sugar refinery was built in Tell Salhab at a cost of $50 million. The refinery complex boasted a sugar beet silo, a washing plant, pulp presses and dryers, and a water reservoir.[5]

Archaeological excavations

Near Tell Salhab is located Tell 'Acharneh, a large mound which is believed to be the location of the ancient city of Tunip. Archaeological excavations have been ongoing at the site.

References

  1. ^ لمحة موجزة عـن مدينة تــــــل سلحــــــب (in Arabic). محافظة حماة. 3 March 2011. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  2. ^ General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Hama Governorate. (in Arabic)
  3. ^ Boulanger, Robert (1966). The Middle East, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Iran. Hachette. p. 452.
  4. ^ Batatu, Hanna (1999). Syria's Peasantry, the Descendants of Its Lesser Rural Notables, and Their Politics. Princeton University Press. p. 377. ISBN 0691002541.
  5. ^ "Salhab sugar refinery nears completion". Middle East Economic Digest. Vol. 22. 1978. p. 43.