Shibam Kawkaban
Shibam Kawkaban
شبام كَوْكَبَان | |
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Town | |
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| Country | File:Flag of Yemen.svg Yemen |
| Governorate | Al Mahwit Governorate |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (Yemen Standard Time) |
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Shibam Kawkaban (Arabic: شبام كَوْكَبَان, romanized: Shibām Kawkabān)[note 1] is a double town[4] in Shibam Kawkaban District, Al Mahwit Governorate, Yemen,[6] located 38 km[1] west-northwest[4] of Sanaa, the national capital.[1] It consists of two distinct adjoining towns, Shibam (Arabic: شبام, romanized: Shibām) and Kawkaban (Arabic: كَوْكَبَان, romanized: Kawkabān).[6] Shibam is sometimes also called "Shibam Kawkaban" in order to distinguish it from other towns called Shibam.[1]
Shibam is a market town at the edge of a large agricultural plain;[4] above it is the fortress-town of Kawkaban, at the summit of the cliffs to the southwest.[6] Kawkaban, which means "two planets" in Arabic, is a sizeable town in its own right,[6] and is known for its lavish tower-houses.[4] Because of the fertile surrounding farmland, the defensive strength of the Kawkaban fortress, and the city's closeness to Sanaa, Shibam Kawkaban has been strategically important throughout Yemen's history.[2]
It contains a fortified citadel about 2,931 m (9,616 ft) above sea level.[7] It is built upon a precipitous hilltop, walled from the north and fortified naturally from the other directions. It was the capital of the Yuʿfirid dynasty (847-997), and was also home to a Jewish community until its demise in the mid-20th century. The city affords good views of the surrounding countryside.
The city features several old mosques: al Madrasa, al Mansoor, al Sharefa and Harabat. The old market is in the middle of the city. Old rainwater reservoirs can also be seen in the fortified town, named Meseda, Alasdad, and Sedalhamam.
Names
[edit | edit source]According to the 10th-century writer Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani, there were four towns in Yemen named Shibam.[1] To distinguish this Shibam from the others, it is sometimes suffixed as Shibam Kawkaban.[1] Other historically used epithets include Shibam Aqyan,[6][1] Shibam Ḥimyar,[6] Shibam Yaḥbus,[1] and Shibam Yuʿfir.[1] According to al-Hamdani, the town had originally been called Yuḥbis, and had taken the name "Shibam" after a man of the Banu Hamdan tribe who had settled there.[6][note 2][note 3] As for the name "Aqyan", it comes from the name of the Banu Dhu Kabir Aqyan dynasty which ruled the surrounding area in pre-Islamic times.[2]
The name Shibām, which is somewhat common in Yemen, appears to refer to a peak or other elevated place.[2] Landberg's Glossaire datînois records that in the Dathina region, there are words shabama (meaning "to be high") and shibām (meaning "height").[2] The places named Shibam are all located by peaks or cliffs, so the name is an appropriate one.[2]
As for Kawkaban, al-Hamdani says it is named after a man named Kawkaban b. Dhi Sabal b. Aqyan, of the tribe of Himyar, but Robert T.O. Wilson says this eponym is "probably contrived".[6] Wilson notes that al-Hamdani did mention another place called Kawkaban, which he said got its name "because it was adorned with silver bands."[6]
History
[edit | edit source]
The earliest mentions of Shibam Kawkaban are in 3rd-century inscriptions which identify it as the center of the Dhu Hagaran Shibam tribe.[2]
The town is known as Shibam Kawkaban because it is on a mountain called Kawkaban. It was also known as Shibam Yaḥbis, Shibam Ḥimyar and Shibam Aqyan. The Yuʿfirids Muslim dynasty (847-997) that emerged in the Yemen is originally from Shibam Kawkaban. Shibam Kawkaban became their capital.[8][9]
According to al-Hamdani, Shibam was the center of the historical mikhlaf of 'Aqyan.[6] He wrote that the town had 30 mosques in his day and was inhabited by members of the Banu Fahd branch of the tribe of Himyar.[6]
Beginning in the 1500s, Shibam Kawkaban was a stronghold of the Alid Sharaf al-Din dynasty, which produced two Zaydi Imams of Yemen.[2]
In the early 20th century, the mountain village was visited by German explorer and photographer Hermann Burchardt, who wrote in May 1902: "Kawkaban, a now completely deserted town that still 40 years ago counted 30,000 inhabitants, but now hardly holds a few hundred; [it] also has its Jewish quarter, where still some families live."[10] The renowned Jewish poet, Zechariah Dhahiri, was a resident of the city.
As of the 1975 census, Shibam Kawkaban was home to about 2,000 people.[2]
In February 2016 as part of the Yemeni Civil War, fighter jets from U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition struck the town citadel, killing seven residents and destroying the historic gateway as well as the 700-year-old houses.[11]
Climate
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Kawkaban has a distinct moderate semi-arid climate under the Köppen climate classification (BSh). Due to its outstanding elevation that nears 3,000 m (9,800 ft), the town receives larger diurnal ranges and more precipitation compared to the nearby capital, Sanaa. The higher but still modest precipitation is a direct result of its exposed location (it is not shielded by any natural barriers) on top of a mountain and its rugged terrain; both factors leading to occasional orographic lifts rising from nearby slopes.
| Climate data for Kawkaban | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 22.2 (72.0) |
23.3 (73.9) |
25.5 (77.9) |
26.3 (79.3) |
28.3 (82.9) |
30.0 (86.0) |
28.5 (83.3) |
27.2 (81.0) |
27.3 (81.1) |
26.2 (79.2) |
23.5 (74.3) |
22.2 (72.0) |
25.6 (78.1) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 14.0 (57.2) |
14.9 (58.8) |
17.3 (63.1) |
18.7 (65.7) |
20.6 (69.1) |
21.9 (71.4) |
22.1 (71.8) |
20.9 (69.6) |
20.2 (68.4) |
18.5 (65.3) |
16.3 (61.3) |
14.7 (58.5) |
18.3 (64.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 5.9 (42.6) |
6.5 (43.7) |
9.2 (48.6) |
11.1 (52.0) |
13.0 (55.4) |
13.8 (56.8) |
15.7 (60.3) |
14.7 (58.5) |
13.1 (55.6) |
10.9 (51.6) |
9.1 (48.4) |
7.2 (45.0) |
10.9 (51.6) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 7 (0.3) |
8 (0.3) |
15 (0.6) |
38 (1.5) |
46 (1.8) |
17 (0.7) |
82 (3.2) |
112 (4.4) |
41 (1.6) |
8 (0.3) |
6 (0.2) |
1 (0.0) |
381 (14.9) |
| Source: Climate-Data.org[14] | |||||||||||||
See also
[edit | edit source]Notes
[edit | edit source]- ^ The name is variously spelled "Shibam Kawkaban", with a space;[1][2][3] "Shibam-Kawkaban", with a dash;[4][5] or even "Shibam (Kawkaban)", with parentheses.[6]
- ^ His full genealogy is given as Shibam b. Abdullah b. As'ad b. Jusham b. Hashid.[6]
- ^ The name Yuhbis now refers to a wadi to the west of Shibam, descending from below the historical fort of Bukur and eventually joining the Wadi La'ah.[6]
References
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- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Weather in Jabal Kawkabān Freemeteo. Retrieved on 11/08/2016.
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Hermann Burchardt, Die Juden in Yemen, in: "Ost und West", Berlin 1902, p. 340.
- ^ ‘Why is the world so quiet?’ Yemen suffers its own cruel losses, far from Aleppo.
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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