Hauran

{{Short description|Region in Syria and Jordan}} {{About|the region|the ancient god|Hauron}} {{Good article}} thumb|upright=1.35|Map of the Hauran region

The '''Hauran''' ({{langx|ar|حَوْرَان|''Ḥawrān''}}; also spelled ''Hawran'' or ''Houran'') is a region that spans parts of southern Syria and northern Jordan. It is bound in the north by the Ghouta oasis, to the northeast by the al-Safa field, to the east and south by the Harrat al-Sham and to the west by the Golan Heights. Traditionally, the Hauran consists of three subregions: the Nuqrah and Jaydur plains, the Jabal al-Druze massif, and the Lajat volcanic field. The population of the Hauran is largely Arab, but religiously heterogeneous; most inhabitants of the plains are Sunni Muslims belonging to large agrarian clans, while Druze form the majority in the eponymous Jabal al-Druze and a significant Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic minority inhabit the western foothills of Jabal al-Druze. The region's largest towns are Daraa, Ramtha, and Suwayda.

From the mid-1st century BC, the region was governed by the Roman Empire's Herodian and Nabatean client kings until it was formally annexed by the empire in the 2nd century AD. The Hauran prospered under Roman rule (106–395 AD) and its villages functioned as largely self-governing units, some of which developed into imperial cities. The region continued to prosper in the Byzantine era (395–634), during which different Arab tribes ruled the Hauran on Byzantium's behalf, including the Salihids (5th century) and Ghassanids (6th century) until the Muslim conquest in the mid-630s. For much of the Islamic era until Ottoman rule (1517–1917), the Hauran was divided into the districts of al-Bathaniyya and Ḥawrān, which corresponded to the Classical Batanea and Auranitis. Medieval Muslim geographers variously described these districts as prosperous, well-watered and well-populated.

Under the Romans, the grain of Batanea and the wine of Auranitis were important for imperial trade, and throughout its history, the Hauran was the major source of the Levant's grain. The region saw a decline in the 17th century until increased demand for Syrian grain and improved security led to the agricultural revival and re-population of the Hauran in the mid-19th century. The region also historically benefited as a key transit area on the traditional Hajj caravan route to Mecca and later the Hejaz railway. The Hauran remained Syria's breadbasket until being largely supplanted by northern Syria in the mid-20th century, which coincided with its separation from interdependent areas due to international borders and the Arab–Israeli conflict. Nonetheless, it persisted as an important agricultural and commercial transit area into the 2000s. During the Syrian Civil War, which was sparked in the Hauran in 2011, it became a major conflict zone between rebels and government forces in the Daraa Governorate campaign until the government reasserted control in 2018, only to later fall into rebel hands after the Southern Syria offensive and the Fall of the Assad regime.

The wide availability of basalt in the Hauran led to the development of a distinct vernacular architecture characterized by the exclusive use of basalt as a building material and a fusion of Hellenistic, Nabatean and Roman styles. The durability of basalt is credited for the Hauran's possession of one of the highest concentrations of well-preserved Classical-era monuments in the world. Hauran towns such as Bosra, Qanawat, Shahba, Salkhad, Umm al-Jimal and numerous others contain Roman temples and theaters, Byzantine-era churches and monasteries, and forts, mosques and bathhouses built by successive Muslim dynasties.

==Geography== ===Geographic definition=== thumb|300px|The approximate boundaries of the Hauran

Though its geographic definition may vary, the Hauran generally consists of the following subregions: the Hauran plain, which forms the heart of the region;<ref name="Sourdel292">Sourdel 1971, p. 292.</ref> the mountains of Jabal Hauran (also known as 'Jabal al-Druze' or 'Jabal al-Arab') east of the plain; and the Lajat volcanic field to the north of Jabal Hauran.<ref name="Sourdel292" /><ref name="Rohmer1" /><ref name="Brown377">Brown 2009, p. 377.</ref><ref>Zerbini 2013, p. 56.</ref> The region is bound to the north by the Ghouta and Marj plains around Damascus and to the south by the desert steppe of Jordan.<ref name="Rohmer1">Rohmer 2008, p. 1.</ref> Its western boundary is marked by the Ruqqad tributary, which separates it from the Golan Heights (''al-Jawlān'' in Arabic).<ref name="Sourdel292" /><ref name="Rohmer1" /> It is eastwardly bound by the al-Safa, al-Harrat and al-Hamad desert-steppes.<ref name="Rohmer1" /> Geographer John Lewis Burckhardt, writing in 1812, defined it as follows: <blockquote>To the south of Jabal Kiswah and Jabal Khiyara begins the country of Hauran. It is bordered on the east by the rocky district of Lajat, and by the Jabal Hauran, both of which are sometimes comprised within the Hauran ... To the southeast, where Bosra and Ramtha are the farthest inhabited villages, the Hauran borders upon the desert. Its western limits are the chain of villages on the Hajj road, from Ghabaghib as far south as Ramtha ... Hauran comprises therefore part of Trachonitis and Iturea, the whole of Auranitis, and the northern districts of Batanea.<ref>Brown 2009, p. 377, note 1.</ref></blockquote>

{{multiple image | align = right | total_width = 350 | header = | footer = | image1 = Tel Al-Hara-Syria.jpg | alt1 = | caption1 = The Tell al-Hara volcanic cone in the Jaydur region of the Hauran plain, as seen from the Golan Heights to the west | image2 = Izra4.jpg | alt2 = | caption2 = The land of the Hauran plain is arable, consisting of basalt-derived soil, while the Lajat (''pictured'') has stony ground and scarce vegetation }} The plain of Hauran stretches between the Marj plain of Damascus southward into modern-day Jordan where it borders Jabal Ajlun to the southwest and the desert steppe to the south and southeast.<ref name="Sourdel292" /><ref>Rogan 1994, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=lh1_ernmsnwC&pg=PA34 34]</ref> To the west is the Golan plateau and to the east are the uplands of Jabal Hauran.<ref name="Sourdel292" /><ref name="Rohmer1" /> The plain has historically been divided into the northern Jaydur and the southern Nuqrah.<ref name="Rohmer1" /><ref name="Maoz35" /> The former is identified with the ancient Iturea, while the latter is identified with the ancient Batanea (''al-Bathaniyya'' in Arabic).<ref name="Maoz35">Ma'oz 2008, p. 35.</ref> The much larger Nuqrah extends northward to the approaches of al-Sanamayn, being bound to the east by the Lajat and Jabal Hauran.<ref name="Hartal4">Hartal 2006, p. 4.</ref> It forms the heart of the Hauran plain.<ref name="Sourdel292" /> ''Al-Nuqra'' is a relatively recent appellation, meaning "the cavity" in Arabic.<ref name="Honigman114">Honigman 1995, p. 114.</ref> The Jaydur extends northwest from al-Sanamayn to the minor lava field located at the foothills of Mount Hermon (''Jabal al-Shaykh'' in Arabic).<ref name="Hartal4" />

===Topography=== thumb|left|The highest point of the Jabal Hauran (''pictured'') is over 1,800 meters above sea level A common feature throughout the Hauran is the basaltic topography, though altitude and soil vary between the Hauran's subregions.<ref name="Rohmer1" /> The Nuqrah, Jaydur and Jabal Hauran consist of arable land derived from decomposed basaltic, volcanic rock.<ref name="Sourdel292" /><ref name="Rohmer1" /> The Nuqrah is a relatively low plateau measuring roughly {{convert|100x75|km|sp=us}} with an average elevation of {{convert|600|m|sp=us}} above sea level.<ref name="Sourdel292" /> Its land is characterized by vast, contiguous tracts of fertile, basalt-derived soil.<ref name="Hartal4" /> In contrast to the Nuqrah, the Jaydur's landscape is more fractured and rocky. Its average elevation ranges between {{convert|600|and|900|m|sp=us}} above sea level, with some volcanic cones reaching above {{convert|1000|m|sp=us}} above sea level, including Tell al-Hara.<ref name="Hartal4" /> In terms of its landscape and cinder cones, the Jaydur is a topographic continuation of the Golan Heights.<ref name="Hartal4" /> The Jabal Hauran was formed by large lava flows into a roughly {{convert|60x30|km|sp=us}} massif of volcanic hills, the highest point of which is over {{convert|1800|m|sp=us}} above sea level in the range's center.<ref name="Hartal4" /><ref name=Ball238/> The Lajat comprises a topography of depressions, rifts and ridges with scattered arable patches, and is characterized by rocky soil and scarce vegetation.<ref name="Rohmer1" /> Its average elevation is between {{convert|600–700|m|sp=us}} above sea level,<ref name="EI593">Gaube 1982, p. 593.</ref> though some of the area's volcanic cones are over {{convert|1000|m|sp=us}} with the highest over {{convert|1150|m|sp=us}}.<ref name="EI593" />

===Climate=== Rainfall above the {{convert|200|mm|in}} mark is characteristic throughout the Hauran,<ref name="Rohmer1" /> but otherwise climate and precipitation levels vary between its subregions.<ref name="Rohmer1" /> The relatively frequent rainfall and the abundance of water springs have historically allowed the Nuqrah and Jabal Hauran to become major grain-growing regions.<ref name="Sourdel292" /> The Hauran plain receives an average {{convert|250|mm|in}} of rainfall, which allows the plains to support stable, grain-based agriculture.<ref name="Rohmer1" /> Jabal Hauran receives considerably greater rainfall, which supports more orchard and tree-based cultivation.<ref name="Rohmer1" /> Jabal Hauran is frequently covered by snow during the winter.<ref name=Ball238 />

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |+ Monthly normal high and low temperatures (°C) for largest localities in the Hauran ! width=10%|City || width=6%|Jan || width=6%|Feb || width=6%|Mar || width=6%|Apr || width=6%|May || width=6%|Jun || width=6%|Jul || width=6%|Aug || width=6%|Sep || width=6%|Oct || width=6%|Nov || width=6%|Dec || width=10%|Annual<br />Max/Min || width=5%|Citation |- | Bosra || 12/2 || 13/3 || 17/5 || 22/8 || 27/12 || 31/15 || 32/16 || 32/16 || 31/15 || 27/12 || 20/8 || 14/3 || 23/10 || <ref>{{cite web |title=Climate Bosra |url=https://en.climate-data.org/asia/syria/daraa/bosra-47703/ |website=Climate-Data.org |access-date=25 October 2018}}</ref> |- | Daraa || 13/3 || 15/4 || 18/6 || 24/9 || 28/12 || 31/16 || 33/18 || 33/19 || 31/16 || 28/13 || 21/8 || 15/5|| 24/11 || <ref>{{cite web |title=Dara'a |url=http://worldweather.wmo.int/099/c01266.htm |publisher=World Meteorological Organization |access-date=25 October 2018}}</ref> |- | Nawa || 13/4 || 15/4 || 18/6 || 22/9 || 28/13 || 31/16 || 32/18 || 33/18 || 31/16 || 28/13 || 21/9 || 15/5 || 24/11 || <ref>{{cite web |title=Climate Nawa |url=https://en.climate-data.org/asia/syria/daraa/nawa-47496/ |website=Climate-Data.org |access-date=25 October 2018}}</ref> |- | Ramtha || 14/4 || 15/4 || 18/7 || 22/10 || 27/14 || 31/17 || 32/19 || 32/19 || 30/17 || 27/14 || 22/9 || 15/5 || 24/11 || <ref>{{cite web |title=Climate Al Ramtha |url=https://en.climate-data.org/asia/jordan/al-ramtha/al-ramtha-51353/ |website=Climate-Data.org |access-date=25 October 2018}}</ref> |- | Suwayda || 10/2 || 12/3 || 15/5 || 20/8 || 25/11 || 29/14 || 30/16 || 31/16 || 29/14 || 26/12 || 19/8 || 13/4 || 22/9 || <ref>{{cite web |title=Climate As Suwayda |url=https://en.climate-data.org/asia/syria/as-suwayda/as-suwayda-4866/ |website=Climate-Data.org |access-date=25 October 2018}}</ref> |}

==History== There are records of settlements in the Hauran in the Ancient Egyptian Amarna letters and the Book of Deuteronomy of the Hebrew Bible, when the region was generally known as the Bashan.<ref name="Sourdel292" /> Control of it was contested between the Aramean kingdom of Damascus and the Kingdom of Israel during the 9th and 8th centuries BC.<ref name="Sourdel292" /> It was ultimately conquered and pillaged by the Assyrian Empire, which held onto it from 732 to 610 BC.<ref name="Sourdel292" /> The area is mentioned in the description of the future borders of Israel in {{bibleverse||Ezekiel|47:16|HE}}. ''Bashān'' later saw security and prosperity under Achaemenid rule; its settlements became better developed and culturally Aramized.<ref name="Sourdel292" />

===Hellenistic period=== During the Hellenistic period beginning in the mid-4th century BC, the Hauran was at first a possession of the Ptolemaic dynasty,<ref name="Rohmer1" /> which saw the region as a buffer zone separating their kingdom from Seleucid Damascus.<ref name="Hartal269">Hartal 2006, p. 269.</ref> Its sparse population consisted of semi-nomadic and nomadic groups such as the Itureans and Nabateans and the area remained largely undeveloped.<ref name="Hartal269" /> The Seleucids conquered the Hauran following their victory over the Ptolemies in the Battle of Panium near Mount Hermon in 200 BC.<ref name="Rohmer1" /><ref name="Hartal269" /> During the decline of the Seleucid Empire, the Petra-based Nabatean Kingdom emerged to the Hauran's south.<ref name="Sourdel292" /> The Arab Nabateans expanded their presence to the southern Hauran towns of Bosra and Salkhad.<ref name="Sourdel292" /> By the end of the 2nd century BC, Seleucid control of the Hauran had become largely nominal and the region became a contested area between the Nabataean Kingdom, the Jerusalem-based Hasmonean dynasty and the Iturean principality based in the northern Golan and southern Mount Lebanon.<ref>Rohmer 2008, pp. 1–2.</ref><ref name="Hartal269" />

===Roman era=== ====Herodian period==== [[File:Bosra pano Syria.jpg|thumb|right|The Roman amphitheater of Bosra]] By 63 BC the Roman Empire extended its influence to all of Syria and initially charged local princes with keeping order in Auranitis (Jabal Hauran), Batanea (Nuqrah) and Trachonitis (Lajat).<ref name="Sourdel292" /><ref name="Hartal271">Hartal 2006, p. 271.</ref> However, the districts remained largely in the hands of nomadic tribes.<ref name="Hartal273">Hartal 2006, p. 273.</ref> To supplement their meager income, these nomads often raided nearby settlements as far as Damascus, and robbed pilgrims traversing the region.<ref name="Hartal271" /> When Zenodorus, a prince entrusted with the Hauran districts' security, collaborated with the nomads, the Romans transferred the districts to their Judean client king, Herod the Great in 23 BC.<ref name="Hartal271" />

After Herod quelled resistance in the Hauran during the early years of his rule, the brigandage of the nomads largely ceased.<ref>Hartal 2006, p. 272.</ref> Their rebellion resumed in 12 BC and two years later Herod renewed his efforts to bring the nomads to heel.<ref name="Hartal273" /> This resulted in an alliance formed between the nomads of Trachonitis and Auranitis with the Nabateans in Transjordan, which defeated Herod's Idumean troops.<ref name="Hartal273" /> Herod ultimately stabilized the area after establishing permanent colonies and a network of forts in the less vulnerable Batanea district, from which Herod's forces could keep order without fear of attack by the nomads of Auranitis and Trachonitis.<ref name="Hartal273" /> Through the establishment of security, land distribution and early tax incentives, Batanea prospered under Herod and his successors and became Syria's main source of grain.<ref name="Hartal274">Hartal 2006, p. 274.</ref> Auranitis began to similarly prosper during the reign of Philip, Herod's successor in the Hauran.<ref name="Hartal274" />

====Post-annexation==== By the early 2nd century AD, the last vassal kings of the Hauran region, Agrippa II ({{r.}} 53–100 AD) of the Herodian Tetrarchy and Rabbel II ({{r.}} 70–106 AD) of the Nabatean Kingdom, had died and Rome under Emperor Trajan ({{r.}} 98–117) no longer saw the need for local intermediaries.<ref name="Hartal277">Hartal 2006, p. 277.</ref> The deaths of the Herodian and Nabatean monarchs in relatively quick succession provided an opportunity for the Romans to absorb their domains. In 106, the empire formally annexed the entire Hauran, incorporating its southern part in Arabia Province and its northern part in Syria Province.<ref name="Sourdel292" /> The provincial boundary followed the boundary just north of the Adraa–Bosra–Salkhad line that had separated the Herodian and Nabatean kingdoms.<ref name="Hartal280">Hartal 2006, p. 280.</ref> This administrative division remained intact for much of the 2nd century.<ref name="Hartal280" /> This period, under the Antonine emperors who ruled until 180 AD, saw consistent stability, development and prosperity.<ref name="Hartal279">Hartal 2006, p. 279.</ref>

{{multiple image|perrow = 2|total_width=300|align=left |image1 = Bust of emperor Philippus Arabus - Hermitage Museum.jpg |caption1 = Bust of Emperor Philip the Arab, a native of the Hauran |image2 = Shahba Forum - panoramio.jpg |caption2 = The Philippeion forum in Shahba (Philippopolis) built by Emperor Philip }}

During the late 2nd century, imperial order gradually weakened and political instability ensued.<ref name="Hartal279" /> In 244 a native of the Hauran, Philip the Arab, became emperor and turned his hometown of Shahba (Philippopolis) into an imperial city.<ref name="Hartal279" /> Though Shahba and Auranitis prospered, the general state of the empire was marked by decline.<ref name="Hartal279" /> Philip was killed in 249 and Auranitis was largely abandoned in the late 3rd century.<ref name="Hartal279" /> By the early 3rd century, Auranitis, Batanea and Trachonitis had been annexed to Arabia, bringing the entire Hauran under the jurisdiction of a single province.<ref name="Sourdel292" /><ref>Hartal 2006, p. 281.</ref> This also coincided with the completion of the north–south Via Nova Traiana road connecting the Red Sea-port of Ayla with Bosra, the provincial capital, and an east–west road connecting the cities of the Adraa–Bosra–Salkhad line.<ref>MacAdam 2002, pp. 644–645.</ref> Commenting on this development, historian Henry Innes MacAdam writes:

<blockquote>For the first time since the Hellenistic age the Hawran in its entirety came under one administrative system. The road network and the settlements it linked were the framework upon which the economic and social infrastructure of the region was built. Secure towns and safe, well-maintained roads meant that internal and external commerce could flow freely. The wine and grain of the Hawran were marketed, we may assume, far and wide.<ref name="MacAdam645">MacAdam 2002, p. 645.</ref></blockquote>

After Rome's annexation, the rural villages of the Hauran exercised considerable self-rule.<ref name="Hartal284">Hartal 2006, p. 284.</ref> Each village had common areas and buildings, a law council and a treasury.<ref name="Hartal284" /> Between the late 1st and 5th centuries, several underwent urbanization and became cities, including Qanawat (Canatha), Suwayda (Dionysias), Shahba (Philippopolis), Shaqqa (Maxmimianopolis), al-Masmiyah (Phaina) and Nawa (Naveh).<ref name="Hartal284" /> The inhabitants were generally wealthy landowners whose large dwellings housed their extended families.<ref name="Hartal284" /> Among the inhabitants were Roman army veterans who upon returning to their villages in the Hauran invested money in land, houses, tombs, temples and public buildings and filled high-ranking local positions.<ref name="Hartal284" /> Agriculture was the main economic sector, with Batanea and Auranitis mainly producing grain and wine, respectively, both of which were important to imperial trade.<ref name="Hartal284" />

Much of the settled population consisted of Arameans, Jews and a larger Arab population, consisting of Nabateans and Safaitic groups.<ref name="Sourdel292" /> These groups continued to use Semitic languages,<ref name="Hartal284" /> mainly Aramaic and an early form of Arabic at the colloquial level,<ref name="MacAdam645" /> though the Hellenization process was well underway and by the 4th century Greek supplanted the Hauran's native languages at the official level.<ref name="Hartal284" /> Though the particularly wealthy and army veterans engaged in Hellenistic activities, such as visiting theaters and bathhouses, much of the population held on to Arab and Aramaic traditions and worshiped their native gods.<ref name="Hartal284" />

===Byzantine era=== Arab groups, including from South Arabia, continued to migrate to the Hauran well into the Byzantine period.<ref name="Sourdel292" /> During the 4th and 5th centuries, when direct imperial rule was weakened and nomadic groups overran the Sinai and the Euphrates valley, the Byzantines turned to certain powerful Arab tribes to maintain internal order and guard the Hauran.<ref name="Hartal287">Hartal 2006, p. 287.</ref> Beginning in the 4th century, this role was played by the Lakhmids, and by the Salihids for much of the 5th century.<ref name="Sourdel292" /><ref name="Hartal287" /> These groups protected the population in return for payment in gold and corn.<ref name="Hartal287" />

====Ghassanid period==== In the early 6th century, the Salihids were replaced by the Ghassanids.<ref name="Sourdel292" /> A major component of the Azd tribal confederation, the Ghassanids established themselves in Arabia Province and like the Salihids, embraced Christianity.<ref name="Hartal287" /> They became formal military allies of the Byzantines in 502, contributing troops in the wars with Sassanian Persia and the Persians' Lakhmid vassals.<ref name="Hartal287" /> In 531, the Ghassanid chieftain al-Harith ibn Jabalah was decreed 'phylarch of all Arabs' in the empire,<ref name="Hartal287" /> but by 582 his son (and the last powerful Ghassanid phylarch) al-Mundhir III was arrested and exiled.<ref name="Hartal288">Hartal 2006, p. 288.</ref> This led to a rebellion in the Hauran and a siege on Bosra led by al-Mundhir's son al-Nu'man VI, which only ended when the latter was allowed by the Byzantines to reestablish the Ghassanid phylarchy.<ref name="Hartal288" /> This only lasted until al-Nu'man was exiled in 584, after which the empire dissolved the phylarchy into numerous, smaller Ghassanid and other Arab Christian units.<ref name="Hartal288" /> Some of these units continued to fight alongside the Byzantines, but their overall power had diminished, leaving the area more vulnerable to invasion.<ref name="Hartal288" /> In 613, the Sassanian Persians invaded Syria and defeated the Byzantines in a battle between Adraa and Bosra.<ref name="Hartal289">Hartal 2006, p. 289.</ref>

The Byzantine era in the Hauran was marked by the dual processes of rapid Arabization and the growth of Christianity.<ref name="Sourdel292" /> The region's Ghassanid rulers were semi-nomadic and established permanent encampments throughout the Hauran, chief of which was al-Jabiya,<ref name="Sourdel292" /> but also Aqraba, Jalliq, Harith al-Jawlan and others.<ref name="Hartal287" /> They were entrusted by the Byzantines to secure the Hauran's agricultural production and stave off nomadic marauders.<ref name="Hartal287" /> The region prospered under Ghassanid supervision and the tribe itself built or patronized secular and religious architecture in the region's villages, including churches, monasteries and large homes for their chieftains.<ref name="Hartal287" /> Although a Christian presence in some cities of Auranitis was established in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, by the 5th century nearly all the villages in the Hauran had churches, most of them dedicated to saints favored by the Arabs.<ref>Hartal 2006, p. 285.</ref> The Ghassanids played a significant role in promoting Monophysite Christianity in Syria which was viewed as heretic by the Chalcedonian Church embraced by most Byzantine emperors.<ref name="Hartal287" />

===Early Islamic era=== The advent of Islam in Arabia and its expansion northward to Syria was countered by the Byzantines and their Arab Christian allies.<ref name="Sourdel292" /> However, the region's defenses had been significantly weakened as a consequence of the Ghassanids' decline in status in 582–584.<ref name="Hartal289" /> The first Arab Muslim forces arrived in the Hauran in April 634 and Bosra was conquered by them in May.<ref name="Hartal289" /> Following the decisive Muslim victory in the Battle of Yarmouk in 636, all of the Hauran came under Muslim rule.<ref name="Hartal289" /> The Umayyad dynasty took control of the expanding Islamic caliphate and relocated its capital from Medina to Damascus and were supported by the people of Hauran.<ref name="Sourdel292" /> After the death of the Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya II and the ensuing chaos of succession, the Umayyads' Arab tribal allies in Syria convened a summit in the Hauran town of al-Jabiya, where they chose Marwan I to be the next caliph, in opposition to the ascendant Mecca-based Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr.<ref name="Bosworth622">Bosworth 1991, p. 622</ref> Following the Abbasids’ toppling of the Umayyads in 750, the Arab tribes of Hauran rose in a rebellion that was put down by the Abbasid general Abd Allah ibn Ali.<ref name="Sourdel292" />

During the early Muslim period (7th-10th centuries), the Hauran formed part of the military district of Damascus, itself a part of the larger province of Bilad al-Sham.<ref>Le Strange 1890, p. [https://archive.org/stream/palestineundermo00lestuoft#page/32/mode/1up 32]</ref> The Hauran subdistrict roughly corresponded to the ancient Auranitis and its capital was Bosra, while the Bathaniyya subdistrict corresponded to the ancient Batanea and had Adhri'at as its capital.<ref>Le Strange 1890, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/palestineundermo00lestuoft#page/33/mode/1up 33]–34.</ref> Settlement within the Hauran continued and in some cases "thrived" in the early Islamic period, with "no perceptible change in activity or cultural patterns under the Umayyad caliphs", according to historian Moshe Hartal.<ref name="Hartal289" /> According to the 10th-century Muslim geographer Istakhri, the Hauran and Bathaniyya were "...two great districts of the Damascus Province. Their fields are rain-watered. The frontiers of these two districts extend down to... ...the Balqa district and Amman".<ref>Le Strange 1890, p. [https://archive.org/stream/palestineundermo00lestuoft#page/33/mode/1up 33]</ref>

The Abbasid period in Hauran was marked by numerous damaging raids from the Qarmatians of eastern Arabia in the 10th century.<ref name="Sourdel292" /> After 939, the Hauran and Bathaniyya districts came under the direct rule of the Egyptian-based Ikhshidid dynasty, nominal governors of the Abbasids.<ref name="Amabe31-32">Amabe 2016, pp. 31–32.</ref> During this period, the large Arab tribe of Banu Uqayl, formerly allies of the Qarmatians, migrated to the Syrian steppe extending from the Hauran northward to Upper Mesopotamia.<ref name="Amabe31-32" /> After 945, the ''de jure'' Ikshidid ruler Abu al-Misk Kafur assigned the Uqaylid sheikhs (chieftains) Salih ibn Umayr and Zalim ibn Mawhub with keeping order in the Hauran districts.<ref name="Amabe31-32" /> This ended when the Fatimids conquered southern Syria in 970 and the Uqayl were consequently chased out of the Hauran by the Fatimid-allied tribes of Banu Fazara and Banu Murra.<ref name="Amabe31-32" /> The villages of Hawran and Bathaniyya were rehabilitated by Abu Mahmud Ibrahim, the nominal Fatimid governor of Damascus, in the early 980s, after the damage inflicted on the area by the Fazara and Murra.<ref>Amabe 2016, p. 47.</ref>

===Middle Islamic era=== [[File:Salkhad.jpg|thumb|right|During Mamluk rule, the fortress of Salkhad in Jabal Hauran was an administrative unit and its ruler was a high-ranking emir.]]

The arrival of the Crusaders in the coastal regions of Bilad al-Sham in 1099 had repercussions for the Hauran and the region was periodically targeted by Crusaders in plundering campaigns.<ref name="Sourdel292" /> These occurred when the Crusaders captured Muslim-held fortresses in the Hauran or passed by the region after raids against Damascus.<ref name="Sourdel292" /> In the early 12th century, the entire Hauran was assigned by the Burid emir of Damascus to the Turkish general Amin al-Dawla Kumushtakin as an iqta (fief), which he held until his death in 1146.<ref name=Meinecke35>Meinecke 1996, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=fJ8UCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA35 35]</ref> Under his patronage the region, and Bosra in particular, saw a renewal of building activity after a roughly 300-year hiatus.<ref name=Meinecke35/> The population of the Hauran at the time was largely Greek Orthodox.<ref>Runciman 1951, p. 241.</ref>

The last recorded appearance of the Crusaders in Hauran was in 1217. The Ayyubids had conquered the region in the late 12th century, but their rule collapsed in Syria following the Mongol invasion in 1260. That year the Mongols were defeated by the Mamluks at the Battle of Ain Jalut and Syria, including the Hauran, came under Mamluk rule.<ref name="Sourdel293">Sourdel 1971, p. 293.</ref>

During the 12th and 13th centuries, the Hauran continued to be administratively divided into the Hauran and Bathaniyya districts of Damascus.<ref name="Sourdel293" /> In general, both districts were well-populated and prosperous, benefiting particularly from grain production.<ref name="Sourdel293" /> Though mostly Muslim, a significant portion of the inhabitants were Christians.<ref name="Sourdel293" /> A contemporary Syrian geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi (died 1229) described the Hauran as "a large district full of villages and very fertile".<ref>Le Strange 1890, p. [https://archive.org/stream/palestineundermo00lestuoft#page/34/mode/1up 34]</ref>

Following its incorporation into the Mamluk Sultanate, the Hauran continued to be divided into the two districts of the Bosra-centered Hauran and the Adhri'at-centered Bathaniyya.<ref name="Sourdel293" /> However, within the region were the two smaller administrative units of Salkhad, a fortress town typically held by a high-ranking Mamluk emir, and Zur’, which corresponded with the Lajat.<ref name="Sourdel293" /> Under the Mamluks, the region's strategic importance stemmed from its position on the ''barid'' (postal route) between Gaza and Damascus and Bosra's role as a major marshaling point for the Hajj caravans going to Mecca.<ref name="Sourdel293" /> The arrival of nomadic clans from the Banu Rabi'a tribe in the 14th century caused instability in the region, but they eventually became settled inhabitants.<ref name="Sourdel293" />

===Ottoman era=== ====Grain cultivation and Hajj caravan transit==== [[File:1822 Burckhardt map of the Hauran.jpg|thumb|Johann Ludwig Burckhardt's map of the Hauran, published in 1822]] [[File:An 1886 drawing of al-Shaykh Saad village.jpg|thumb|right|An 1886 sketch of al-Shaykh Saad, the administrative center of the Hauran Sanjak.]]

The Hauran was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire following its conquest of Mamluk Syria in 1517. In the early Ottoman era, during the 16th and 17th centuries, there were numerous agrarian, primarily grain-growing villages in the Hauran plain and the western slopes of Jabal Hauran.<ref name="Brown379">Brown 2009, p. 379.</ref> Most of the inhabitants paid taxes on wheat and barley.<ref name="Brown379" /> The Hauran had long been a major grain-producing region and officially, its land belonged to the Ottoman state and its inhabitants were required to pay taxes and be conscripted into the army.<ref name="Schilcher159-160">Schilcher 1981, pp. 159–160.</ref> However, as state authority receded, the region effectively became autonomous.<ref name="Schilcher159-160" /> An exception to this virtual autonomy came during the annual thirty- to sixty-day Hajj season, during which the state mobilized its forces to organize, protect and supply the annual Muslim pilgrim caravan to Mecca and Medina;<ref name="Schilcher159">Schilcher 1981, p. 159.</ref> In the 18th century, the Hajj route was moved westward from Bosra to Muzayrib, which became the caravan's marshaling point in the Hauran.<ref name="Sourdel293" />

Instead of their direct involvement in the Hauran, the authorities entrusted its affairs to the Damascene ''aghawat'', who commanded small, mobile units of mounted irregulars.<ref name="Schilcher160">Schilcher 1981, p. 160.</ref> In return for the political and economic influence they were allowed in the Hauran, the ''aghawat'' secured revenue from the region's population to fund the Hajj caravan, escorted the caravan and other travelers and policed the region.<ref name="Schilcher160" /> The principal restriction on the power of the ''aghawat'' was resistance from the Hauran's inhabitants. Thus, the ''aghawat'' sought to become more indispensable to the local population.<ref name="Schilcher160" /> To that end, they often mediated between the settled inhabitants of the plain and the Bedouin nomads, and between the Hauran's population as a whole and all outside powers, including the state.<ref name="Schilcher160" /> According to historian Linda S. Schilcher, <blockquote> This hinterland political system had its own internal checks and, of course, its strains, but it appears to have existed with a fair degree of equilibrium for a very long period of time. The low pressure of population on the land and the natural economies that existed between steppe and cultivated plain and between town and countryside appear to have contributed to this relatively stable situation.<ref name="Schilcher160"/></blockquote>

====Increased Bedouin pressures and Druze influx==== As state authority receded in the Hauran, Bedouin tribes from the Anaza confederation increasingly took advantage of the security vacuum.<ref name="Sourdel293" /> The Bedouin encamped in the Hauran in the spring and retreated into the desert as soon as the autumn rains began.<ref name="Schilcher164">Schilcher 1981, p. 164.</ref><ref name="Lewis34-35">Lewis 2000, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=iwxeHaKUGFMC&pg=PA34 34]–35</ref> The Anaza's entry into the Hauran caused the exodus of the semi-nomadic tribes of the Banu Rabi'a confederation.<ref name="Sourdel293" /> The largest tribes that encamped in the Hauran were the Wuld Ali (also known as Awlad Ali), who arrived in the early 18th century, and the Rwala, who arrived in the late 18th century.<ref name="Lewis34-35" /> Both were part of the Anaza confederation.<ref name="Lewis34-35" /> Smaller tribes included the Sardiyah, the Sirhan and the Sulut.<ref name="Schilcher165">Schilcher 1981, p. 165.</ref> The Sulut, which was based in the Lajat wilderness, was the only Bedouin tribe that remained relatively stationary.<ref name="Schilcher165" />

[[File:Anaza Bedouin on the move in the Syrian desert.jpg|thumb|left|A group of Anaza Bedouin and their camels on the move to better pastures in the Syrian desert steppe. Beginning in the 18th century the Anaza seasonally encamped in the Hauran.]] The Bedouin used the Hauran for access to water, to graze their camels and sheep and to stock up on supplies for the winter.<ref name="Schilcher164" /><ref name="Lewis34-35" /> They traded their livestock and meats for grains from the plainsmen, and wares from other Syrian merchants.<ref name="Schilcher164" /><ref name="Lewis34-35" /> The Hajj caravan was a major source of income for the Bedouin, who supplied the pilgrims with protection, logistical support, meat and transportation.<ref name="Schilcher164" /> Bedouin depredations against the locals included the imposition of the ''khuwwa'' (tribute), ostensibly in return for protection.<ref name="Sourdel293" /><ref name="Lewis35">Lewis 2000, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=iwxeHaKUGFMC&pg=PA35 35]</ref> The Bedouin also launched occasional raids and their flocks often grazed on the plainsmen's fields.<ref name="Lewis35" />

In addition to the Bedouin, the 18th and 19th centuries also witnessed large migrations of Druze from Mount Lebanon to the Jabal Hauran, which gradually became known as the Jabal al-Druze ('mountain of the Druze').<ref name="Sourdel293" /> Their arrival pushed the mountain's previous inhabitants to the Hauran plains and introduced a new element of instability to the region.<ref name="Sourdel293" /> A small group of Druze led by the Alam al-Din family first arrived in 1685.<ref name="Firro37">Firro 1992, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=usEUXYnYWxAC&pg=PA37 37]</ref> A much larger wave arrived in the region as a result of the intra-Druze Battle of Ain Dara in 1711.<ref name="Firro37" /> The new arrivals were concentrated in the northwestern corner of Jabal Hauran and the Lajat and established roots in abandoned villages with extensive ancient ruins.<ref name="Firro39">Firro 1992, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=usEUXYnYWxAC&pg=PA39 39]–40.</ref> The area was chosen by the Druze because it was well-watered, defensible and relatively close to the Druze settlements in the Damascus countryside and Mount Hermon.<ref name="Firro39" /> The paramount leaders of the community between 1711 and 1860 were the Najran-based Al Hamdan family.<ref name="Firro39" />

Persistent migrations of Druze from Mount Lebanon, Wadi al-Taym and the Galilee, caused by the increased turbulence they faced, continued throughout the 18th century: historian Kais Firro stated that "each sign of danger in their traditional lands of settlement seemed to instigate a new Druze migration to the Hauran".<ref>Firro 1992, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=usEUXYnYWxAC&pg=PA53 53]</ref> During the final years of the decade-long Egyptian administration of Syria, the Druze of Jabal Hauran launched their first revolt against the authorities,<ref name="Firro67">Firro 1992, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=usEUXYnYWxAC&pg=PA67 67]</ref> in response to a conscription order by Ibrahim Pasha.<ref>Firro 1992, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=usEUXYnYWxAC&pg=PA68 68]–69</ref> By then, their numbers in the region had been swollen by migration.<ref name="Firro66">Firro 1992, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=usEUXYnYWxAC&pg=PA66 66]</ref> The 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war between the Druze and Christians and the resulting French military intervention caused another large exodus of Druze to Jabal Hauran.<ref name="Schilcher161">Schilcher 1981, p. 161.</ref>

The Hauran plains declined economically and demographically during the 17th and 18th centuries.<ref name="Schilcher 1991, p. 168">Schilcher 1991, p. 168.</ref> Factors that caused this decline included the taxation of the peasantry by both the government and the Bedouin, periodic raids by the Bedouin and the encroachments of their livestock, and occasional strife with the neighboring Druze, Ottoman irregulars and between themselves.<ref name="Lewis35" /> Many southern plainsmen migrated to the northern Hauran plain, where the soil was more productive in comparison to the drier south and was less often overrun by the Bedouin and their herds.<ref name="Lewis35" /> According to the historian Norman Lewis, southern Haurani plainsmen "had been moving northwards for generations".<ref name="Lewis35" /> Thus, by the start of the 19th century, the northern plains contained several full or half-empty villages, while the south had been all but deserted, with the exception of the larger towns of Daraa (Adhri'at), Bosra and Ramtha.<ref name="Lewis35" />

====Regional revival and centralization==== [[File:Daraa Grain Threshing, 1906 by B Moritz Cropped.jpg|thumb|right|Grain being threshed in Daraa, 1906. Grain was the chief crop of the Hauran, the cultivation of which led to the region's revival in the second half of the 19th century.]]

During the 1850s, increased demand for grain in the Damascene and European markets led to a resurgence of grain cultivation in the Hauran.<ref name="Lewis39">Lewis 2000, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=iwxeHaKUGFMC&pg=PA39 39]</ref> This in turn brought about the mass resettlement of abandoned villages and the establishment of new settlements.<ref name="Lewis39" /> By the end of the decade, resettlement caused a scarcity of grazing lands for Bedouin livestock.<ref name="Lewis39" />

The civil war of 1860, which spilled over into Damascus, where thousands of Christians were massacred, spurred the Ottomans to expand their centralization efforts in Syria.<ref name="Schilcher161" /> Prior to 1860, the Hauran had been largely excluded from the ''Tanzimat'' centralization reforms.<ref name="Schilcher161" /> In January 1861, the provincial governor, Fu'ad Pasha. attempted to integrate and reorganize the region. There followed other largely unsuccessful attempts by four successive Ottoman governors.<ref name="Schilcher162">Schilcher 1981, p. 162.</ref> At the time, the Hauran's leadership consisted of the chiefs of the largely pacified clans of the plains, such as Al Miqdad and Al Hariri;<ref name="Schilcher163">Schilcher 1981, p. 163.</ref> the more rebellious chiefs of the Druze clans of Jabal Hauran, such as Al Hamdan and Bani al-Atrash; and the chiefs of the Bedouin tribes of Rwala, Wuld Ali, Sirhan and Sardiyah, whose herds seasonally grazed the Hauran plains.<ref name="Schilcher164" />

The centralization efforts, backed by the Damascene ''aghawat'', faced stiff resistance. They were opposed by both the Druze of Ismail al-Atrash and a coalition he formed, that included the Bedouin and many of the Haurani plainsmen.<ref>Schilcher 1981, pp. 168–169.</ref> This coalition was defeated in 1862 and the government came to terms with al-Atrash, entrusting him to collect taxes from the entire Hauran and to pay heavy fines in place of conscription.<ref name="Schilcher170">Schilcher 1981, p. 170.</ref> Though this did not translate into the ultimate goal of integrating the Hauran,<ref name="Schilcher170" /> and the Bedouin continued their rebellions in 1863–1864,<ref>Schilcher 1981, p. 171.</ref> it still ended the region's virtual autonomy.<ref name="Schilcher170"/>

Not until the appointment of Rashid Pasha did centralization efforts take hold. Rashid sought to change the general view in the Hauran that the government was an alien power that was only intent on collecting taxes and conscripting its youth.<ref name="Schilcher173">Schilcher 1981, p. 173.</ref> He accomplished this change by according the chiefs of Wuld Ali and Rwala adequate grazing lands; granting the leaders of the plainsmen and the Druze certain privileges and state functions; and replacing the ''aghawat'' as the state's intermediaries with the locals, whilst still utilizing them for military campaigns in Transjordan and facilitating the Hajj caravan.<ref name="Schilcher173" /> Tax concessions were also granted, but an Ottoman military presence was retained, as Rashid Pasha viewed it as a stabilising force.<ref name="Schilcher173" /> As part of the Hauran's reorganization, a new administrative district, the Hauran Sanjak, was formed, which included Jabal Hauran, the Nuqrah and Jaydur plains, the Golan plateau, the hilly Balqa plain and Jabal Ajlun.<ref name="Sourdel293" />

Rashid Pasha also pressed wealthier Syrians to take advantage of the 1858 Land Code and auctioned massive tracts of state land.<ref name="Schilcher174">Schilcher 1981, p. 174.</ref> From 1869, many Damascene merchants and landowners and entrepreneurial Haurani farmers invested in these lands, which increased agricultural production.<ref name="Lewis39" /> With these investments came a reinforced military presence and a consequent reduction in Bedouin raids.<ref name="Lewis39" /> These combined factors caused the peasantry to “feel themselves more protected and risk further settlement", according to German archaeologist Gottlieb Schumacher.<ref name="Lewis39" />

Into the 1870s and 1880s, the peasants of the Hauran, including the Druze, persisted in their agitation against the central government, European commercial interests and their own leaders.<ref name="Schilcher175">Schilcher 1981, p. 175.</ref> However, increased security in the plains as well as an end to Bedouin tribute collection were both largely secured and continued into the 20th century.<ref name="Sourdel293" /> To illustrate the extent of the Hauran's cultivation in the mid-1890s, Schumacher noted that "no hectare of good land was without its owner".<ref name="Lewis40">Lewis 2000, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=iwxeHaKUGFMC&pg=PA40 40]</ref> The central plain had become entirely cultivated or settled, Daraa and Bosra grew significantly and many of the hamlets established or reestablished in the 1850s had become large villages.<ref name="Lewis40" /> In 1891–95, Zionist organisations, helped by Baron Edmond de Rothschild, acquired 100,000 dunams of land in Saham al-Jawlan and established there a Jewish village,<ref name=KATS>Katz, Yosef. [https://books.google.com/books?id=zgPtAAAAMAAJ&q=tiferet+binyamin The "business" of settlement: private entrepreneurship in the Jewish settlement of Palestine, 1900–1914], Magnes Press, Hebrew University, 1994. p. 20. {{ISBN|965-223-863-5}}</ref> but in 1896 the authorities evicted the non-Ottoman Jewish families.<ref>Separation of Trans-Jordan from Palestine, Yitzhak Gil-Har, The Jerusalem Cathedra, ed. Lee Levine, Yad Yitzhak Ben Zvi and Wayne State University, Jerusalem, 1981, p.306</ref> In 1904, the annual Hajj caravan and Muzayrib's role in it was replaced by the construction of the Hejaz Railway.<ref name="Sourdel293" />

===French Mandatory period=== [[File:Sultan al-Atrash.jpg|thumb|right|Druze rebels celebrating the release of their prisoners in the Hauran during the Great Syrian Revolt against French rule. The revolt began in Jabal Hauran under the leadership of Sultan Pasha al-Atrash]] At the end of World War I, the Hauran was captured and held for about two years by the Arab army of Emir Faisal, until French forces occupied Damascus in July 1920 to enforce French Mandatory rule in Syria.<ref name="Sourdel293" /> A revolt broke out in the Hauran in response to the French occupation.<ref name="Sourdel293" /> Following the crushing of the Great Syrian Revolt, which began in the Hauran, the area experienced increased prosperity and security, as its inhabitants were now protected from incursions by Bedouin tribes.<ref name="Sourdel293" />

Under French Mandatory rule, the Hauran plains formed an eponymous district within the State of Damascus, while the Jabal Hauran formed the Jabal Druze State.<ref name="Sourdel293" /> Its total population was 83,000 and included 110 villages.<ref name="Sourdel293" /> Its principal population centers were the small towns of Daraa, Bosra, Izra and Nawa.<ref name="Sourdel293" /> The district was subdivided into two ''qadaat'' (subdistricts), the southern one centered in Daraa and the northern one in Izra.<ref name="Sourdel293" />

===Post-Syrian independence period=== In the period following Syria's independence from France in 1946, the Hauran developed into "a busy and prosperous region", according to the historian Dominique Sourdel.<ref name="Sourdel293"/> It remained a significant source of the country's grain and point of transit between Syria and Jordan.<ref name="Sourdel293"/> It was often a place where Bedouin came to trade their wool and butter for other commodities.<ref name="Sourdel293" /> However, following World War II,<ref name="Schilcher 1991, p. 168"/> the Hauran also lost much of its importance within Syria's national economy.<ref name="Schilcher176">Schilcher 1981, p. 176.</ref> Though it continues to supply grain to Damascus, its role as the 'granary of Syria' was eclipsed by the country's northern and northeastern regions.<ref name="Schilcher176" /> Grain production in the Hauran has been limited by dependence on rain and underground reservoirs. Moreover, the region's economic potential has been curtailed by the creation of international borders and the Arab–Israeli conflict, which have separated it from previously interdependent areas that are located today in Israel, Lebanon and Jordan.<ref name="Schilcher176" /> In particular, the dual loss of Palestine as an alternative market to Damascus, and of Haifa as the Hauran's main economic outlet to the Mediterranean Sea, have also contributed to its economic decline.<ref name="Schilcher176" />

Unlike other rural regions in Syria, most land in the Hauran was not concentrated in the hands of large owners, being owned instead by small or medium-sized proprietors.<ref name="Batatu24">Batatu 1999, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=4_Cvhg3YHIoC&pg=PA24 24]</ref> Thus, the region was not as affected by the Agrarian Reform Law passed in 1958 during the United Arab Republic period (1958–1961) and enforced by the Ba'ath Party government in 1963, which effected land redistribution and mostly targeted large landowners.<ref name="Batatu24" /> According to historian Hanna Batatu, parts of the Hauran, such as the area within and around Bosra, were practically self-governing during the presidency of Hafez al-Assad (1970–2000).<ref name="Batatu25">Batatu 1999, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=4_Cvhg3YHIoC&pg=PA25 25]</ref> Politically, many of the clans that dominated local politics under the French continued to do so under the Ba'ath.<ref name="Batatu24" /> Economically and socially, however, the higher levels of leadership within the clans declined and lower-ranking members gradually became more influential.<ref name="Batatu26">Batatu 1999, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=4_Cvhg3YHIoC&pg=PA26 26]</ref>

During the presidency of Bashar al-Assad (2000–present), the Hauran remained an important agricultural region.<ref name="Heras21">Heras 2014, p. 21.</ref> Its principal city, Daraa, is a major transit hub for commercial traffic between Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, as well as for smuggled goods between these countries.<ref name="Heras21" />

====Syrian Civil War==== {{See also|Daraa Governorate campaign}} thumb|right|An anti-government protest in Daraa, 2013. The Syrian Civil War was sparked in the Hauran town of Daraa on 6 March 2011 when anti-government demonstrations were organized in response to the detention and alleged torture of a group of teenagers by the local branch of the security forces.<ref name="Wege36">Wege 2015, p. 36.</ref> As the revolt spread in the Hauran, anti-government forces utilized their clan networks that extended to Jordan and Arab states of the Persian Gulf, smuggling funds and weapons to sustain the rebellion.<ref name="Wege36"/> According to historian Nicholas Heras, "the major tribes of Dar`a are reported to share common grievances... ...against the al-Assad government in Dar`a".<ref name="Heras21" /> During the course of the war, they formed loosely-coordinated rebel militias, fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army-affiliated Southern Front, which claimed it had the allegiance of some fifty armed groups with a collective strength of 30,000 fighters.<ref name="Heras22">Heras 2014, p. 22.</ref> Anti-government Salafist armed groups, such as the Nusra Front, also gained increasing influence, at times either challenging or cooperating with the Southern Front.<ref>Heras 2014, pp. 22–23.</ref>

Until 2018, rebel groups controlled large areas on either side of the main north-south Damascus-Daraa highway and the Nasib border crossing, though the Syrian Army (SAA) and its affiliates controlled the highway corridor itself.<ref name=Wege42>Wege 2015, p. 42.</ref> Meanwhile, the pro-government Druze Muwahhidin Army largely stayed out of the fighting and secured Jabal al-Druze.<ref name=Wege42/> In June 2018, the Syrian government launched an offensive to recapture the rebel-held areas of the Daraa and Quneitra governorates.<ref name="ShaheenGuardian">{{cite news |last1=Shaheen |first1=Kareem |title=Syrian government forces seal victory in southern territories |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/31/syrian-government-forces-seal-victory-in-southern-territories |access-date=3 November 2018 |work=The Guardian |date=2018-07-31}}</ref> By the end of the following month, the entire Hauran was under government control, including a pocket of territory in the Yarmouk basin that had previously been held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).<ref name="ShaheenGuardian" /> Although some rebels and their families opted to relocate to rebel-held Idlib, most rebel factions surrendered in reconciliation deals with the government and remained in their hometowns.<ref name="ShaheenGuardian" /> A number of rebel groups also joined the Syrian Army offensive against ISIL.<ref name="ShaheenGuardian" />

==Demography== ===Religion=== [[File:Ezraa Chiesa di San Giorgio - GAR - 8-01.jpg|thumb|right|The Church of St. George in the city of Izra, which has a significant Christian community.]]

The population of the Hauran region is religiously heterogeneous.<ref name="Sourdel293" /> The largely agrarian Sunni Muslim Arabs form a majority in the Hauran plain in Syria and Jordan and are known as Ḥawarna (singular: Ḥawrānī).<ref name="Sourdel293" /><ref name="ICG7">{{cite web|title=Middle East Report, No. 163: New Approach in Southern Syria|url=https://d2071andvip0wj.cloudfront.net/163-new-approach-in-southern-syria.pdf|publisher=International Crisis Group|access-date=2016-05-25|page=7, n. 33|date=2015-09-02|archive-date=2021-01-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210104180254/https://d2071andvip0wj.cloudfront.net/163-new-approach-in-southern-syria.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> In addition to the indigenous Ḥawarna, the plains are also populated by communities of former Bedouin tribes who gradually became settled, and Circassians who began to arrive in the mid to late 19th century.<ref name="Sourdel293" />

The Druze form a majority in the Jabal Hauran,<ref name="Sourdel293" /> which is part of the Suwayda Governorate.<ref name="Batatu26" /> There is a significant Christian population, both Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic (Melkite), in the Hauran region as a whole, though most Christians are concentrated in the towns and villages straddling the western foothills of Jabal Hauran.<ref name="Sourdel293" />{{#tag:ref|In the censuses of 1927, 1943 and 1956 Christians accounted for 9%–10% of the Jabal Druze State/Suwayda Governorate. In her survey in 1985, historian Robert Brenton Betts noted that this rate had likely declined and that many rural Christians had moved to Suwayda city, Damascus or outside of Syria.<ref>Betts 1988, p. 60; p. 80, n. 38.</ref> Localities in the Hauran with Christian pluralities or majorities include the city of Izra and the villages of Jubayb, Namer, Bassir and Tubna in the Daraa Governorate and Aslihah, Anz, Dara, Hit, Khabab, Kharaba, Sama al-Bardan in the Suwayda Governorate.<ref name="Heras22" /><ref>Betts 1988, p. 60, n. 11.</ref>|group=note}} A sizable Twelver Shia Muslim community, whose origins are from the Lebanese city of Nabatieh, make up about 40% of Bosra's population.<ref name="Heras22" />

===Clan structure and geographic distribution=== [[File:Naime Bedouin 19th century.jpg|thumb|upright|left|A Bedouin tribesman of the Na'imeh clan in the Hauran, 1895]]

The social structure of the Hauran plain is characterized by networks of large extended agrarian clans,<ref name="ICG7" /><ref name="Wege36" /> such as the Hariri, Zu'bi, Miqdad, Abu Zeid, Mahamid, Masalma and Jawabra.<ref name="Wege36" /> The Zu'bi are the largest clan, inhabiting some sixteen villages in the Daraa and Izra districts.<ref>Batatu 1999, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=4_Cvhg3YHIoC&pg=PA25 25]–26.</ref><ref name="Heras21" /> They also have an extensive presence across the border in the Irbid Governorate, particularly in the cities of al-Ramtha and Irbid.<ref name="Heras21" /> They form the predominant group in the city of Daraa and many of its surrounding villages.{{#tag:ref|The localities of the Zu'bi clan include 'Ataman, Da'el, al-Jiza, Khirbet Ghazaleh, al-Musayfirah, Muzayrib, Nasib, al-Na'ima, Saida, al-Ta'iba, Tafas and al-Yadudah.<ref name="Heras21" />|group=note}} Altogether, they number some 160,000 members in southern Syria and northern Jordan.<ref name="Heras21" />

The second largest clan are the Hariri, who generally inhabit eighteen villages, including many that are inhabited by the Zu'bi.<ref name="Batatu26" /><ref name="Heras21" /> They are mostly concentrated just north of Daraa in Abtaa, Da'el, and al-Shaykh Maskin.<ref name="Heras21" /> The Miqdad are predominant in many of the villages southwest of Daraa.<ref name="Heras21" /><ref name="Batatu25" />{{#tag:ref|The localities of the Miqdad clan include Ghasm, Ma'araba and Samaqiyat.<ref name="Batatu24" /><ref name="Heras21" />|group=note}} They are also the largest clan in the city of Bosra, but are predated there by the smaller al-Hamd clan.<ref name="Batatu25" /> The tribesmen of Nu'aym (or Na'imeh) are predominant in the towns of al-Shaykh Maskin, Jasim and Nawa in the Izra District, the villages of north-central al-Sanamayn District and in the Quneitra Governorate.<ref name="Heras21" /> Smaller clans such as the Rifa'i are concentrated in Ataman and Nasib, while the Masalma, Mahamid and Abu Zeid are concentrated in Daraa city.<ref name="Heras21" />

Among the settled Bedouin are many Anizah tribesmen who made Daraa their home alongside the city's established agrarian clans.<ref name="Heras21" /> In addition, members of the Shammar Arab tribe from northeastern Syria have migrated to the city, mainly for economic reasons.<ref name="Heras21" />

Like the agrarian Sunni clans of the plains, the Druze in Jabal Hauran were traditionally organized in a hierarchical clan order that saw a disparity in the distribution of social influence and prestige.<ref name="Batatu26" /> The Bani al-Atrash are the leading clan and predominate in some sixteen towns and villages, mostly in the southern parts of Jabal Hauran.<ref name="Batatu26" />{{#tag:ref|The localities inhabited by the Bani al-Atrash include the cities of al-Suwayda and Salkhad, and the villages of al-Annat, Anz, Awas, Dhibin, al-Ghariyah, al-Huwayyah, Ira, Malah, al-Qurayya, Qaysama, Rasas, Umm al-Rumman and 'Urman.<ref name="Batatu357">Batatu 1999, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=4_Cvhg3YHIoC&pg=PA357 357]</ref>|group=note}} In the northern parts, the Bani 'Amer predominate in eleven villages,<ref name="Batatu26" />{{#tag:ref|The localities inhabited by the Bani ‘Amer include Shahba, Amrah, Braykah, al-Buthainah, al-Hayyat, al-Hit, Mardak, al-Matunah, al-Suwaymrah and Ta'lah.<ref name="Batatu357" />|group=note}} while the other major clan in the northern Jabal Hauran was the Halabiya family.<ref name="Batatu26" />{{#tag:ref|The Halabiya predominate in the Wadi al-Liwa area,<ref name="Batatu26" /> including al-Hit, al-Sura and al-Tha'lah.<ref name="Batatu357" />|group=note}} Though the Bani al-Atrash and Bani ‘Amer were the more powerful clans in the governorate, members of the Banu Assaf of Attil, Slaim and Walghah and Bani Abu Ras of al-Ruha historically dominated the judiciary, while the Hajari, Hinnawi and Jarbu families historically provided the Druze community's religious leadership in Qanawat.<ref name="Batatu357" /><ref>Batatu 1999, pp. 26–27.</ref>

==Architecture== {{multiple image|perrow = 2|total_width=350 | image1 = Izra,tradhouse.jpg |width1=220|height1=150 | image2 = 20100922 umaljamal55.jpg | image3 = Al Quanawat-Kanatha - GAR - 8-05.jpg | image4 = Mosque of Fatima - panoramio.jpg|width2=220|height2=150 | footer = The exclusive use of basalt is characteristic of the Hauran's architecture. Examples shown above are (''clockwise from the top left''): (1) A traditional house in Izra; (2) Remains of a Nabatean-era structure in Umm al-Jimal; (3) The Mamluk-era Fatima Mosque in Bosra; (4) Ruins of the Roman-era Temple of Rabbos in Qanawat. }}

The Hauran has its own vernacular architectural tradition, known as the ''Hawrani'' style,<ref name="Zerbini52">Zerbini 2013, p. 52.</ref> which has distinctive characteristics.<ref name="Ball238">Ball 2016, p. 238.</ref><ref name="Aalund35">Aalund 1992, p. [http://www.tegnestuen-raadvad.dk/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Vernacular-tradition-and-the-Islamic-architecture-of-Bosra-1992.pdf 35].</ref> One of these is the exclusive use of basaltic stone as building material.<ref name="Ball238" /><ref name="Aalund35" /><ref name="Meinecke33">Meinecke 1996, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=fJ8UCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA33 33]</ref> Known for its hardness and black color, basalt is readily available throughout the region and until recent decades, was used for nearly all construction work done in the Hauran.<ref name="Ball238" /><ref name="Meinecke33" /> Due to a lack of timber, basalt took the usual place of wood and was used for doors, window seals and ceilings.<ref name="Meinecke33" /> The reliance upon basalt in the Hauran "formed a truly lithic architecture“, according to the architectural anthropologist Fleming Aalund.<ref name="Aalund35" />

thumb|left|upright|A window built of basalt in a structure in Qanawat

The tensile strength of basalt enabled the "development of unusual building techniques", according to historian Warwick Ball.<ref name="Ball238" /> Among these methods was the cutting of long, narrow beams from basalt to roof large areas spanning {{convert|10|m|sp=us}} or longer.<ref name="Ball238" /><ref name="Aalund35" /> Because of the size restrictions of the beams, a distinctive system of traverse, semi-circular arches was devised to support the roof.<ref name="Aalund35" /><ref name="Meinecke33" /> Corbels, typically no longer than {{convert|4|m|sp=us}}, were used to expand the intervals between the arches and the walls.<ref name="Meinecke33" /> This method "gave rise to the distinctive, cantilevered 'slab and lintel' architectural style that is peculiar to the black basalt areas of the Hauran", according to Ball.<ref name="Ball238" />

thumb|right|An example of Hauran architecture's 'slab and lintel' technique used for a ceiling in Umm al-Jamal

The fusion of Nabatean, Hellenistic and Roman styles also characterizes the architecture of the region.<ref name="Ball238" /> ''Hawrani''-style architecture is dated to at least the 1st century AD, when the Nabateans moved their capital from Petra to Bosra.<ref name="Zerbini52" /><ref name="Ball238" /><ref name="Aalund17">Aalund 1992, p. [http://www.tegnestuen-raadvad.dk/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Vernacular-tradition-and-the-Islamic-architecture-of-Bosra-1992.pdf 17].</ref> The Nabateans were avid builders who had their own distinctive architectural tradition.<ref name="Ball238" /><ref name="Ward339">Ward-Perkins 1994, p. 339.</ref> After the Romans annexed the Kingdom of the Nabateans in 106, the area experienced a building boom that lasted until the onset of strife and instability in the mid-3rd century.<ref name="Aalund18">Aalund 1992, p. [http://www.tegnestuen-raadvad.dk/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Vernacular-tradition-and-the-Islamic-architecture-of-Bosra-1992.pdf 18].</ref><ref name="Ball241">Ball 2016, p. 241.</ref><ref name="Ward339" /> Though the Romans greatly influenced the region's architecture, the Hauran's Nabatean inhabitants largely maintained their own building traditions, particularly in the smaller towns.<ref name="Ward339" />

The architecture of the Byzantine era was influenced by the spread of Christianity and the consequent construction of churches and monasteries, the majority dating between the 4th century and early 6th century.<ref name="Aalund18" /> Surveys of the region indicated that a long period of uninterrupted building activity took place in the Hauran between the Nabatean period in the 1st century to the Umayyad period in the 7th century.<ref name="Ball241" /> The region's pre-Islamic architectural tradition became the basis for later Islamic buildings in the Hauran, particularly in Bosra in the 12th–14th centuries.<ref name="Meinecke33" /> However, the Muslim patrons of these works also introduced outside elements, mostly inspired by Damascene architecture, to give their projects their own stately character.<ref name="Meinecke33" />

===Archaeology=== The Hauran is distinguished by the large-scale preservation of its ancient structures.<ref name="Ball238" /> This preservation extends to public and religious buildings, but also to simpler structures, such as village dwellings.<ref name="Ball238" /> The durability of basalt is generally credited with their well-preserved state.<ref name="Ball238" /><ref name="Aalund35" /> As a result, there are some 300 towns and villages in the Hauran containing ancient structures, almost as high a concentration as the Dead Cities of northwestern Syria.<ref name="Ball238" /> In the words of 20th-century archaeologist Howard Crosby Butler,

<blockquote>There is no other country in the world where the architectural monuments of antiquity have been preserved in such large numbers, in such perfection, and in so many varieties as in North Central Syria [the Dead Cities] and in the Hauran. There are many places where the minor details of buildings, such as wall-paintings and mosaics, are in a better state of preservation; but there is no [other] region where numbers of towns of undoubted antiquity stand unburied, and still preserving their public and private buildings and their tombs in such a condition that, in many cases, they could be restored, with a small outlay, to their original state.<ref>Butler 1903, pp. [https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.11945/page/n41/mode/1up 12]–13</ref></blockquote>

When Classical-era sites were largely resettled in the late Ottoman era, many of the Hauran's ancient monuments were converted into houses.<ref>Meinecke 1996, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=fJ8UCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA48 48]</ref>

===Surveys=== [[File:Ancient temple, Sanamayn.jpg|thumb|Ancient temple, al-Sanamayn, photographed by Hermann Burchardt in 1895]] The earliest surveys of the Hauran's archaeological sites were taken in the 19th century by the French archaeologist Melchior de Vogüé between 1865 and 1877, S. Merrill in 1881 and Gottlieb Schumacher in 1886 and 1888.<ref name="Hartal7">Hartal 2006, p. 7.</ref> The most thorough and abundant documentation was recorded in surveys carried out by Butler and his team from Princeton University in 1903 and 1909 and then published periodically between 1909 and 1929.<ref name="Hartal7" /> In 1913, Butler also surveyed Umm al-Jimal, which contained numerous ruins, some as high as three stories.<ref name="Hartal7" /> The period in which these surveys were carried out coincided with the Hauran's mass resettlement.<ref name="Hartal7" /> This resulted in the partial damage of some sites due to their occupation as homes or as a source of masonry for new buildings, a process which continuously increased in later years.<ref name="Hartal7" />

Renewed interest in the Hauran's ancient sites began in the 1970s.<ref name="Hartal7" /> Umm al-Jimal was surveyed between 1972 and 1981 by the American archaeologist Bert de Vries and reports from that expedition were published in 1998.<ref name="Hartal7" /> Surveys of the Hauran plain in Syria were carried out by French expeditionary teams led by François Villeneuve in 1985 and Jean-Marie Dentzer in 1986.<ref name="Hartal7" /> Early photographs of Hauran's archaeological sites, taken in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by the German explorer and photographer Hermann Burchardt, are now held at the Ethnological Museum of Berlin.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.smb-digital.de/eMuseumPlus?service=direct/1/ResultLightboxView/moduleContextFunctionBar.viewType&sp=10&sp=Scollection&sp=SfieldValue&sp=0&sp=1&sp=3&sp=Slightbox_3x4&sp=0&sp=Sdetail&sp=0&sp=F&sp=SdetailList|title=SMB-digital: Online collections database |author=Hermann Burchardt |publisher= Staatliche Museen zu Berlin|access-date=8 September 2019 }}</ref>{{refn|1=Examples of photographs of the Hauran taken by Burchardt in 1895 include: [http://www.smb-digital.de/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=625441&bt=europeanaapi the castle (citadel) of Salkhad]; [http://www.smb-digital.de/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=624358&bt=europeanaapi Melach Es-Sarrar (Malah)]; [http://www.smb-digital.de/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=624356&bt=europeanaapi Dibese], {{convert|400|m|ft}} west of Suwayda; [http://www.smb-digital.de/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=625053&bt=europeanaapi Qasr (fortress) al-Mushannaf]; [http://www.smb-digital.de/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=625938&bt=europeanaapi The ruins of ''Khirbet al-Bayda'']; [http://www.smb-digital.de/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=625501&bt=europeanaapi The citadel: decorated lintel, ''Khirbat al-Bayda'']. |group=note}}

==Notes== {{Reflist|group=note}}

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

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{{Coord missing|Jordan}}

Category:Landforms of Jordan Category:Landforms of Syria Category:Hebrew Bible places Category:Book of Deuteronomy locations Category:Book of Ezekiel locations Category:Historical regions of Jordan Category:Regions of Syria Category:Lava plateaus Category:Herod the Great Category:Philip the Tetrarch