{{Infobox settlement <!--See the Table at Infobox Settlement for all fields and descriptions of usage--> <!-- Basic info ----------------> | official_name = Taldara | other_name = Tall al-Dirrah, Tall Derah, Tell Dera, Tell ad-Dura | native_name = تل الدرة | native_name_lang = ar | settlement_type = Village <!-- images and maps -----------> | image_skyline = قرية تلدرة اطلالة.jpg | imagesize = 250px | image_caption = Skyline of Taldara, 2024 | image_flag = | image_seal = | image_shield = <!-- for cities whose native name is not in English --> | nickname = | motto = | image_map = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = Syria <!-- the name of a location map as per Template:Location map --> | pushpin_label_position = bottom | pushpin_mapsize = 250 | pushpin_map_caption = Location in Syria <!-- Location ------------------> | coordinates = {{coord|35|1|51|N|36|56|18|E|region:SY|display=inline,title}} | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = {{flagicon image|Flag of the Syrian revolution.svg}} Syria | subdivision_type1 = Governorate | subdivision_name1 = Hama | subdivision_type2 = District | subdivision_name2 = Salamiyah | subdivision_type3 = Subdistrict | subdivision_name3 = Salamiyah <!-- Population -----------------------> | population_footnotes = | population_total = 5,986 | population_as_of = 2004 census | population_density_km2 = auto | population_note = <!-- General information ---------------> | timezone = EET | utc_offset = +2 | timezone_DST = EEST | utc_offset_DST = +3 | blank_name_sec1 = City Qrya Pcode | blank_info_sec1 = C3224 | website = | footnotes = }} '''Taldara''' ({{langx|ar|تل الدرة}}, also spelled ''Tell Dirrah'', ''Tall Derah'', ''Talldarra'' or ''Tell ad-Dura'') is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Salamiyah District of the Hama Governorate. It is located {{convert|23|km|mi|sp=us}} southeast of Hama and {{convert|12|km|mi|sp=us}} west of Salamiyah.<ref name="Kahil">{{cite web |last1=Kahil |first1=Tamam |title="تل الدرة".. حكاية الموعود (Tel Al-Durra: The Promised Story) |url=https://www.esyria.sy/2009/11/%D8%AA%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%AD%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B9%D9%88%D8%AF |website=e-Syria |access-date=29 December 2024 |language=Arabic |date=5 November 2009}}</ref> According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Taldara had a population of 5,986 in the 2004 census.<ref>{{cite web|title=General Census of Population 2004.|url=https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/sites/www.humanitarianresponse.info/files/syr_pop_2004_sycensus_0.xls |access-date= 2014-07-10}}</ref> Its inhabitants are predominantly Ismailis.<ref name="Daftary">{{Citation|last1=Douwes|first1=Dick|editor=Farhad Daftary|chapter=Modern History of the Nizari Ismailis of Syria|title=A Modern History of the Ismailis: Continuity and Change in a Muslim Community|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sf9fAwAAQBAJ&q=masyaf|publisher=I. B. Tauris|year=2010|isbn=9780857735263}}</ref>
==History== [[File:قرية تلدرة من الجبل.jpg|thumb|left|The ''tell'' (mound) of Taldara with the modern village behind, 2024]]
Taldara was initially founded in 1836 when it was acquired by Muhammad Khurfan Bey, a chief of the Mawali tribe in the Hama region. Before that, the village had been deserted. Like other places in the Salamiyah area that the Ottoman authorities encouraged to be repopulated, the settlers of Taldara came from the Mawali, Nu'aym and Uqaydat tribes.<ref>{{Citation|first=Dick|last=Douwes|title=Ottomans in Syria: A History of Justice and Oppression|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZUcBAwAAQBAJ&q=Talldarra&pg=PA208|publisher=I.B.Tauris|year=2000|page=208|isbn=9780857715418}}</ref> However, just two years later, Taldara and all of the other villages of Salamiyah were reported to have been deserted.<ref>{{Citation|first1=Eli|last1=Smith|first2=Edward|last2=Robinson|title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the Year 1838|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vt0uAAAAQAAJ&q=d'Helfaya|publisher=Crocker and Brewster|volume=3|year=1841|page=177}}</ref>
An attempt to reestablish Taldara in 1876 led by Muhammad Qahwaji and Haydar Watad did not succeed due to conflicts with Bedouin tribes from the neighboring al-A'la hill country and the environs of al-Saan, who frequently grazed their sheep flocks at the village site. Watad and Qahwaji planted corn fields on the northern hillside of the ''tell'' (archaeological mound) and built two huts nearby, but their venture was ended when Qahwaji was killed by the Bedouins in revenge for his killing of a Bedouin in an earlier quarrel. Qahwaji was buried on top of the ''tell''.<ref name="Kahil"/>
Modern Taldara was re-established in 1883 by Ismaili migrants from other parts of northern Syria led by Ali Sharba from the Khawabi valley, who was later joined by the Askur, Warda and al-Dabiyat families.<ref name="Kahil"/> They chose to settle in the place because of worsening economic conditions in their former areas of residence, the low taxes living in the Syrian Desert fringes offered, and Taldara's proximity to Salamiyah, the center of Ismaili life in Syria.<ref name="Daftary"/>
== References == {{reflist}} {{Portal|Asia}} {{Hama Governorate|salamiyah}}
Category:1883 establishments in the Ottoman Empire Category:Populated places established in 1883 Category:Populated places in Salamiyah District Category:Ismaili communities in Syria