{{Infobox settlement | official_name = Taqsis | native_name = تقسيس | other_name = Zawr az Ziyarah<ref>[http://mapcarta.com/12672440 Other Names for Taqsis]</ref><ref>[http://www.geonames.org/maps/google_35.016_36.862.html Other Names for Taqsis]</ref> | settlement_type = Village | image_skyline = | imagesize = 300px | image_caption = | image_flag = | image_seal = | image_shield = | nickname = | motto = | image_map = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = Syria | pushpin_label_position = bottom | pushpin_mapsize = 250 | pushpin_map_caption = Location in Syria | coordinates = {{coord|35|0|57|N|36|51|43|E|region:SY|display=inline}} | 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 = Hama | subdivision_type3 = Subdistrict | subdivision_name3 = Hama | population_footnotes = | population_total = 3,343 | population_as_of = 2004 | population_density_km2 = auto | population_note = | timezone = | utc_offset = | timezone_DST = | utc_offset_DST = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Taqsis''' ({{langx|ar|تقسيس}}), also known as '''Zawr al-Ziyarah''' ({{langx|ar|زور الزيارة}}),<ref>[http://www.maplandia.com/syria/hamah/zawr-az-ziyarah/ Zawr az Ziyarah Map — Satellite Images of Zawr az Ziyarah]</ref> is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located {{convert|25|km|mi|sp=us}} southeast of Hama. Nearby localities include al-Jinan to the north, al-Buraq to the northwest, Tell Qartal to the west, Ghor al-Assi to the southwest, Izz al-Din to the southeast and Taldarah to the east. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Taqsis had a population of 3,343 in the 2004 census.<ref name="CBS">[http://www.cbssyr.org/new%20web%20site/General_census/census_2004/NH/TAB05-1-2004.htm General Census of Population and Housing 2004] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120723204435/http://www.cbssyr.org/new%20web%20site/General_census/census_2004/NH/TAB05-1-2004.htm |date=2012-07-23 }}. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Hama Governorate. {{in lang|ar}}</ref>
==History== During early Ottoman rule, in 1573, a water installation was built in the area of Taqsis. It consisted of an aqueduct and a tower, alongside which were two noria (''na'ura'') wheels. It was built in the typical style of old dams along the Orontes River. The norias no longer exist and the dam is mostly in ruins, although the remainder of the structure is in relatively good condition.{{sfn|De Miranda|2007|p=124}}
Taqsis had been abandoned sometime in the last years of the 18th-century,{{sfn|Douwes|2000|p=209}} and in 1838 the village was classified as a ''khirba'' (ruined village).{{sfn|Robinson|Smith|1841|p=[https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/179/mode/1up 179]}} Towards the end of Khedivate Egyptian rule (1832-1841), Taqsis was among 20 villages along the edge of the Syrian Desert to be repopulated. While most of these small, agricultural places were abandoned during the 1840s due to the pressures of warring nomadic tribes, Taqsis remained occupied.{{sfn|Douwes|2000|p=209}}
During World War I the inhabitants of Taqsis, needing to obtain seeds and advances for their croplands, sold their lands to the Barazi family of Hama, who owned numerous other villages in the Hama district. As late as the 1930s, the villagers cultivated the lands on behalf of the Barazi family and their ownership was limited to the plots occupied by their homes.{{sfn|Comité de l'Asie française|1933|p=133}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Bibliography== *{{cite book |first=Adriana |last=De Miranda |title=Water Architecture in the Lands of Syria: The Water-wheels |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D6rsB59RRZkC&q=Taqsis+Syria|publisher=L'Erma di Bretschneider |year=2007 |isbn=88-8265-433-8}} *{{cite journal |title=Notes sur la propriété foncière dans le Syrie centrale (Notes on Landownership in Central Syria) |journal=Bulletin du Comité de l'Asie française |author=Comité de l'Asie française |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4019479m/f1.item.r=Sorane |publisher=Comité de l'Asie française |date=April 1933 |volume=33 |issue=309 |pages=131–133 |language=fr}} *{{cite book|first=Dick|last=Douwes|title=The Ottomans in Syria: a history of justice and oppression|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zYptAAAAMAAJ&q=Hasya|publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=2000|isbn=1860640311}} *{{cite book|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|authorlink1=Edward Robinson (scholar)|last2=Smith|first2=E.|authorlink2=Eli Smith|year=1841|url=https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearch03robiuoft |title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838| location=Boston|publisher=Crocker & Brewster|volume=3}}
{{Hama Governorate|hama}}
Category:Populated places in Hama District Category:18th-century disestablishments in Ottoman Syria Category:19th-century establishments in Ottoman Syria