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Zawieh Caza - Zgharta The Online Magazine of Zgharta - Zawie |
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History of Zawieh and Jurd The “Caza” or district of Zgharta-Zawieh is geographically divided into two regions: the Zawieh and the jurd. The word zawieh in Arabic means the “corner”; and this region was named Zawieh because it was the end northern corner of “Small Lebanon” (the era before 1920) and it was the intersection point of the sea and mount Lebanon. The majority of the Maronite people inhabited towns and villages in Mount Lebanon, dominating Tripoli and Beirut and facing the West. One of these regions was Ehden-Al-Zawieh. The coastal part of the Zawieh was evacuated by the end of the 13th century after the Mamluks invasion and the the defeat uf the Crusaders. Under Mamluk domination, , the Maronites became the target of all kinds of adversity. Maronite regions were completely devastated and a good number of them migrated to Cyprus where the Crusaders were still in control. By the time of the Ottoman occupation of Lebanon in 1516, the Maronites were ready for a new era of renewal. The people of Ehden were given Zgharta and many mountain inhabitants looked for places to spend winter in. According to the first census done by the Ottomans in 1519, there were 19 small villages in the Zawieh alone (not the Jurd) and there were 4860 inhabitants. In the second census 1571; 26 villages were renumerated and the number of inhabitants increased to 5280. Here is a table of some of the villages and farms that were present in 1555 and the number of inhabitants. Only the males were counted in those days.
The Jurd or the mountainous part of the Caza played a major role in the history of the maronites. Ehden was the center of all military and religious activities not to mention also Sebeel, Aitou and Raskifa, three ancient communities. Not too much documents were left to tell the history of the mountainous communities and this because of the burning of these villages many times by invaders from the years 1286 to 1800. But if we refer to the “History of Times” of Patriarch Douayhi; which retraces the history of the Maronites; we can have an idea of how old are these communities. The names mentioned in this book are ended always by a reference to the place of origin of each person. Douaihi recounts that Youhanna became a hermit in 1228 in the Qannoubine Valley. He then mentions that in 1393, Elisha' Al-Hadthy was living in Mar Sarkis (Saint Sergius) Hermitage near the Monastery of Mar Aboun (Saint John Maron) overlooking the Holy Valley. Douaihi states that "when the Patriarch Youhanna Al-Jaji died in 1445, the bishops, the superiors of the monasteries and the people elected a successor Bishop Ya'coub son of Eid Al-Hadthy who was raised in Mar Sarkis (Saint Sergius) Hermitage". In 1472 The priest Girgis Al-Ehdeny was living with his student Deacon Tadrous from 'Aintourine in Saint Anthony of Qozhaya hermitage. He tells that in 1495 the priest Barakat from Bkoufa built the hermitage of Mar Mikhael (Saint Michael) north-west the Monastery of Qozhaya and lived in it until his last days and that the following hermits succeeded each other in living in this hermitage: Moussa from Yammouneh, Ya'coub from Barnasa near Mayfouq, Michael I from Ehden, Hanna from Ehden, Michael II and his nephew Gibrayel from Ehden, then Michael III from Ehden who died in 1617. All of these names were written in the Bible of the said hermitage. Below some brief notes on the history of some of the mountainous villages:
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