Al-Riqama

Al-Riqama الرقاما
Town
Al-Riqama Location in Syria
Coordinates: 34°31′17″N 36°54′49″E / 34.52139°N 36.91361°E
Country	Syria
Governorate	Homs
District	Homs
Subdistrict	Al-Riqama
Population (2004)
• Total	3,900

Al-Riqama (Arabic: الرقاما‎‎, also spelled ar-Raqamah) is a town in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located 34 kilometers southeast of Homs. Nearby localities include Dardaghan to the southwest, Shayrat to the southeast and Tell Annaqa further to the north. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), al-Riqama had a population of 3,900 in the 2004 census.^[1] Its inhabitants are predominantly Alawites.^[2]

Many of al-Riqama's inhabitants work in agriculture, cultivating dry cereals, grapes and almonds in irrigated fields, and raise sheep. The town's traditional houses are built from stone and have wood roofing.^[3] Al-Riqama had been classified as an abandoned village or khirba by English scholar Eli Smith in 1838.^[4] The town contains ruined historic structures noted for the dominant cone-shaped dome roofs. The structures have square bases with two-meter-high walls and are built from red mud brick.^[3]

References

1. General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Homs Governorate. (Arabic)
2. Khalifa, Mustafa (October 2013). "The Impossible Partition of Syria" (PDF). Arab Reform Initiative. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-11-16.
3. Lotti, Giuseppe; Mecca, Saverio. "Earthen Domes et Habitats: Villages of Northern Syria, An Architectural Heritage Shared by East and West". Edizioni ETS.
4. Smith, 1841, p. 175.

Bibliography

• Smith, Eli; Robinson, Edward (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the Year 1838. 3. Crocker and Brewster.