Al-Chibayish Explained

Al-Chibayish
Native Name:الجبايش
Native Name Lang:ar
Nickname:City of the Marshes
Pushpin Map:Iraq
Coordinates:30.9549°N 46.9751°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: Iraq
Subdivision Type1:Governorate
Subdivision Name1:Dhi Qar
Subdivision Type2:District
Subdivision Name2:Al-Chibayish
Elevation M:9
Population Total:36,100[1]
Population As Of:2014
Timezone1:AST
Utc Offset1:+3
Postal Code:09640
Area Code:01

Al-Chibayish is a town on the Euphrates River in Al-Chibayish District, Dhi Qar governorate, in southern Iraq. It is the capital of its eponymous district.

Al-Chibayish is inhabited primarily by Marsh Arabs of the Beni Isad tribe. Al-Chibayish has historically been an important hub for the Marsh Arab people and a traditional boat-building center for their mashoof canoes.[2]

History

Al-Chibayish was historically home to a community of Mandaeans, as well as Arabs. In 1895, Sheikh Ṣaḥan ibn Sheikh Ṣagar (Ṣaqar in standard Arabic), a Mandaean priest, was arrested near Chabāyish in Iraq and imprisoned in Basra. He was accused of supporting an Arab tribal rebellion led by Jāsim al-Khayyūn (of the Bani Asad tribe, one of the largest tribes affiliated with the Al-Muntafiq), as well as killing his nephew. Although a petition was delivered to the British authorities to have him released, and the British attempted to assist Sheikh Sahan, he was not released and died in prison in 1898.[3]

Al-Chibayish was the subject of a groundbreaking 1955 ethnographic study, Marsh Dwellers of the Euphrates Delta, by Iraqi anthropologist Shakir Mustafa Salim.[4]

Al-Chibayish was home to about 11,000 people in 1955. Al-Chibayish's population dropped to less than 6,000 by 2003 as a result of Saddam Hussein's draining of the Mesopotamian Marshes and his associated campaign of violence against the Marsh Arabs, during which Al-Chibayish was attacked by military helicopters.[5] However, the population recovered and quintupled between 2001 and 2009, when it reached an estimated 30,416 people.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Brinkhoff . Thomas . IRAQ . citypopulation.de . 27 July 2018 . July 1, 2015.
  2. Book: Kubba, Sam. Trans Pacific Press. 9780863723339. 68. The Iraqi Marshlands and the Marsh Arabs: The Ma'dan, Their Culture and the Environment. 2011.
  3. Abdullah . Thabit A.J. . The Mandaean Community and Ottoman-British Rivalry in Late 19th-Century Iraq: The Curious Case of Shaykh Ṣaḥan . Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient . Brill . 61 . 3 . 2018 . 00224995 . 26572309 . 396–425 . 2023-07-05.
  4. Book: سليم. شاكر مصطفى . الچبايش: دراسة انثروبوجية لقرية في أهوارالعراق . 1956 . جامعة بغداد . بغداد . ar.
  5. News: Mohammad . Ahmed . الاهوار: الأهوار ترفض الاندثار وسكانها يتكيّفون مع النزوح الدائم بحثاً عن المياه . 9 December 2018 . . 13 May 2012.