Anjara

Not to be confused with Ankara.

Anjara (Arabic: عنجرة) is an ancient town located at northern Jordan in the Ajloun Governorate. The city is situated 4 kilometers to the south of Ajloun, and 73 kilometers to the north of the Jordanian capital Amman.

Anjara عنجرة
City
Anjara
Coordinates: 32°18′25.0″N 35°45′13.0″E
Grid position	221/190
Country	Jordan
Governorate	Ajloun Governorate
Elevation	900−1,230 m (−3,140 ft)
Population  (2015)[1][2]
• Urban	17,634
Time zone	GMT +2
• Summer (DST)	+3
Area code	+962(2)

Etymology

The name of Anjara is composed of two words: Ain (spring well in Arabic) + Jara meaning running. The full name would mean the "running spring".

History

In biblical legend, Anjara has its assertions where Jesus and His Mother Mary passed through here and lived in a cave during their journey to the ten cities of Decapolis.

In 1596, during the Ottoman Empire, 'Anjara was noted in the census as being located in the nahiya of Ajloun in the liwa of Ajloun. It had a population of 27 Muslim households and 4 Muslim bachelors, in addition to 13 Christian households and 1 Christian bachelor. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on various agricultural products, including wheat, barley, olive trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 10,000 akçe.^[3]

In 1838 'Anjara's inhabitants were predominantly Sunni Muslims and Greek Christians.^[4]

The Jordanian census of 1961 found 3,163 inhabitants in 'Anjara,^[5] of whom 719 were Christians.^[6]

Anjara, pictured by Dutch photographer Frank Scholten in the early 1920s

Landmarks

• Our Lady of the Mount, Anjara, Jordan,^[7][8] a Catholic pilgrim site^[9] in the Middle East.^[10]

Lady of the Mount Church in Anjara.

Notable people

• Saba Mubarak (born 1976), Jordanian actress and producer
• Lewis Mukattash (1943-2011), Jordanian linguist, scholar and academic. Professor of English Linguistics.

References

1. "Population of anjara". WolframAlpha. Retrieved 2012-06-29.^{[permanent dead link]}
2. "Anjara City, Ajloun Governorate, Jordan". www.mindat.org. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
3. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 162
4. Smith, in Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. 166
5. Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 14
6. Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, pp. 115–116
7. "Our Lady of the Mount, Anjara, Jordan – a church and a story that reveals more of charism IVE — The Way of Beauty The Way of Beauty". thewayofbeauty.org. Archived from the original on 2017-06-17. Retrieved 2017-06-05.
8. Darcizia Tranciuc (2012-07-29), Anjara Jordan, retrieved 2017-06-05
9. "Christian pilgrimage to 'Our Lady of the Mountain' grotto in Anjara marked | Al-Bushra". al-bushra.org. Retrieved 2017-06-05.^{[permanent dead link]}
10. "Ajlun And Anjara". Archived from the original on 2017-01-16. Retrieved 2017-01-13.

Bibliography

• Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics (1964). First Census of Population and Housing. Volume I: Final Tables; General Characteristics of the Population (PDF).
• Hütteroth, W.-D.; Abdulfattah, K. (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. ISBN 3-920405-41-2.
• Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Vol. 3. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.

External links

• Photos of Anjara at the American Center of Research