Nimer


Nimer, is a town in southern Syria, administratively belonging to the Izraa District of the Daraa Governorate. According to the Central [Bureau of Statistics (Syria)|Syria Central Bureau of Statistics], Nimer had a population of 7,941 in the 2004 census. Its inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslims.

History

Nimer, according to Biblical accounts, where it is named 'Nimre' or 'Beth Nimrah', was a fortified center lying amid sheep pastures and surrounded by meadows. These accounts hold it was destroyed in a conflict in the 13th century BCE and then reconstructed in 1230 BCE by a grandson of Jacob.
The village was placed by the 10th-century historian al-Mas'udi a few miles to the north of Jabiya and Nawa in the district of Jawlan. Nimer was used by the Zengid emir Nur al-Din as an army encampment for his military campaigns to Egypt in 1168 and 1170.

Ottoman period

In 1596 Nimer appeared under the name of Namar in the Ottoman tax registers being in the nahiya of Jaydur in the Hauran Sanjak. It had an entirely Muslim population consisting of 36 households and 20 bachelors. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and beehives ; in addition to "occasional revenues" ; a total of 16,140 akçe. 7/24 of the revenue went to a waqf.

Geography

Location

Nimer is located in the Nuqrah, the wide plain of the southern Hauran. It is situated south of Aqraba and al-Harra and north of Nawa. It lies near the southern foot of Tell al-Hara, east of the Nahr al-Allan stream and west of the Lajat volcanic field.

Religious buildings