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الاحساع (al-Aḥsa')

الاحساع (al-Aḥsa')1 is the name of an oasis and by extension a metropolitan area in the Eastern Province of العربية السعودية (al-Arabiyah as-Su'udiyah).2 الاحساع was the name of the capital city of the Qarmatians from the 9th century. It faded with the fortunes of the religious group and in the 19th century al-Hufūf (Hofuf) replaced it as the oasis' chief place. Hofūf proper had a population of about 400 thousand in 2005,3 and a metropolitan population of perhaps 600 thousand.3 It is located near the Gharwar oil field.

YearPopulationPolitical entity
1000 CE110 thousand5al-Aḥsa' (al-Hasa or Bahrayn or the Qarmatians)

External references

Ibrahim Palace, al-Aḥsa'

Historical Maps

map showing part of al-Aḥsa' (al-Hasa or Bahrayn or the Qarmatians), 1000 CE

map showing part of al-Aḥsa' (al-Hasa or Bahrayn), 1100 CE

map showing part of Bahrayn (Bahrain), 1200 CE

map showing part of al-Aḥsa' (al-Hasa or Bahrayn), 1300 CE

map showing part of al-Aḥsa' (al-Hasa or Bahrayn), 1400 CE

map showing part of al-Aḥsa' (al-Hasa or Bahrayn), 1500 CE

map showing parts of Devlet-i Âliye-yi Osmâniyye (Ottoman Empire) and Reino de España (Spanish and Portuguese Unified Empires), 1600 CE

map showing parts of al-Aḥsa' (al-Hasa or Bahrayn) and Irān (Persia), 1700 CE

map showing parts of the Emirate of Diriyah (First Saudi State) and the Devlet-i Âliye-yi Osmâniyye (Ottoman Empire), 1800 CE

Footnotes

1. Or al-Hasa or just Hasa.
2. Saudi Arabia in English.
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofuf, side banner, accessed 12/30/2013.
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofuf, main text, accessed 12/30/2003.
5. Tertius Chandler, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth, 2nd ed. (The Edwin Mellen Press, 1987), "Tables of World's Largest Cities". It was the world's ninth largest city (and the largest in the area) in 1000 CE.