Columbia Encyclopedia entry: Ramla
Ramla or Ramlehboth: räm'lĕ [Arab.,=sand], town (1994 pop. 57,300), central Israel, in a farming area. Ramla may be the biblical Ramathaim-zophim, but more probably it was founded (c.716) by the Arabs. It became the capital of Palestine and was fought over constantly during the Crusades. After Israeli forces took it in 1948, Ramla was resettled with Jewish immigrants. Landmarks include the Great Mosque (originally a 12th-century Crusader church) and the Square Tower (1318).
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Wikipedia search results for: Ramla
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Ramla, is a city in central Israel with a mixed Arab and Jewish population. Ramla was founded circa 705–715 CE by the Umayyad Caliph Suleiman ibn Abed al-Malik. Ramla lays along the route of the Via Maris, connecting old Cairo with Damascus, at the intersection of the roads connecting the port of Jaffa with Jerusalem.
It was conquered many times in the course of its history, by the Abbasids, the Ikhshidids, the Fatamids, the Seljuqs, the Crusaders, the Mameluks, the Turks, and the British. After an outbreak of the Black Death in 1347, which decimated the population, an order of Franciscan monks established a presence in the city. Under the Arab...more »
Columbia Encyclopedia search results: Ramla
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- Ramathaim-zophim
Ramathaim-zophim, in the Bible, birthplace of Samuel, usually called Ramah and later Ramathaim. It has been variously identified with Ramah 4, with Arimathaea, and with the modern Ramallah and...
- Saladin
Saladin, Arabic Salah ad-Din, 1137?–1193, Muslim warrior and Ayyubid sultan of Egypt, the great opponent of the Crusaders, b. Mesopotamia, of Kurdish descent. He lived for 10 years in Damascus...
- Palestine, region, Asia
Palestine, historic region on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, at various times comprising parts of modern Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, and Egypt; also known as the Holy ...
