Yirka
Yarka
|
||
|---|---|---|
| Hebrew transcription(s) | ||
| • Also spelled | Yirka (unofficial) | |
Yarka municipality
|
||
|
||
 Yarka
|
||
| Coordinates: 32°57′14″N 35°12′44″E / 32.95389°N 35.21222°ECoordinates: 32°57′14″N 35°12′44″E / 32.95389°N 35.21222°E | ||
| Grid position | 170/261 PAL | |
| District | Northern | |
| Government | ||
| • Type | Local council | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 15,564 dunams (15.564 km2 or 6.009 sq mi) | |
| Population (2015) | ||
| • Total | 16,244 | |
Yarka (Hebrew: יִרְכָּא, Arabic: يركا) is an Israeli Druze village and local council in the Northern District of Israel.
Yarka is an ancient village site, where old columns and cisterns have been found. A Greek inscription here dating from the early Christian era was found by Clermont-Ganneau in 1881.
During the Crusader era, Yarka was known under the name of Arket. In 1220, Joscelin III's daughter Beatrix de Courtenay and her husband Otto von Botenlauben, Count of Henneberg, sold their land, including Arket, to the Teutonic Knights.
In 1517, Yarka was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire after Palestine was captured from the Mamluks. By 1596, Yarka appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as part of the Nahiya of Akka of the Liwa of Safad. It had a population of 174 Muslim households and 24 bachelors.
A map by Pierre Jacotin from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 showed the town under the name Hierka.
...
Wikipedia