الفصل التاسع ، في ربوع البادية السورية ، مفهوم البادية وتحديدها وأقسامها

Chapter Nine

in the Syrian desert

It is the Badia: the area in which people appear behind their herds of livestock in search of pasture and water, and this means that it is the area whose climatic conditions do not suit the establishment of a stable agricultural economic life depending on the natural resources of the land - regardless of the areas of oases and places of extraction of underground wealth such as oil and its problems that suffocate its residents Oases to settle in them due to their reliance on agriculture in them, while not neglecting livestock breeding in the areas surrounding the oases - and that is why the Bedouins were known as Bedouins, and thus it can be said that Bedouins - or Bedouins - are an adjective for people working within a specific economic activity (raising livestock from sheep and camels) and living a distinct social life ( A tribal life imposed on them by the harsh conditions of nature, which prompted them to travel and move permanently during specific seasons

The concept of the desert and its definition and divisions:

the year .

There is no exact definition of the Badia; And if some associate it with the desert, then this association contradicts the truth in all its dimensions (1). Also, the reference to the desert is that it corresponds to the term Steppe, which is translated

(1) The desert from the desert, i.e. moving with grazing animals (sheep, goats, and camels...) where water and pasture are available in a specific area with different climatic conditions between its parts, so that water and pasture are available in one part of the year and depleted from this part in another period. So it is moving towards it sometimes and away from it at other times. As for the desert, it is an area in which life cannot exist, depending on its climatic and vegetation conditions, as it is less rainy and drier than the desert.

From Arabic to steppe, this means that the Badia in this case will cover the largest part of Syria, including what falls in most climatic classifications under the concept of a semi-arid climate region that corresponds to annual rates of rain ranging from 200-500 mm. And since the semi-arid region represents a transitional state between the regions of wet and dry climate, and since the predominant economic activity pattern is agriculture, while animal husbandry is a secondary activity, and even neglected in some parts of it, and where its inhabitants settled since ancient times in fixed houses that they built around rivers, streams, and springs. Therefore, the desert can be considered - as we mentioned previously. A general description of it without specifying it and the nature of its population - it generally corresponds to the dry climate region according to most climatic classifications (primarily Thornthwaite, Demarton, Köppen, Bailey ... etc.), but it corresponds to the very dry climate region and the lower layer of the dry climate according to the classification of the French Amberge . While some climatologists - as in the case of the British climatologist Austin Miller, limits the desert climate (dry climate) to areas with an average annual rainfall of less than 250 mm, which is a maximum rain limit suitable for the desert in our Arab region. This does not mean that the Badia includes all areas with annual precipitation of less than 250 mm, to where the annual precipitation is non-existent and it only falls once every three or five years and at an annual rate that does not exceed a few millimeters, as is the case in the Sahara desert or the desert of the Empty Quarter... And other deserts are extremely dry, and such a rainy climatic situation is not known in Syria, because the lowest annual rate of rain in any part of Syria is not less than 80 mm. we find that -

In general, it can be said that the Badia, with its vital concept and life field, is that vast area whose rainfall ranges from

Seas from annual between 50-250 mm. And below 50 mm of rain, the earth will be a real barren desert with no crops or udders in it, but only sands among which one may find some plants that do not support an animal. This means that the word is not known in our country, although its manifestations in the eastern half of the desert appear during the severely dry years that pass through Syria. Meaning desert

The desert in Syria is divided, according to its spread and location, into two parts separated by the Euphrates River: Figure (35): The Levantine desert southeast of the river, and the Jazira desert north and northeast of the river. On the basis of the annual amount of precipitation and the degree of dryness - which is the result of precipitation and evaporation, which depends mainly on temperature - the Syrian Badia is divided into two distinct regions: A- The semi-arid Badia; It is represented in the parts where the rain rate ranges from 125-250 mm. annual between

B - The dry desert, whose annual rainfall is less than 125 mm, and is divided into two regions. Al-Hammad occupies the southwestern part of it, and Al-Faydhath occupies the northeastern part of it, which has the lowest elevation. Which

The desert of Al-Jazeera almost coincides with what is termed the lower (lower) Syrian island, which extends to the south from the mountainous Arid (Sinjar - Abdel Aziz - Twal (Al-Aba) to the Euphrates Valley, occupying an area estimated at about 30,500 km. In its general characteristics, it is closer to the desert steppe regions Semi-arid, with abundant grasses and pastures, and many human urban sites scattered on both sides of the Khabur and Balikh rivers, which cross it in their destination to the Euphrates River.

As for the Levantine desert, it extends on the right bank of the Euphrates, far from it