Iron Age to Assyrian period Al-Karak has been inhabited since at least the
Iron Age, and was an important city for the
Moabites. In the
Bible it is called
Kir-haresh,
Kir-hareseth or
Kir of Moab, and is identified as having been subject to the
Neo-Assyrian Empire; in the
Books of Kings () and
Book of Amos (), it is mentioned as the place where the
Arameans went before they settled in the regions in the northern
Levant, and to which
Tiglath-Pileser III (r. 745–727 BC) sent prisoners after the conquest of
Damascus. Later the Shamaili kingdom seized power, but little has been recorded about this period. In 1958, the
El-Kerak Inscription was found in Wadi al-Karak, dated to the late 9th century BC.
Hellenistic to Early Muslim period During the late
Hellenistic Period, Al-Karak became an important town, taking its name from the
Aramaic word for town,
Kharkha (). The area eventually became a
Nabatean stronghold. The
Roman Empire conquered it in 105 AD. The city was known in
Late Antiquity as
Harreketh. Al-Karak is home to some of the oldest Christian communities in the world, dating back to the 1st century AD. Under the
Byzantine Empire,
Charach (,
Kharkh) or
Charach of the Moabites (,
Kharakhmōba) was the seat of the Church of Nazareth, and remained predominantly
Christian under
Arab rule following the 629
Battle of Mu'tah. Its bishop Demetrius took part in the
council of the three provinces of Palaestina held in Jerusalem in 536. Another bishop, by the name of John, is said to have lived there in the 9th century.
Crusader, Ayyubid and Mamluk periods Al-Karak fell within the
Crusader lordship of
Oultrejourdain, the lands east of the River Jordan and the Dead Sea. In 1132,
King Fulk of Jerusalem made
Pagan the Butler Lord of Montreal and Oultrejourdain. Pagan made his headquarters at al-Karak, where he built a castle on a hill called by the Crusaders
Petra Deserti - The Stone of the Desert. His castle, much modified, dominates the town to this day. The castle was in Crusader hands for only 46 years. It had been threatened by
Saladin's armies several times, but finally surrendered in 1188, after the crushing Crusader defeat at the
Battle of Hattin and a siege that lasted more than a year. Saladin's younger brother,
Al-Adil, was governor of the district until becoming ruler of Egypt and Syria in 1199.
Yaqut (1179–1229) noted that "Al Karak is a very strongly fortified castle on the borders of Syria, towards Balka province, and in the mountains. It stands on a rock surrounded by
Wadis, except on the side towards the suburb."
Al-Dimashqi (1256–1327) noted that Karak: "is an impregnable fortress, standing high on the summit of a mountain. Its
fosses are the valleys around it, which are very deep. They say it was originally, in
Roman days, a
convent, and was turned into a fortress. It is now a treasure house of the Turks." The castle served as a place of exile and power base during the
Mamluk sultanate. Its significance lay in its control over the caravan route between Damascus and Egypt and the
pilgrimage route between Damascus and
Mecca. In the thirteenth century, the Mamluk ruler
Baibars used it during his ascent to power. In 1389 Sultan
Barquq was exiled to al-Karak, where he gathered his supporters before returning to
Cairo.
Ottoman period In 1596 Al-Karak appeared in the
Ottoman tax registers, situated in the
nahiya (subdistrict) of Karak, part of the
Sanjak of
Ajlun. It had 78 households and 2 bachelors who were
Muslim, and 103 households and 8 bachelors who were
Christian. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, olive trees/vineyards/fruit trees, a special product (
bayt al–mal), goats and bee-hives; in addition to occasional revenues, for a water mill, and a market toll. Their total tax was 15,000
akçe. Al-Karak was inhabited by the
Majali tribe, the Tarawneh tribe and the Maaitah tribe. In 1844
Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt sent an expedition west of the Dead Sea. His troops occupied the castle at al-Karak but they were starved out with much loss of life. Mohammed Al-Majali who had control of Al-Karak in 1868, was involved in the events that led to the destruction of the
Moabite Stone. In 1893, the Sublime Porte
Abdul Hamid II established the sub-province of
Ma'an, with a resident governor (
mutasarif) in Al-Karak, under the
Wāli of
Syria based in
Damascus. One of the first governors, 1895, was Hussein Helmy Bey Effendi (see also
Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha), aged 40, formerly the General Secretary at Damascus. He ruled with a garrison of 1,200 troops, in 3 regiments, mostly conscripts from West of the
River Jordan doing their three years of military service. There were also 200
Circassian cavalry. One of his achievements was the disarming of the local population. He also established a Military Hospital with a Jewish doctor; enforced the regulation of coinage and weights and measures; introduced a weekly postal service to Jerusalem, Damascus and Ma'an; and set up agricultural projects such as the planting of 5,000 grape vines at
Madeba. One estimate of the population of the town and the surrounding area at this time gives a total of 10,000. Of these, 8000 were
Muslims and 2,000 were
Orthodox Christians whose Church, St George, had been built in 1849. The Latin Mission was established in 1874 and in 1886 Al Majali gave permission to the
English Mission to work in the town. The town's Orthodox school had 120 boys and 60 girls. The same source notes that the town's
Mufti had been educated in Hebron and
al Azhar,
Cairo, and that there was a newly built mosque.
Karak revolt and Arab Revolt The
Karak revolt erupted on 4 December 1910 as the
governor of
Damascus attempted to apply the same measures of conscription, taxation, and disarmament to the inhabitants of Al-Karak that previously provoked the
Hauran Druze Rebellion. The uprising ended with an indiscriminate massacre perpetrated by the governor's troops. During the
Arab Revolt (1916–1918), the Turkish Army abandoned al-Karak after Sherif Abdullah ibn Hamza led a 70 horsemen attack on Mezraa. This Ottoman naval base was rendered useless, after the destruction of the flotilla used to transport grain across the Dead Sea, on 28 January 1918.
British Mandate, Emirate of Transjordan Following the
San Remo conference, 1920,
Great Britain was given a mandate to govern the area. The newly appointed High Commissioner in Jerusalem,
Herbert Samuel, sent several officials east of the River Jordan to create a local administration. Major
Alec Kirkbride was based in Al-Karak with a small detachment of policemen. He established what he named
The National Government of Moab with himself as president. In January 1921 Emir
Abdullah Hussein began assembling an army in
Ma'an and announced his intention to attack the
French in
Syria. After a brief consultation with his superiors Kirkbride's government welcomed the arrival of the Emir. At the
Cairo conference, March 1921, Abdullah was recognised by the British as ruler of
Emirate of Transjordan. In the 1920s, Al-Karak had a population of 8,000 and had the third largest urban population (after
Amman and
Salt with 20,000 each) in
Transjordan.
Kingdom of Jordan In 1961, the population of Karak amounted 7,422 persons, of whom 1,622 were Orthodox Christian while the remaining were Muslim. In August 1996, there were
food riots in the town after the government increased the price of bread. The town and castle were the scene of
an attack by gunmen on 18 December 2016 in which at least 19 people were killed; 13 Jordanian civilians and security forces, a Canadian tourist, and all 5 attackers. ==Climate==