web

web - news - images - annuaire - compagnies + en plus

recherche avancée

Cache

hejaz railway, turkish hicaz demiryolu, railroad between damascus and medina (now in saudi arabia), one of the principal railroads of the ottoman turkish empire.   its main line was constructed in 1900-08, ostensibly to facilitate pilgrimages to the muslims' holy places in arabia but in fact also to strengthen ottoman control over the most distant provinces of the empire. the main line, built by a multiracial labour force mainly under the supervision of a german engineer, traversed 820 miles (1,320 kilometres) of difficult country and was completed in only eight years. it ran from damascus southward to dar'a (deraa) and thence over transjordan via zarqa`, al-qatranah, and ma'an into northwestern arabia, and inland via dhat al-hajj and al-'ula to medina. the major branch line, 100 mi long, from dar'a to haifa on the mediterranean coast of palestine, was completed in 1905.   even before world war i (1914-18) the bedouins of the adjacent desert areas attacked the railway, which challenged their control over the pilgrims' route to the holy places from the north. when the arabs of the hejaz revolted against turkish rule in 1916, the track between ma'an and medina was put out of operation by arab raids, largely inspired by t.e. lawrence. after the war the operative sections of the track were taken over by the syrian, palestinian, and transjordanian governments. the section of the railway running from ma'an, jordan, to medina was heavily damaged and was abandoned after 1917. plans to restore the line in the 1960s were not fulfilled.   "hejaz railway" britannica online. <http://www.eb.com:180/cgi-bin/g?docf=micro/265/12.html>

Retour aux résultats

LocoTrain est un site internet du groupe Web Trains : annonceurs - charte - copyright - droits juridiques/CNIL/Statistiques - presse - email. Toute reproduction est interdite sans autorisation de LocoTrain.