Mashta al-Helou
مشتى الحلو | |
|---|---|
  Mashta al-Helou Location in Syria | |
| Coordinates: 34°52′35″N 36°15′25″E / 34.87639°N 36.25694°E | |
| Country |  Syria |
| Governorate | Tartus |
| District | Safita |
| Subdistrict | Mashta al-Helu |
| Elevation | 465 m (1,526 ft) |
| Population (2004) | |
• Total | 2,458 |
Mashta al-Helu (Arabic: مشتى الحلو, also known as Meshta al-Helu or Mashta al-Helo) is a town and resort in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Tartus Governorate, located 35 kilometers east of Tartus. Mashta al-Helu is situated in a verdant area on the eastern slopes of the an-Nusayriyah Mountains, the Syrian coastal mountain range, close to where the mountain give way to the basaltic plateaur of Jabal al-Helu.[1] The town has an elevation of 465 meters (1,526 ft) above sea level. Nearby localities include Kafrun to the west, al-Malloua and al-Bariqiyah to the southwest, Habnamrah and Marmarita to the south, Hadiya to the southeast, Kafr Ram to the east, Ayn Halaqim to the northeast, Ayn al-Shams to the north and Duraykish to the northwest.
According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Mashta al-Helu had a population of 2,458 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of the Mashta al-Helu nahiya (subdistrict) of the Safita District which contained 19 localities with a collective population of 12,577 in 2004.[2] Its inhabitants are predominantly Christians,[3] mainly belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church.[4]
The town was founded by Christian families from different parts of Ottoman Syria (including modern Lebanon) who gradually settled in the site in the 18th and early 19th centuries, during Ottoman rule. The town modernized and became mostly literate long before many of the rural communities of the coastal mountains. Schools were opened by American, European and Russian missions in the late 19th century and silk mill was built in 1855, one of the few industrial facilities in the coastal region into the 1960s. Since the 1980s, Mashta al-Helu has become a major summer resort town in the area and derives most of its income from tourism.
- ^ Balanche 2000, p. 53.
- ^ "Mashta al-Helou Nahiyah Population". Syria Central Bureau of Statistics. 2004. Archived from the original on 2013-01-12. Retrieved 2012-07-02.
- ^ Balanche 2006, p. 44.
- ^ Balanche 2000, p. 465.