Hauran in the 16th century

Hauran, located in southern Syria, is a broad region with undefined borders that today includes the cities of Deraa and As-Suwayda in Syria, as well as Irbid in Jordan. Hauran, whose history dates back to around 2500 BCE, has come under the control of many states throughout history. During the Roman period, the region began to urbanize and became an important agricultural center. During the Ghassanid period, Hauran became one of the state's centers. With the advent of Islam and the establishment of pilgrimage routes, it began to host stops where pilgrims could rest. This contributed to the region's commercial vitality. Until the Mamluk period, the region generally witnessed power struggles between rival states, but under Mamluk rule, it experienced a period of tranquility and gradually lost its former prominence. In 1516, during Sultan Selim I's Egyptian campaign against the Mamluks, Hauran came under Ottoman rule and remained under Ottoman administration until the region was occupied by the British in 1918. Although it was initially organized as a subdistrict of the Damascus Sanjak during the early years of Ottoman rule, Hauran had many subdistricts under its jurisdiction. By the mid-16th century, it was organized as a district (kaza) under the Damascus Sanjak. In Hauran, where rural settlements predominated, both a peasant population and a semi-nomadic population coexisted. The majority of the semi-nomadic population was composed of Turkomans. These Turkoman tribes are the ancestors of the Syrian Turkomans community known today as the Deraa Turkomans.