Editing Homs (section)

===Ottoman rule===
{{See also|Ottoman Syria}}
In 1516, Homs was incorporated into the [[Ottoman Empire]] and consequently suffered a greater political eclipse, but it continued to thrive as an economic center, processing the agricultural and pastoral products that flowed to it from surrounding districts.<ref name="Collelo1">{{cite web|last=Collelo|first=Thomas|year=1987|url=http://countrystudies.us/syria/7.htm|title=Syria – Ottoman Empire|publisher=GPO for the Library of Congress|work=Syria: A Country Study|access-date=28 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613222335/http://countrystudies.us/syria/7.htm|archive-date=13 June 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> By the end of the 16th century, the population had increased to roughly 24,000 people, nearly double what it had been at the time of the Ottoman conquest. About 75% of its residents were Muslims, while 24% residents were Christians and the remaining 1% Jews.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Çakar |first=Enver |date=2003 |title=TAHRİR DEFTERLERİNE GÖRE XVI. YÜZYILDA HUMUS ŞEHRİ: The City of Homs in The Sixteenth Century According to The Tahrir Defterleri |url=https://avys.omu.edu.tr/storage/app/public/ilkay.erken/114621/6%20tahrir%20defterleri%20ve%20%C5%9Fehir.pdf |access-date=22 February 2025 |website=OMÜ - Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi |page=18}}</ref> Homs was particularly well known for [[silk]] and [[wool]] weaving, especially the ''alaja'', which was mottled [[muslin]] run through with gold threads and used in feminine apparel. This silk was exported as far as the Ottoman capital [[Istanbul]]. In addition to weaving industries, there were [[olive oil]] presses and water mills for [[wheat]] and [[sesame]], while [[grape]]s and [[rice]], grown in the surrounding marshlands from the 16th century, were found in abundance in the city's markets. Moreover, the markets of Homs were the center of a trade in livestock, where flocks of [[sheep]] and [[goat]]s coming from Aleppo met [[camel]]s and cattle moving north from Damascus.<ref name="Dumper2"/>

[[File:18th century original drawing of the castle of Hims by Cassas.jpg|thumb|18th-century illustration of Homs by [[Louis-François Cassas]]. The artist in the foreground is shown sketching the Citadel of Homs, surrounded by his guards and inquisitive locals]]
The coming of the Ottomans brought administrative changes to Homs, as it became the capital city of ''[[sanjak]]'' ("district") of [[Sanjak of Homs|Homs]], attached to the ''[[eyalet]]'' ("province") of [[Tripoli Eyalet|Tripoli]]—its old rival.<ref>Talhami, 2001, p. 2</ref> In the late 16th century the district was ruled by emir 'Ali Harfush of the famous Shiite [[Harfush dynasty]] of the nearby [[Beqaa valley]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Stefan|last=Winter|title=The Shiites of Lebanon under Ottoman Rule, 1516-1788|year=2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511676413|isbn=9780511676413|url=https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511676413|access-date=9 March 2022|archive-date=23 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923075035/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/shiites-of-lebanon-under-ottoman-rule-15161788/AE36D2DCD50C489E5AE95B4C55D99468|url-status=live}}pp. 48-51</ref> Later, a [[French people|French]] visitor noted that the city walls and citadel were in good repair, but all within was in decay and only its covered markets "retained their beauty." In 1785 French traveller, [[Constantin-François Chassebœuf|Volney]] wrote of the city's once great importance and its current "miserable" condition. He described it as a large, but ruined village administratively dependent on Damascus. The Ottomans did little to revitalise Homs or ensure its security against Bedouin raids. Tribal unrest throughout the 17th and 18th centuries resulted in the sacking of its markets on several occasions. Security was even more hampered, when in the 18th century, the Ottomans tore down the gates of the city's walls.<ref name="Dumper2"/> Around 1708, the emir Hamad al-Abbas of the [[Mawali (tribe)|Mawali]] Bedouin confederation, whom the Ottomans had named "emir of the desert" (''çöl beyi'') in the region, actually managed to capture the governor of Homs to hold him for ransom.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Stefan|last1=Winter|editor1-first=Stefan|editor1-last=Winter|editor2-first=Mafalda|editor2-last=Ade|title=Aleppo and its Hinterland in the Ottoman Period / Alep et sa province à l'époque ottomane|chapter=Alep et l’émirat du désert (çöl beyliği) au XVIIe-XVIIIe siècle|year=2019|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-37902-2}} p. 101-102.</ref>

The countryside of Homs saw an increase in Bedouin raids in the first half of the 19th century, interrupted by its occupation by [[Muhammad Ali dynasty|Muhammad Ali's Egypt]] led by [[Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt|Ibrahim Pasha]] between 1832 and 1840.<ref name="Collelo1"/><ref>Shaw, 1977, p. 33</ref> The city rebelled against Egyptian rule and consequently, the citadel was destroyed when the Egyptians suppressed the revolt. Ottoman rule was soon restored and up to the 1860s, Homs was large enough to form a discrete economic unit of trade and processing of agricultural products from its satellite villages and the neighbouring Bedouin tribes.<ref name="Dumper2"/>

[[File:D025-vue générale de homs.-L2-Ch4.png|thumb|left|General view of Homs at the end of the 19th century]]
[[File:Ibn-Whalid-Moschee.jpg|thumb|[[Khalid ibn al-Walid Mosque]], an example of [[Ottoman architecture]] in Homs, was built in the early 20th century]]
The local economy was stimulated when the Ottoman government extended security to the city and its surrounding areas; new villages were established and old ones were resettled. However, Homs found itself faced with European economic competition since Ottoman rule was restored. Homs' economic importance was boosted again during the depression of the 1870s, as its [[cotton]] industry boomed due to a decline of European textile production. The quality and design of cotton goods from Homs satisfied both the lower and upper classes of the local, Ottoman, and foreign markets. There were around 5,000 looms in Homs and nearby [[Hama]], and one British consul referred to Homs as the "[[Manchester]] of Syria".<ref name="Dumper2"/>