R?H?niyya, Al-

views updated

R?H?NIYYA, AL-

R?H?NIYYA, AL- , Circassian-Muslim village in northern Israel, on the Almah Plateau in Upper Galilee. It is one of the two Circassian villages west of the Jordan (the other is *Kafr K?m?). It was founded by Circassians (Muslims from Caucasus) who left their homeland in the second half of the 19th century when it was annexed to Christian, czarist Russia. The houses of the picturesque village are laid out around a single, large, closed quadrangular courtyard. In 1969 R???niyya had 415 inhabitants; in 2002, 947.

[Efraim Orni]

More From encyclopedia.com