Establishment

The History of Bilad al-Sham Committee was established in 1972-73 to promote the study of the history of Bilad al-Sham through organizing academic conferences and preparing and publishing academic studies on the politics, history, economics, finance, architecture and society of Jordan, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon over the ages. The Committee has held eight international conferences organized by the University of Jordan, Yarmouk University and the University of Damascus and has published 43 volumes in Arabic and English.

 The core functions entrusted to the Committee are

·         Organizing international academic conferences, seminars and workshops on the history and archaeology of Bilad al-Sham.

·         Publishing academic research presented at the conferences that meet standards for academic research of the University of Jordan.

·         Publishing edited texts and other academic studies on the history and archaeology of Bilad al-Sham.

·         Publishing translations of academic studies on the history and archaeology of Bilad al-Sham.

·         Participating in academic conferences on the history and archaeology of Bilad al-Sham.

The Committee is currently translating Ottoman documents related to the history of Bilad al-Sham, due to the important information they contain that is unavailable in other sources, and making them available to researchers. Three volumes of this project have been completed so far.

The Committee held the Eighth International Conference on the History of Bilad al-Sham at the University of Damascus in February 2009 on the topic: Knowledge Between the First and Fifth Centuries A.H./Seventh to Eleventh Centuries A.D.

The Committee is now organizing for the Ninth International Conference on the History of Bilad al-Sham to be held at the University of Jordan.

Professor Abdul Aziz al-Duri was the first chairman of the History of Bilad al-Sham Committee. Professor Muhammad Adnan al-Bakhit is the current chairman.

The offices of the Committee are currently located at the old building of the Center of Consultation, behind the university administration building and next to the Language Center, although a special building for the Center for Documentation and Manuscripts and the History of Bilad al-Sham Committee will be opened soon.