Nahwa

2025-06-22T20:58:54Z

51.6.252.19: Fixed grammar

{{Infobox settlement
| name = Nahwa
| official_name = Nahwa
| native_name = {{lang|ar|النحوة}}
| settlement_type = [[Village]]
| translit_lang1_type = [[Arabic script|Arabic]]
| translit_lang1_info = {{lang|ar|نحوة}}
| image_skyline = NewNahwa.jpg
| image_caption = New Nahwa
| image_flag =
| pushpin_map = UAE#Persian Gulf
| pushpin_relief = 1
| pushpin_map_caption = Location of Nahwa
| image_map = Nahwa - Map.png
| map_caption = Location and border limits of Nahwa
| coordinates = {{coord|25|16|6|N|56|16|49|E|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
| subdivision_name = {{UAE}}
| subdivision_type1 = [[Emirates of the United Arab Emirates|Emirate]]
| subdivision_name1 = {{flag|Sharjah}}
| leader_title = [[Emir]]
| leader_name = [[Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi]]
| elevation_footnotes =
| elevation_m = 506
| elevation_ft = 1663
| website =
| footnotes =
| utc_offset = +4
| timezone = UAE standard time
|population_total = 302<ref name="GitHub">[https://github.com/justinelliotmeyers/UAE_Official_Boundaries UAE Official Boundaries]</ref>
|population_as_of = 2015
| area_total_km2 = 4.40
| area_footnotes = <ref name="GitHub"/>
}}

'''Nahwa''' is a territory that forms part of the [[Emirate of Sharjah]] in the [[United Arab Emirates]]. It is a [[counter-enclave]] (or second-order [[enclave]]) within the [[Oman]]i territory of [[Madha]], which is itself an exclave of Oman and an enclave within the United Arab Emirates.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/madha-village-s-pledge-of-allegiance-changed-the-map-forever-1.353384|title=Madha village's pledge of allegiance changed the map forever|work=The National|access-date=2018-07-19|language=en}}</ref>{{clr|left}}

Access to the village of Nahwa is through the northernmost road into the Madha enclave south of [[Khor Fakkan]] which leads to New Madha. From New Madha, there is a paved but winding road (about {{Convert|5|km|mi|abbr=on|sp=us|sigfig=1}}) leading to Nahwa.

Entering Nahwa, there is an Emirati police outpost some {{convert|80|m}} after the [[Oman–United Arab Emirates border|boundary]] marker. The village itself is further up the road, on the same side as the police outpost. It consists of about 40 buildings and has its own clinic. This part of the village is called New Nahwa, and there are more houses further down the road in Old Nahwa. The third part of Nahwa is the village of [[Shis]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thenational.ae/uae/a-hidden-piece-of-the-emirates-1.490500|title=A hidden piece of the Emirates|work=The National|access-date=2018-07-19|language=en}}</ref>

While the situation is uncommon, Nahwa is not the only [[Enclave and exclave|exclave]] in the world surrounded by another enclave; some exclaves of [[Netherlands|Dutch]] [[Baarle-Nassau]] are embedded in [[Belgium|Belgian]] [[Baarle-Hertog]] enclaves.{{clr|left}}

==History==
[[Image:nahwa1.jpg|thumb|300px|left|Entering Nahwa]]
Nahwa's counter-enclave was formed as a result of [[Madha]]'s decision to declare allegiance to Oman instead of Al Qawasim of [[Sharjah]], Al Qawasim of [[Ras Al Khaimah]], or [[Al Sharqi]] of [[Fujairah]] which today all form part of the United Arab Emirates.

In the late 1930s or early 1940s the leaders of the four rival clans who ruled the [[Musandam Peninsula]] (Al Qassimi of Ras Al Khaimah, Al Qassimi of Sharjah, Al Sharqi of Fujairah, and the Bu Said of Oman) gathered a group of village elders of the nearby village of Madha and posed the question as to which [[sheikhdom]] the Madhanis would declare allegiance. While Madha chose Oman, Nahwa chose to stay loyal to Al Qawasim of Sharjah, effectively making them a counter enclave within the exclave of Madha. Following consultations between the area's tribes and [[Julian F. Walker]], the [[List of British representatives in the Trucial States|British representative to the Trucial States]], the borders were established and later finalized in 1969.<ref name="Madha">{{Cite news|url=https://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/madha-village-s-pledge-of-allegiance-changed-the-map-forever-1.353384|title=Madha village's pledge of allegiance changed the map forever|work=The National|access-date=2018-01-05|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=A century-old choice created one of the Gulf's oddest geopolitical features |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2023/01/12/a-century-old-choice-created-one-of-the-gulfs-oddest-geopolitical-features |access-date=2023-01-14 |issn=0013-0613}}</ref>

== Places of interest ==
{{main| Al Nahwa Cave }}
Al Nahwa Cave is a cave and archaeological site on Nahwa in northern [[Khor Fakkan]], [[Emirate of Sharjah]]. Remains were discovered here in the 1930s.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/madha-villages-pledge-of-allegiance-changed-the-map-forever Some historical background on Madha and Nahwa]

{{Sharjah}}

[[Category:Populated places in the Emirate of Sharjah]]
[[Category:Villages in the United Arab Emirates]]
[[Category:Oman–United Arab Emirates border crossings]]
[[Category:Enclaves and exclaves]]

{{UnitedArabEmirates-geo-stub}}

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Nahwa