M'saken

Submitted by editor on Wed, 03/24/2010 - 04:35

M'saken

M'saken
M'saken is located in Tunisia
M'saken
Location in Tunisia
Coordinates: 35°44′0″N 10°35′0″E / 35.733333°N 10.583333°E / 35.733333; 10.583333Coordinates: 35°44′0″N 10°35′0″E / 35.733333°N 10.583333°E / 35.733333; 10.583333
Country Flag of Tunisia.svg Tunisia
Governorate Sousse Governorate
Population (2004)
 - Total 55, 721
Time zone CET (UTC1)

M'saken as it is written in Tunisia or Masakin or Msaken (Arabic: مساكن‎) is a town in northeastern Tunisia, close to Sousse.

Administration

The town is the administration centre of a "delegation" (district) of the same name, which at the 2004 Census had a population of 85,380.

History

According to local traditions, Msaken was founded by a group of descendants of Hussein Ibn Ali and Fatima Ez-zahra (the Prophet's (s-a-w-s) daughter). Their ancestors had came to North Africa escaping from the Abbassid masters of Baghdad, who had been engaged in a cruel fight against Sharif people (descendants of Hassan and Hussein, the sons of Ali and Fatima). They founded a Sharif Emirate in Taguedmett near present-day Tiaret in Algeria's west center. After three generations and following the fall of this Emirate, some of their descendants lived in eastern Morocco near Wajda for some time. Then some of their descendants emigrated to Kairouan in Tunisia. After some decades, they founded MSAKEN town in Hafside times who had their capital in Tunis. Their town was originally called [Kousour al Ashraf] (which means "Sharif's houses"), then [Masakin al Ashraf] (which has the same meaning), and finally Masakin - or Msaken with the North-Africain spelling (means just means "houses"). The town core had been founded around the actual Jamma al Awsat (which means the central mosque) and was composed of five ksars (great houses).

Y chromosome DNA Analysis

Nine people from different families in Msaken were tested for their Y chromosome DNA in 2009-2010. These tests were done by Family Tree DNA company. The results are as follows:

- 7 persons belong to J2a4h2f1 haplogroup. (Snps L24,L25,L192.2,L271)

- 2 persons belong to R1a1a haplogroup.

Two new snp have been found in 2 samples tested among the 7 J2a4h1, these snps are L192.2 and L271, the TMRCA of these SNPs is estimated to be between 1000 and 4000 years, more tests are required in order to refine this estimation.

Mitochondria DNA Analysis Two people from Msaken have been tested for their Mitochondria Haplogroups, the results are as follows

1- Haplogroup T2b3, with more than 1500 high resolution matching (HVR1+HVR1) with European people

2- Haplogroup N1c

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