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Syria is located at the heart of the Levant. It was situated between the two great river valley civilizations, Mesopotamia and Egypt. And the ancient struggle between Hittites and Egyptians shifted to a divide between the Turkish north and Arab south. The Euphrates River waters the north and thus the north falls within the Fertile Crescent. Much of central and southeast Syria is very arid approaching desert conditions. The Anti-Lebanon mountains dominate the west and the Hauran Plains the southwest. The Hittite dominated northern Syria and neighboring areas (9-13 centuries BC). They were followed by the Phoneticians in coastal areas (about 1250 BC). There were Assyrian, Babylonian, and Egyptian invasions. Syria eventually became a part of the Persian Empire. Alexander conquered the area as part of his destruction of the Persian Empire (332-331 BC) followed by Seleucid rule. Pompey conquered huge area for Rome (63 BC). After the division of the Roman Empire it became part of the Byzantine Empire. Syria was the first are of Christian land conquered by the Arab outburst (7th century AD) and became part of Baghdad-based Caliphate. The Crusader seized some areas, but were retaken by Saladin. The Mamelukes subsequently seized the Levant. Mongol invaders devastated the Arab heartlands (13th century). The Ottoman Empire seized the Levant (16th century). with the decline of the Ottoman Empire, Egyptian Ibrahim Pasha seized much of the Levant (early-19th century). The Ottomans reasserted their control of the Levant, but not Egypt. The Ottoman Empire entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers (1914). After two failed Ottoman offensives to seize Suez, the British Army seized Palestine and ended the War by reaching Damascus (1918). The League of Nation awarded a mandate to France (1920). Lebanon was created as a separate state (1926). The Allies during World War II seized Syria from Vichy (1941). A republic was proclaimed in the same year. France granted independence (1944). Independence was marked by instability, growing nationalism and anti-Western feeling. The result was Army dominance. Syria joined the other front-line states and invaded Israel (1948). The Army proved largely ineffective in the fighting. A trade and arms agreement began a close relationship with the Soviet Union/Russia which still continues (1955). Communist influence grew in the army as Syria became a primary promoter of Arab socialism. It united with Egypt as the United Arab Republic. An Army coup was executed (1966). A mutual defense pact was signed with Egypt in the same year. Ground skirmishes and air actions led up to the Six Days War (1967). As a result, Israel seized the Golan Heights commanding the Sea of Galilee. The country has been dominated by the Assad family for decades which has used military force to suppress opposition. They are currently being challenged by the Arab Spring uprising. The country is primarily agrarian and pastoral. Pipelines from Iraq and Saudi Arabia provide some income. Syria has languished economically, in part because the Assad family which has dominated the country for decades has proven to be basically a crime ring demanding bag money from Syrians desiring to do business. Syria is a good example of the juxtaposition of suppressing political and economic freedom resulting in poverty and economic failure. The Arabs are the dominant ethnic group with a Druse minority in the south. The country is predominately Muslim. Sunnis dominate, but there is a substantial Alawite minority. The Sunnis genially look down on the Alawites as backward and even heretical. 【Ajami, p. A17.】 There is also a Christian minority. The Assads have brought the Alawites to power. There is an ethnic/geographic fault line between the Alawite mountains and the Sunni planes. The ethnic, political and religious difference broke out into a brutal civil war (2011).
Syria is located at the heart of the Levant on the northern fringe of the vast Arabian Desert. Modern Syria is situated between the two great river valley civilizations, Mesopotamia to the east and Egypt ton the southwest.and Egypt. And the ancient struggle between Hittites and Egyptians shifted to a divide between the Turkish north and Arab south. The Euphrates River waters the north and thus the north falls within western zone of the famed Fertile Crescent which gave birth to civilization. Much of central and southeast Syria is very arid, approaching desert conditions. Basically Syria is a relatively flat, arid plateau, crossed by mountains with a narrow coastal plain in the the west along the the Mediterranean Sea. The northern Alawite mountains and southern Anti-Lebanon montains form a coatal range in the west that separate a narrow coastal plain from the vast Hauran Plains of the the southwest. The Anti-Lebanon mountains are the country's border with Lebanon. The highest elevation is Mount Hermon in the extreme southwest reaching 2,814 meters (m). Much of the remainder of the country consists of undulating arid plains from 300 to 500 m in elevation perforated by several smaller mountains. There are important bodies of water, mostly in the northwest where the Euphrates flows southeast across the country from Anatolia, modern Turkey. They include include Lake al-Assad, a reservoir on the Euphrates River. The most important tributary of the Euphrates is the Khabur River, also rising in the Turkish mountains. There are several smaller rivers,. mostly also flowing out of the Turkish mountains. in the southeast, the Syrian Desert merges into the unforgiving great Arabian Desert.
The Hittite dominated northern Syria and neighboring areas (13th-9th centuries BC). They were followed by the Phoneticians in coastal areas (about 1250 BC). There were Assyrian, Babylonian, and Egyptian invasions. Syria eventually became a part of the great Persian Empire. Alexander conquered the area as part of his destruction of the Persian Empire (332-331 BC) followed by Seleucid rule. Pompey conquered huge area for Rome (63 BC). After the division of the Roman Empire it became part of the Byzantine Empire. Syria was the first are of Christian land conquered by the Islamic Arab outburst (7th century AD) and became part of Baghdad-based Caliphate. The Crusader seized some areas, but were retaken by Saladin. The Mamelukes subsequently seized the Levant. Mongol invaders devastated the Arab heartlands (13th century). The Ottoman Empire seized the Levant (16th century). with the decline of the Ottoman Empire, Egyptian Ibrahim Pasha seized much of the Levant (early-19th century). The Ottomans reasserted their control over the Levant, but not Egypt. The Ottoman Empire entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers (1914). After two failed Ottoman offensives to seize Suez, the British Army seized Palestine and ended the War by reaching Damascus (1918). The League of Nation awarded a mandate to France (1920). Lebanon was created as a separate state (1926). During World War II, Vichy controlled Syria after the German invasion of France (1940). As a result of growing NAZI influence, the Allies during seized Syria from Vichy (1941). A republic was proclaimed in the same year. France granted independence (1944). Independence was marked by instability, growing nationalism and anti-Western feeling. The Syrians complain of Western colonialism, but were a French colony for only 24 relatively prosperous years. Clearly other problems plague Syria than Western colonialism. The result was Army dominance. Syria joined the other front-line states and invaded Israel (1948). The Army proved largely ineffective in the fighting. A trade and arms agreement began a close relationship with the Soviet Union/Russia which still continues (1955). Communist influence grew in the Army as Syria became a primary promoter of Arab socialism. It united with Egypt as the United Arab Republic. An Army coup was executed (1966). A mutual defense pact was signed with Egypt in the same year. Ground skirmishes and air actions led up to the Six Days War (1967). As a result, Israel seized the Golan Heights commanding the Sea of Galilee. The country has been dominated by the Assad family for decades which has used military force to suppress opposition. They are currently being challenged by the Arab Spring uprising.
The country is primarily agrarian and pastoral. Pipelines from Iraq and Saudi Arabia provide some income. Syria has languished economically. Islamicists, Bathists, NAZIs, socialist, and Communists all have atrracted followers in Syria. None of which have created successful economies. Arab Socialism was weven less succesul than Soviet socialism. And we all know what happened to the Soviet Union. The only geberators of successful economies are liveral, secular democratic and capitalist economies. Ans such idea s tend to generate little support in Syria and the Arab world in general. And then came the Assad family which has dominated the country for decades. The Assads has proven to be basically a Mafioso crime family demanding bag money from Syrians desiring to do business. Syria is a good example of the juxtaposition of suppressing political and economic freedom resulting in poverty and economic failure.
The Arabs are the dominant cultural group, but this is an Arabized population based on the pre-Islamic population. The principal ethnicity is the indigenous Levantine people. This is blend of the various Semitic speaking groups indigenous to the region with a small Arab admixture. Syria was conquered by the Arabs (7th century) which gradually Arabized the population culturally, including Islaminization. The actual Arab ethnic contribution, meaning the ethnic presence from the Arabian Peninsula is relatively small. Syria's population is approximately 75 percent Sunni Muslim, other Muslims (including Alawites) make up about 15 percent of the population. Various Christian denominations made up about 10 percent of the population, but with the rise of fundamentalism, ISIS, and the Civil War, Christians are increasingly targeted. Substantial numbers have been killed and many have fled or are attempting to flee the country. There was once a flourishing Jewish community, but attacks and Government repression has reduced it to a few elderly individuals. We are not sure of the ethnic differences among the different faiths. Probably the Jews were are the most ethnically different because of the influx of Sefardi (15th-16th century). There is a Druse minority in the south and a Kurdish population in the northeast. Armenians, Assyrians, Bedouin, Ismailis, Circassians, and Turkomans add to the country's ethnic mix.
Syria and Damascus in particular have been described as being a hub of cultural flows since time immemorial Syria like Palestine sits at the epicenter of three continents and the cultural flows between them: Africa, Europe, and Asia. Syria was part of many of the great empires of history, the Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Islamic Caliphate, Mongol, and finally Ottoman. Trade flowed through Syria as well as ideas, including religious ideas. Many of the great religion of history were active in Syria, including all three Abrahamic religions. Judaism was the first to arrive, but has always been a minority religion. During the Roman era, Christianity arrived and became the majority religion (4th century). During the Byzantine era, the state began enforcing orthodox doctrine, fanning sectarian resistance. The Arab conquest brought Islam with grater acceptance of religious diversity (7th centenary). Through all of this the Silk Road operated and Damascus and Aleppo were major trading and intellectual centers. Indian math began being called Arabic numbers because it passed through Syria. This all came crashing down when Portuguese navigators rounded the Cape of Good Hope (1498) and maritime trade routes were established with Asia. The overland Silk Road recede receding into insignificance and the Arab World became a backwater. nd as time passed the Arab world became increase less tolerant and the Christian world mire tolerant. Today in the Middle East we hear the term genocide being shouted by Islamists claiming that thereis a war on Muslims. Yet the only genocide going on is the successful Arab onslaught against Jews outside of Israel including Syria. And the progressive destruction of Christian communities in Syria and other Arab communities. While in Israel Muslim (Palestinian) and Christian communities worship freeely and prosper. The country is predominately Muslim. Sunnis dominate, making up about 75 percent of the population. There are also Shi'ia pockets and a substantial Alawite minority along the Mediterranean coast. The Sunnis generally look down on the Alawites as backward and even heretical. 【Ajami, p. A17.】 Under the Assads the Alawite minority, associated with Shi'ia Islam have political power and while a minority are the dominant group. There is also a Christian minority divided into several different denominations. There was once a small Jewish community dating back to ancient times. The Assads have brought the Alawites to power. There is an ethnic/geographic fault line between the Alawite mountains and the Sunni planes. The ethnic, political and religious difference broke out into a brutal civil war (2011). And the most important divide appears to be not so much religious or ethnic as it is ideological divide between Muslims. Fundamentalists want to pursue a political agenda and create a theocratic caliphate. Secularists want a more limited religious role in government. The highly nationalistic Kurds and the Sunni Islamists pose fundamental threats to the Syrian state. Both but especially the Islamists are attracting huge support from the Sunni oil states. Russian President Putin has ben aiding the Assad regime. President Obama and the Europeans have been much more reluctant to get involved and support moderate secular groups which have only limited followings.
We do not yet have much informaton on Syrian photograohy. The apttern seems to be similar to that of other Arab countriesmany of which were oart of the Ottoman Empire. The first photographers were commonly Eurpeans, often French or Greek who introduced photograpohy to suspicious Arab clients. The first photographer we know of in Syria is Felix Bonfils (1831-85) was active as a photographer (1860-80). He moved from France to Beirut (1867) and established a studio in Beirut which at the time was part of the Ottoman Empire and not separate from Suyria. Bonfils photographed extensively in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, and Greece. His focus was not on selling portraits to locals, but on selling ethnographic images to curious French and other Europeans about the widerworld. At the time magazines could not yet print photographs--they had to be prepared as engravings. And the movies did yet not exist. The only other way that photograohs of foreihn lands and people were available were stereoscopic images. Thus people collected images, often for scrapbooking. We see snapshots appearing in the 20th century, but at first mostly from European familes. Lebanon and Syria became a League of Nations Mandate administered by France until independence 1920-46). The Christian population with closer ties to Europeans seem to have taken to photography more readily than Muslims. We note post-card back photographs after the turn-of-the 20th century. This included both studio portraits and snap shots. We do not yet have many Syrian snap shots, but what we have been able to find is that the snapshots came from Europeans in Syria and European-influenced Syrians who showed a much stronger adoption of European-styled clothing, especially French styles, than was the case for the country as a whole. We note ragged edge snapshots in the 195Os.
Ajami, Fouad. "Syria's war hits the house of Assad," Wall Street Journal (July 19, 2012), p. A17.
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