General Information About Syria

Syria (Arabic Suriyah), officially Syrian Arab Republic, republic in southwestern Asia, bounded on the north by Turkey, on the east by Iraq, on the south by Jordan, and on the west by Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea. Syria has an area of 185,180 sq km. The capital and largest city is Damascus, also spelled Dimashq.

Syria is populated chiefly by Arabs, who constitute about 90 percent of the population. The largest non-Arab minorities are Kurds and Armenians. The Syrian Desert is the most sparsely populated part of Syria. The most densely settled area of the country is in the west.  The population of Syria (2007 estimate) is 19,314,747, giving the country an overall population density of 105 persons per sq. Syria is divided into 13 governorates and the municipality of Damascus. The capital and largest city of the country is Damascus, with a population of 2,270,000 (1999 estimate). Major cities include Aleppo (1,582,930), Homs (540,133), Latakia (311,784), and Hamah (264,348).

Primary education is free and compulsory for all children aged 6 through 12. Some 78 percent of the adult Syrian population was estimated to be literate in 2005. Primary schools enrolled 2.8 million pupils in the year, and 1.1 million students attended secondary schools and vocational institutes. In 1998, 94,110 Syrian students were enrolled in institutes of higher education. Syria has universities in Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, and Latakia.

Syria has many famous monuments, most importantly the city of Palmyra in the heart of Syrian Desert, and Borsra in the southern region of Syria. The most notable museum is the National Museum (1919), in Damascus, which has collections that include Asian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic art. The museums at the site of the ancient city of Palmyra and in Aleppo are noted for their archaeological holdings.

The basic unit of currency is the Syrian pound, divided into 100 piasters (U.S.$1 equals about 46 SP). The Syrian pound is issued by the state-owned Central Bank of Syria.

Brief History of Syria

As early as about 1800 bc King Shamshi-Adad I of Assyria is thought to have established his capital in the extreme northeast of Syria. The kingdom was later conquered by Hammurabi of Babylonia, and the region was long afterward influenced principally by Egypt and Babylon. Parts of the region were conquered successively by the Egyptians and the Hittites, and, in the 8th century bc, by Assyria. In the 6th century bc the region passed first to the Chaldeans and then to the Persians (538 bc). Alexander the Great made it a part of his empire in 333 and 332 bc. In 64 bc Syria was made a Roman province.

After the far-flung Roman dominions were divided into two parts in ad 395, the Western Roman Empire with its capital at Rome and the Eastern, or Byzantine, Empire with its capital at Constantinople, Syria remained a Byzantine province for approximately 240 years. It was conquered in 636 by the Arabs and was quickly absorbed into their rapidly expanding Islamic empire. In 661 Damascus became the seat of the powerful Umayyad caliphs. At that time it was one of the most important and splendid cities of the Muslim world. Later it was supplanted by Baghdad in present-day Iraq.

In 1099 the Crusaders incorporated part of the region into the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem. In a subsequent campaign (1174-1187), Saladin, sultan of Egypt, took Syria and overthrew the kingdom of Jerusalem. The many wars centering on Syria impoverished the land and its people; its ruin was completed by a Mongol invasion in 1260.

The Ottomans incorporated the region into their empire in 1516, and it remained in their possession for the next four centuries. Strong nationalist movements had taken hold in many parts of the Ottoman Empire during the early years of the 20th century. The Arabs, in alliance with the British and French, fought the Turks in World War I (1914-1918) and participated in the capture of Damascus in 1918. In 1919 British forces withdrew from the area assigned to France, leaving French troops in control.

Anti-Turkish sentiment in Syria soon developed into anti-French sentiment and more determined nationalism. With the elections in 1943, a new government was formed under the presidency of the Syrian nationalist Shukri al-Kuwatli. After the end of World War II in 1945, France persisted in trying to exercise influence over Syria. Resultant anti-French uprisings subsided only after the British military intervention on the side of the French and the withdrawal of all French troops and administrative personnel. In 1946 the British troops left Syria. Syria became a charter member of the United Nations in 1945.

In November 1970 General Hafez al-Assad seized power. Assad became president in March 1971, and he formed a new cabinet in December 1972. In July 2000 his son Bashar al-Assad was confirmed in office by a national referendum.