Syria

Syria (2,000), one of three divisions of Asiatic Turkey, slightly larger than Italy, forms a long strip of mountains and tableland intersected by fertile valleys, lying along the eastern end of the Mediterranean from the Taurus range in the N. to the Egyptian border on the 8., and extending to the Euphrates and Arabian desert The coastal strip and waters fall within the Levant (q.v.). In the S. lies Palestine, embracing Jordan, Dead Sea, Lake of Tiberias (Sea of Galilee), Jerusalem, Gaza, &c.; in the N., between the parallel ranges of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, lies the valley of Coele-Syria, through which flows the Orontes. Important towns are Aleppo, Damascus, Beyrout (chief port), &c.; principal exports are silk, wool, olive-oil, and fruits. Four-fifths of the people are Mohammedans of Aramæan (ancient Syrian) and Arabic stock. Once a portion of the Assyrian empire (q.v.), it became a possession successively of the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Egyptians, and finally fell into the hands of the Ottoman Turks in 1516, under whose rule it now languishes. For further particulars see various names and places mentioned.

Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)