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The Republic of Syria is in western asia and bounded by the Mediterranean Sea and Lebanon, north by Turkey, east by Iraq, south by Israel and Jordan.
The country has seen many of the great civilizations and empires of the past. Among the peoples who occupied the region were the Amorites, the Hittites, the Phoenicians, and the Persians.
Alexander the Great conquered the area in the 4th century B.C. The Seleucid kings, Alexanders's successors, ruled the area until the coming of the Roman Empire in the 1st century of the Christian Era.
From the 7th century the country saw Islamic rule. It suffered the Seljuk and Ottoman empires before becoming part of the French Levant in 1920.
The country has an area of 71,210 square miles and a population of over 19 million. Although most of the people are Sunni Muslims, some 500,000 or so are nomadic Bedouins. It is traversed by the Orantes and Euphrates Rivers. Damascus is the capital and is the oldest inhabited city on the earth.
Only about one half of the area is suitable for farming. Sandy deserts are common. Tobacco, wheat, fruits, cotton, barley, corn, sorghums, hemp, and silk are produced. Besides foodstuffs, manufacturing includes matches, alcohol, soap, cotton cloth, and cement. There are agricultural, engineering and teacher training colleges as well as universities in Damascus and Aleppo.
The Syrian Republic was formerly a province of the Turkish Empire, and from 1920 until its independence in 1943, was a French mandate under the League of Nations. While under the mandate, Syria set up a republican form of government with a one-house legislature. In 1958 Syria and Egypt joined to form the United Arab Republic as a hoped for nucleus of a federation of all Arab states. Three years later the government was overthrown and the union with Egypt was dissolved. In 1964 a provisional constitution was adopted. A permanant constitution was adoped in 1973.
General Information
OFFICIAL NAME(S) Syrian Arab Republic / Al Jumhuriyah al Arabiyah as Suriyah CAPITAL: Damascus FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Republic HEAD OF STATE: President Bashar al-ASAD (since 17 July 2000); Vice President Farouk al-SHARA (since 11 February 2006) oversees foreign policy; Vice President Najah al-ATTAR (since 23 March 2006) oversees cultural policy HEAD OF GOVERNMENT: Prime Minister Muhammad Naji al-UTRI (since 10 September 2003); Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Abdallah al-DARDARI (since 14 June 2005) MONETARY UNIT: Syrian pound (SYP) OFFICIAL LANGUAGES: Arabic (official); Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian widely understood; French, English somewhat understood POPULATION: 19,747,586 note: in addition, about 40,000 people live in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights - 20,000 Arabs (18,000 Druze and 2,000 Alawites) and about 20,000 Israeli settlers (2008 est.) RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: Sunni Muslim 74%, other Muslim (includes Alawite, Druze) 16%, Christian (various denominations) 10%, Jewish (tiny communities in Damascus, Al Qamishli, and Aleppo) ETHNIC COMPOSITION: Arab 90.3%, Kurds, Armenians, and other 9.7% LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH (: total population: 70.61 years male: 69.27 years female: 72.02 years (2007 est.) Queries and Surnames
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