The Probert Encyclopaedia of Places of the World

SYRIA

The Syrian Arabic Republic (Syria) is a country in west Asia. It has a total area of 185,180 km2. The climate is mostly comprised of desert with a hot, dry, sunny summer lasting from June to August and mild, rainy winters from December to February along the coast. The terrain is primarily semiarid and desert plateau with a narrow coastal plain and mountains in the west. Natural resources are crude oil, phosphates, chrome and manganese ores, asphalt, iron ore, rock salt, marble and gypsum. The religion is comprised of 74% Sunni Muslim; 16% Alawite, Druze, and other Muslim sects; 10% Christian made of of various sects and tiny Jewish communities in Damascus, Al Qamishli, and Aleppo. The official language is Arabic with Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian and French also spoken.

From 1516 until 1918 Syria was part of the Ottoman Empire, and after the Great War was occupied by Britisha nd French forces before being placed under French mandate in 1920 and gaining independence in 1946.
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