Greater Syria (Arabic: سُـوِرِيَّـة الْـكُـبْـرَى, translit. Sūriyyah al-Kubrá), also "Natural Syria" (Arabic: سُـوْرِيَّـة الـطَّـبِـيْـعِـيَّـة, translit. Sūriyyah aṭ-Ṭabī‘iyyah) or "Northern Country" Arabic: بِـلَاد الـشَّـام, translit. Bilād ash-Shām,[1] is a Levantine region which extends roughly over the medieval Arab Caliphate province of Bilad al-Sham. The Hellenistic name of the region, "Syria", was used by the Ottomans in the Syria Vilayet until the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918. The wave of Arab nationalism in the region evolved towards the creation of a new "Great Syria" over French-governed Occupied Enemy Territory Administration, declared as Hashemite Kingdom on March 1920, claiming extent over the entire Levant. Following the Franco-Syrian War, in July 1920, French armies defeated the newly proclaimed Arab Kingdom of Syria and captured Damascus, aborting the Arab state. The area was consequently partitioned under French and British Mandates into Greater Lebanon, various Syrian states, Mandatory Palestine and Transjordan. Syrian states were gradually unified as the State of Syria and became the independent Republic of Syria in 1946.
Historical background
The Arab conquest of the Levant in the 7th century gave rise to the Bilad al-Sham province, which functioned under the Caliphates. The province was encompassing much of the region of Syria and became largely overlapping with this concept. Other sources indicate that the term Greater Syria was coined during Ottoman rule, after 1516, to designate the approximate area included in present-day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Palestine.[2]
Further reading
- Pipes, Daniel (1990). Greater Syria: the History of an Ambition. New York: Oxford University Press. viii, 240 p., ill. with b&w photos and maps.
ISBN 978-0-19-506022-5 pbk.; alternative ISBN on back cover, 0-19-506002-4
