1.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
2.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
3.
Ottoman Syria
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Ottoman Syria became organized by the Ottomans upon conquest from the Mamluks in the early 16th century into eyalets of Damascus and Aleppo. Eyalet of Tripoli was formed in 1579 and later Eyalet of Adana was split from Aleppo, in 1660, Eyalet of Safed was established and shortly afterwards renamed Eyalet of Sidon. The eyalets were later transformed into the Vilayet of Syria, the Vilayet of Aleppo, before 1516, Syria was part of the Mamluk Empire centered in Egypt. The Ottoman Sultan Selim I conquered Syria in 1516 after defeating the Mamlukes at the Battle of Marj Dabiq near Aleppo in northern Syria. Selim carried on his victorious campaign against the Mamlukes and conquered Egypt in 1517 following the Battle of Ridanieh, when he first seized Syria in 1516, Selim I kept the administrative subdivisions of the Mamluk period unchanged. After he came back from Egypt in July 1517, he reorganized Syria into one province or eyalet named Şam. The eyalet was subdivided into districts or sanjaks. In 1549, Syria was reorganized into two eyalets, the northern Sanjak of Aleppo became the center of the new Eyalet of Aleppo. At this time, the eyalets became as follows, The Eyalet of Aleppo included the Sanjaks of Aleppo, Adana, Marash, Aintab, the Eyalet of Tripoli included the Sanjaks of Tripoli, Latakia, Hama and Homs. The Eyalet of Damascus included the Sanjaks of Damascus, Beirut, Sidon, Acre, Safad, Nablus, Jerusalem, Gaza and it was later renamed the Eyalet of Sidon, and later, the Eyalet of Beirut. In 1833, the Syrian provinces were ceded to Muhammed Ali of Egypt in the Convention of Kutahya, the firman stated that The governments of Candia and Egypt are continued to Mahomet Ali. In this period, the Sublime Portes firmans of 1839 and, more decisively, the former resented the implied loss of superiority and recurrently assaulted and massacred Christian communities — in Aleppo in 1850, in Nablus in 1856, and in Damascus and Lebanon in 1860. In 1872 Jerusalem and the towns became the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem. The Geographical Dictionary of the World, published in 1906, describes Syria as and it comprises the vilayet of Syria, or of Damascus, the vilayet of Beirut, the part of the vilayet of Aleppo, and the mutessarrifliks of Jerusalem and the Lebanon. Palestine is included in Syria, comprising the mutessarriflik of Jerusalem and part of the vilayets of Beirut and Syria. The designation Syria is sometimes used in wider sense so as to include the whole of the vilayet of Aleppo and the Zor Sanjak and it included that part of the country which was afterwards detached from it to form the mandated territory of Palestine
4.
Syria Vilayet
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The Vilayet of Syria, also known as Vilayet of Damascus, was a first-level administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. At the beginning of the 20th century it reportedly had an area of 24,009 square miles, the accuracy of the population figures ranges from approximate to merely conjectural depending on the region from which they were gathered. In 1864, the Vilayet Law was promulgated, the new provincial law was implemented in Damascus in 1865, and the reformed province was named Suriyya/Suriye, reflecting a growing historical consciousness among the local intellectuals. Jerusalem was separated from the rest of the province, and made into an independent sanjak of Jerusalem that reported directly to Istanbul, mount Lebanon had been similarly made into a self-governing mutesarrifate in 1864. In 1872, a new region was created, with its center in Maan, but the costs for the new administrative unit far outweighed the revenues. In 1884, the governor of Damascus made a proposal to establish a new vilayet of southern Syria, in 1888, a vilayet of Beirut was formed from the vilayet of Syria. In May 1892 another proposal was made for a regional government centred in Maan, in mid-1895, the centre of this mutasarrifiyya was moved to Karak, marking the southernmost extent of Ottoman rule in the vilayet of Syria. As of 1927, the Vilayet Syria was divided into four sanjaks, Damascus, Hama, Hauran, Ottoman Syria Media related to Vilayet of Syria at Wikimedia Commons
5.
Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem
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The Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, also known as the Sanjak of Jerusalem, was an Ottoman district with special administrative status established in 1872. The district encompassed Jerusalem as well as Bethlehem, Hebron, Jaffa, Gaza, during the late Ottoman period, the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, together with the Sanjak of Nablus and Sanjak of Akka, formed the region that was commonly referred to as Southern Syria or Palestine. The district was separated from Damascus and placed directly under Constantinople in 1841, scholars provide a variety of reasons for the separation, including increased European interest in the region, and strengthening of the southern border of the Empire against the Khedivate of Egypt. However, after less than two months, the sanjaks of Nablus and Acre were separated and added to the Vilayet of Beirut, leaving just the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem. In 1906, the Kaza of Nazareth was added to the Jerusalem Mutasarrifate, as an exclave, the area was conquered by the Allied Forces in 1917 during World War I and a military Occupied Enemy Territory Administration set up to replace the Ottoman administration. OETA South consisted of the Ottoman sanjaks of Jerusalem, Nablus, the military administration was replaced by a British civilian administration in 1920 and the area of OETA South was incorporated into the British Mandate of Palestine in 1923. The political status of the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem was unique to other Ottoman province since it came under the authority of the Ottoman capital Constantinople. The inhabitants identified themselves primarily on religious terms, the districts villages were normally inhabited by farmers while its towns were populated by merchants, artisans, landowners and money-lenders. The elite consisted of the leadership, wealthy landlords and high-ranking civil servants. In 1841, the district was separated from Damascus and placed directly under Constantinople, before 1872, the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem was officially a sanjak within the Syria Vilayet. In 1904, former Jerusalem official Najib Azuri formed in Paris, France the Ligue de la Patrie Arabe whose goal was to free Ottoman Syria and Iraq from Turkish domination. In 1908, Azuri proposed the elevation of the mutassarifate to the status of vilayet to the Ottoman Parliament after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution. The area was conquered by the Allied Forces in 1917 during World War I, OETA South consisted of the Ottoman sanjaks of Jerusalem, Nablus and Acre. Below are six contemporary Ottoman maps showing the Quds Al-Sharif Sancağı or Quds Al-Sharif Mutasarrıflığı, the Mutasarrıfs of Jerusalem were appointed by the Porte to govern the district. They were usually experienced civil servants who spoke little or no Arabic, but knew a European language - most commonly French - in addition to Ottoman Turkish
6.
Beirut Vilayet
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The Vilayet of Beirut was a first-level administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. It stretched from just north of Jaffa to the city of Latakia. It was bounded by the Syria Vilayet to the east, the Aleppo Vilayet to the north, the autonomous Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem to the south and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. At the beginning of the 20th century it reportedly had an area of 11,773 square miles, the accuracy of the population figures ranges from approximate to merely conjectural depending on the region from which they were gathered. Sanjaks of the vilayet, Latakia Sanjak Tripoli Sanjak Beirut Sanjak Akka Sanjak Nablus Sanjak Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate Chisholm, Hugh, media related to Vilayet of Beirut at Wikimedia Commons
7.
Aleppo Vilayet
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The Vilayet of Aleppo was a first-level administrative division of the Ottoman Empire, centered on the city of Aleppo. The vilayet was established in March 1866, however, the economy of Aleppo was badly hit by the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, and since then Damascus rose as a serious competitor with Aleppo over the title of the capital of Syria. Historically, Aleppo was more united in economy and culture with its sister Anatolian cities than with Damascus and this fact still shows today with the distinctive cultural differences between Aleppo and Damascus. At the end of World War I, the Treaty of Sèvres made most of the Province of Aleppo part of the newly established nation of Syria, however, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk annexed most of the Province of Aleppo as well as Cilicia to Turkey in his War of Independence. The Arab residents in the supported the Turks in this war against the French. Moreover, the Sykes-Picot division of the Near East separated Aleppo from most of Mesopotamia, the situation exacerbated further in 1939 when Alexandretta was annexed to Turkey, thus depriving Aleppo from its main port of İskenderun and leaving it in total isolation within Syria. At the beginning of the 20th century it reportedly had an area of 30,304 square miles and it should be noted that the accuracy of the population figures ranges from approximate to merely conjectural depending on the region from which they were gathered. Sanjaks of the vilayet, circa 1876 Aleppo Sanjak Antep Sanjak Cebelisemaan Sanjak Marash Sanjak Urfa Sanjak Zor Sanjak Ottoman Syria
8.
Zor Sanjak
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The Sanjak of Zor was a sanjak of the Ottoman Empire. Some of its area was separated from the Baghdad Vilayet, when it was created in 1857, Zor was sometimes mentioned as being part of the Aleppo Vilayet, or of the Syria Vilayet. The capital was Deir Ez-Zor, a town on the bank of the Euphrates. At the beginning of the 20th century, the sanjak had an area of 38,600 square miles, the capital itself was just a village before becoming the centre of the sanjak. Kazas of the Sanjak, Kaza of Deyr Kaza of Resül Ayn Kaza of Asare Kaza of Ebukemal
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