Syria

Ancient Mesopotamia

Ancient Syria was much larger than its modern counterpart, being bordered by the Taurus Mountains in the north, the Upper Euphrates to the north-east, and the Syrian Desert to the south-east. The name is Greek, which they used to describe various Assyrian peoples. Amorits began to arrive in the territory to the west of the Euphrates, within modern Syria, from around 2500 BC.

In February 1840, a blood libel was started with the disappearance of Father Thomas, a Franciscan superior. After a "confession" was extracted from a Jewish barber, seven others were arrested, two of whom died under torture. The French consul Ratti Menton, accused the Jews of ritual murder and requested permission from Mahomet Ali to kill the rest of his suspects.

Moses Montefiore: Jewish Liberator, Imperial Hero. Humanitarian, philanthropist, and campaigner for Jewish emancipation on a grand scale, Sir Moses Montefiore (1784–1885) was a preeminent Jewish figure of the nineteenth century, a tale of diplomacy and adventure through the realms of court and ghetto, tsar and sultan, synagogue and stock exchange. Interweaving the public triumph of Montefiore's foreign missions with the private tragedy of his childless marriage, this book brings the diversity of nineteenth-century Jewry brilliantly to life — from London to Jerusalem, Rome to St. Petersburg, Morocco to Istanbul with the origins of Zionism and the rise of international Jewish consciousness, the faltering birth of international human rights, and the making of the modern Middle East.

Other Jews were arrested, including 63 children who were starved to convince their parents to confess. Sir Moses Montefiore, Adolphe Cremieux, and Solomon Munk intervened on behalf of the Jews and in August the charges were dropped. This affair spurred early Zionist writers such as Hess to promote the Zionist cause. The United States, England, Russia, Austria, and Prussia also lined up against France.

During the 1850s, ports along the Syria/Palestine coast were shipping wheat to the United Kingdom.

Island of Tortosa, in Syria from Views in the Ottoman Dominions. 1810

August 3, 1860, The New York Times, New York, New York

INTERESTING FROM EUROPE
French Intervention in Syria

The proceedings of the British Parliament have been unimportant. Lord John Russell had stated that the French Government had made a suggestion that the Great Powers with a view to united intervention in Syria . . . "In the presence of the deplorable events of which Syria is is the theatre, and which have caused deep emotion throughout Europe, the Government of the Emperor has deemed it its duty to communicate its views without delay to the Cabinets of the other Great Powers and to the Porte, in order to concert the measures which circumstances demand."

1860. Persia, Iran, Iraq, Mesopotamia

The situations of affairs in Syria had undergone no change. A dispatch of the 11th July says "No other incident has taken place. The latest state of things continues to be very grave. The Christians are leaving the Interior of the country, and emigrating towards the coasts to be under the protection of the European vessels. 32,000 persons have already arrived at Beyrout and Sayda."

According to the Paris Pays, far more dreadful massacres are in contemplation, and the exciters of these disturbances in Syria have ramifications with other parts of the Ottoman territory. The events in Syria are only the prelude to a formidable rising in areas of the Ottoman population against the Christians.

The Paris correspondent of the London Herald asserts that England will send a regiment to Syria, and that France will send 23,000 men under Marshal McMahon (image 1875). This was regarded as an exaggeration, although there was no doubt that a strong expedition was being prepared bv France.

Great anxiety was felt at Beyrout respecting the fate of the Christians, who, to the number of 45,000 had taken refuge in the south of Kesrovan, were surrounded by powerful bodies of Druses.

Trade continued and in the 1870s, thousands of pounds of wheat, barley and other cereals were exported to Great Britain.

Syria by the Sea, 1873 Frederick Edwin Church. 1826-1900. An American landscape painter born in Hartford, Connecticut, Church was a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters. In 1853-1857, Church travelled to South America and in 1867 visited Europe and the Middle East (Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Syria, Jordan and Egypt). Illness affected Church's output. Although he was enormously successful as an artist, by 1876, Church was stricken with rheumatoid arthritis which greatly reduced his ability to paint. He eventually painted with his left hand and continued to produce his work although at a much slower pace.

The Barada (Greek: Chrysorrhoas) is the main river of Damascus, the capital city of Siria. It flows through the spring of `Ayn Fijah, about 27 km north west of Damascus; its source is Lake Barada. The Barada descends through a steep, narrow gorge named "Rabwe" before it arrives at Damascus, where it divides into seven branches that irrigate the oasis of Ghouta. The ancient Greek name means "golden stream."

---

1899. World's Fleet. Boston Daily Globe

Lloyds Register of Shipping gives the entire fleet of the world as 28,180 steamers and sailing vessels, with a total tonnage of 27,673,628, of which 39 perent are British.

Great Britain	10,990 vessels, total tonnage of 10,792,714
United States	3,010 vessels, total tonnage of 2,405,887
Norway	2,528 vessels, tonnage of 1,604,230
Germany	1,676 vessels, with a tonnage of 2,453,334, in which are included her particularly large ships.
Sweden	1,408 vessels with a tonnage of 643, 527
Italy	1,150 vessels
France	1,182 vessels

For Historical Comparison
Top 10 Maritime Nations Ranked by Value (2017)

	Country	# of Vessels	Gross Tonnage (m)	Total Value (USDbn)
1	Greece	4,453	206.47	$88.0
2	Japan	4,317	150.26	$79.8
3	China	4,938	159.71	$71.7
4	USA	2,399	55.92	$46.5
5	Singapore	2,662	64.03	$41.7
6	Norway	1,668	39.68	$41.1
7	Germany	2,923	81.17	$30.3
8	UK	883	28.78	$24.3
9	Denmark	1,040	36.17	$23.4
10	South Korea	1,484	49.88	$20.1
Total		26,767	87.21	$466.9