The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Syria:
Syria – country in Western Asia, that borders Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest. Civilization in Syria was one of the most ancient on earth. Syria is part of the Fertile Crescent, and from approximately 10,000 BCE it was one of the centers of Neolithic culture where agriculture and cattle breeding appeared for the first time in the world. Over the millennia, Syria has been conquered and settled by many different peoples. A country of fertile plains, high mountains and deserts, it is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups, including Assyrians, Kurds, Circassians, Armenians, Druze, Alawite, Christians, Shias and Sunnis. The latter make up the majority of the population. Since March 2011, Syria has been embroiled in civil war in the wake of uprisings (considered an extension of the Arab Spring, the mass movement of revolutions and protests in the Arab world) against Assad and the neo-Ba'athist government. The opposition Syrian National Coalition selected Ghassan Hitto as prime minister of a rival provisional government on March 19, 2013, after being invited to do so by several foreign governments and the Arab League.[1]
Levantine corridor – relatively narrow land route of migrations between the Mediterranean Sea to the northwest and deserts to the southeast that connects Africa into Eurasia. It is believed that early hominids spread from Africa to Asia and Europe via the Horn of Africa and the Levantine corridor (named after the Levant, which includes Syria).
Cradle of civilization – term referring to locations identified as the sites of the emergence of civilization. In Western European and Middle Eastern cultures, it has frequently been applied to the Ancient Near Eastern Chalcolithic (Ubaid period, Naqada culture), especially in the Fertile Crescent (Levant and Mesopotamia).
Mesopotamia – area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, corresponding to modern-day Iraq, the northeastern section of Syria and to a lesser extent southeastern Turkey and smaller parts of southwestern Iran. Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization in the West.
Natufian culture – Epipaleolithic culture that existed from 13,000 to 9,800 years ago in the Levant. It was unusual in that it was sedentary, or semi-sedentary, before the introduction of agriculture.
Tell Abu Hureyra – archaeological site located in the Euphrates valley in modern Syria. The remains of the villages within the tell come from over 4,000 years of habitation, spanning the Epipaleolithic and Neolithic periods. The inhabitants of Abu Hureyra started out as hunter-gatherers but gradually transitioned to farming, making them the earliest known farmers in the world.
Tell Aswad – large prehistoric, Neolithic Tell, about 5 hectares (540,000 sq ft) in size, located around 48 kilometres (30 mi) from Damascus in Syria.
Tell Ramad – prehistoric, Neolithic tell at the foot of Mount Hermon, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) southwest of Damascus in Syria. The tell was the site of a small village of 2 hectares (220,000 sq ft), which was first settled in the late eighth millennium BC.
Arameans – Northwest Semitic semi-nomadic and pastoralist people who originated in what is now modern Syria (Biblical Aram) during the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age.
Bronze Age collapse – sudden and culturally disruptive transition in the Aegean Region, Southwestern Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age, during which the palace economy characterising the Late Bronze Age was replaced by the isolated village cultures of the Greek Dark Ages. Prior to and during the Bronze Age Collapse, Syria became a battle ground between the empires of the Hittites, Assyrians, Mitanni and Egyptians, and the coastal regions came under attack from the Sea Peoples. From the 13th Century BCE the Arameans came to prominence in Syria, and the region outside of the Phoenician coastal areas eventually became Aramaic speaking.
Mongol invasions of Syria – starting in the 1240s, the Mongols made repeated invasions of Syria or attempts thereof. Most failed, but they did have some success in 1260 and 1300, capturing Aleppo and Damascus and destroying the Ayyubid dynasty.