Syria

• Ziyarat

Syria’s history stretches back thousands of years. It was home to the ancient civilizations of the Sumerians, Akkadians, and later the Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines, and Arabs. It became a major center of Islamic culture after the Arab conquest in the 7th century. It was part of the Ottoman Empire until the empire’s collapse at the end of World War I, after which Syria became a French mandate under the League of Nations until it gained independence in 1946.