From the sixteenth century until 1918, the area of Syria made up only a small part of the vast Ottoman Empire that extended from central Europe, east to Persia, down to the south of the Arabian Peninsular and across most of North Africa.

In 1864 the Ottomans divided the Syria area into three administrative provinces (Vilayets) of Aleppo, Beirut and Damascus, and the Special Province (Mutasarrifia) of Mount Lebanon. Apart from the Marionite region of Mt Lebanon that enjoyed a certain cohesion and autonomy, these three provinces were only loosely controlled by the Ottomans with little more than administative significance. The territories that we know today - Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Lebanon did not appear until the final days of the Ottoman Empire.

When the French lost control of Egypt to the British, they focused on Syria as a possible land link with the Indian Ocean. They strengthened their ties with minority groups in Mt Lebanon and the Syria/Palestine area, and nurtured most of the Roman Catholic communities in the Middle East. The French founded a system of educational facilities, and by 1914 more than half the children attending school in Syria and Palestine were studying at French institutions.

Not only does Syria have no history as a state before the 1920s, but its inhabitants historically did not consider themselves members of a Syrian nation. The location of Syria made it a crossroads for conquering armies, the mountainous terrain a refuge for oppressed peoples, and it's holiness made the Syrian area a destination for pilgrims and pioneers. These factors may explain the region's religious and ethnic diversity that is the Syria of today.