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43-683: The Arab Congress of 1913 (also known as the "Arab National Congress," the "First Palestinian Conference," the "First Arab Congress," and the "Arab-Syrian Congress") met in a hall of the French Geographical Society ( Société de Géographie ) at 184 Boulevard Saint-Germain , Paris from June 18–23 in Paris to discuss more autonomy for the Arab people living under the Ottoman Empire . Furthermore The Arab National Congress, which

86-785: A Muslim majority in the Levant is presumed to have been reached by the 13th century. The majority of Levantine Muslims are Sunnis adhering to the four madhhabs ( Hanafi , Shafi'i , Hanbali and Maliki ). Islamic minorities include the Alawites and Nizari Ismailis in Syria, and Twelver Shiites in Lebanon . Levantine Christian groups include Greek Orthodox ( Antiochian Greek ), Syriac Orthodox , Eastern Catholic ( Syriac Catholic , Melkite and Maronite ), Roman Catholic ( Latin ), Nestorian , and Protestant . Armenians mostly belong to

129-528: A variety of Arabic descended from the pre-Islamic Arabic dialects of Syria and Hejazi Arabic , but retaining significant influence from Western Middle Aramaic . Levantine Arabic is usually classified as North Levantine Arabic in Lebanon, Syria, and parts of Turkey, and South Levantine Arabic in Palestine and Jordan. Each of these encompasses a spectrum of regional or urban/rural variations. In addition to

172-633: Is a partial list of both official and unofficial individuals: The Congress resolutions were detailed in ten points; these included: to ensure for the Ottoman Arabs the exercise of their political rights by making their participation in the central administration of the Empire effective, making Arabic "the official language in the Arab and Syrian provinces, the deployment of Syrian and Arab troops in their home provinces, except in time of "extreme necessity",

215-540: Is a term used to define the historical and geographical subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west and core West Asia , or by the political term, Middle East to the east . In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is equivalent to Cyprus and a stretch of land bordering the Mediterranean Sea in western Asia: i.e.

258-544: Is also used for modern events, peoples, states or parts of states in the same region, namely Cyprus , Egypt , Iraq , Israel , Jordan , Lebanon , Palestine , Syria , and Turkey are sometimes considered Levant countries (compare with Near East , Middle East , Eastern Mediterranean and West Asia ). Several researchers include the island of Cyprus in Levantine studies, including the Council for British Research in

301-602: Is clear, however, that not only did Arabs not gain the freedoms they sought from the Ottomans, but with increased Zionist immigration, the Arab Revolt of 1936-37, and the founding of Israel in 1948, that rather the opposite came to pass. The Arab nationalism that came about after World War II is attributable to factors such as the decline of colonial influence, rather than reforms debated back in 1913. Soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9 de G%C3%A9ographie The Geographical Society

344-512: Is literally "rising", deriving from Latin orior 'rise'. The notion of the Levant has undergone a dynamic process of historical evolution in usage, meaning, and understanding. While the term "Levantine" originally referred to the European residents of the eastern Mediterranean region, it later came to refer to regional "native" and "minority" groups. The term became current in English in

387-1073: Is ultimately from the Latin word levare , meaning 'lift, raise'. Similar etymologies are found in Greek Ἀνατολή Anatolē ( cf. Anatolia 'the direction of sunrise'), in Germanic Morgenland ( lit.   ' morning land ' ), in Italian (as in Riviera di Levante , the portion of the Liguria coast east of Genoa ), in Hungarian Kelet ('east'), in Spanish and Catalan Levante and Llevant , ('the place of rising'), and in Hebrew מִזְרָח mizraḥ ('east'). Most notably, "Orient" and its Latin source oriens meaning 'east',

430-669: The Armenian Apostolic Church . There are also Levantines or Franco-Levantines who adhere to Roman Catholicism . There are also Assyrians belonging to the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church . Other religious groups in the Levant include Jews , Samaritans , Yazidis and Druze . Most populations in the Levant speak Levantine Arabic ( شامي , Šāmī ),

473-632: The Armenians . The Congress did not have a lasting effect, due in no small part to the beginning of World War I. Many of the concerns addressed at the Congress were decided as parts of larger shifts of power during the War. It is impossible to say what directions these proposed reforms would have taken were it not for the war, the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Balfour Declaration . It

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516-501: The Balkan states . The Arabs were agitating for more rights under the fading empire and early glimmers of Arab nationalism were emerging. A number of dissenting and reform-oriented groups formed in the region of Syria , Palestine , Constantinople , and Egypt . Under Zionist influence, Jewish immigration to Palestine was increasing, and England and France were expressing interest in the region, competing for spheres of influence. It

559-719: The Caucasus Mountains, or any part of the Arabian Peninsula proper. Cilicia (in Asia Minor) and the Sinai Peninsula (Asian Egypt) are sometimes included. As a name for the contemporary region, several dictionaries consider Levant to be archaic today. Both the noun Levant and the adjective Levantine are now commonly used to describe the ancient and modern culture area formerly called Syro-Palestinian or Biblical: archaeologists now speak of

602-519: The Levant Company to trade with the Ottoman Empire . The name Levant States was used to refer to the French mandate over Syria and Lebanon after World War I . This is probably the reason why the term Levant has come to be used more specifically to refer to modern Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, and the island of Cyprus . Some scholars mistakenly believed that it derives from

645-735: The Southern Levant . While the usage of the term "Levant" in academia has been restricted to the fields of archeology and literature, there is a recent attempt to reclaim the notion of the Levant as a category of analysis in political and social sciences. Two academic journals were launched in the early 2010s using the word: the Journal of Levantine Studies , published by the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and The Levantine Review , published by Boston College . The word Levant has been used in some translations of

688-649: The 16th century, along with the first English merchant adventurers in the region; English ships appeared in the Mediterranean in the 1570s, and the English merchant company signed its agreement (" capitulations ") with the Ottoman Sultan in 1579. The English Levant Company was founded in 1581 to trade with the Ottoman Empire , and in 1670 the French Compagnie du Levant  [ fr ]

731-629: The French School of Geopolitics . The Society was the location of the Arab Congress of 1913 , which took place from June 18 to June 23 of that year and marked the confluence of events surrounding the decline of the Ottoman Empire , the beginnings of Arab nationalism , and early Arab reaction to Zionist immigration to Palestine . The Society's revue has appeared monthly since 1822, as Bulletin de la Société de Géographie (1822–1899) – offering in octavo format early news of all

774-513: The Levant share not only geographic position, but cuisine , some customs, and history . They are often referred to as Levantines . The term Levant appears in English in 1497 , and originally meant 'the East ' or 'Mediterranean lands east of Italy'. It is borrowed from the French levant 'rising', referring to the rising of the sun in the east, or the point where the sun rises. The phrase

817-543: The Levant , the UCLA Near Eastern Languages and Cultures department, Journal of Levantine Studies and the UCL Institute of Archaeology, the last of which has dated the connection between Cyprus and mainland Levant to the early Iron Age . Archaeologists seeking a neutral orientation that is neither biblical nor national have used terms such as Levantine archaeology and archaeology of

860-604: The Levant and of Levantine archaeology ; food scholars speak of Levantine cuisine ; and the Latin Christians of the Levant continue to be called Levantine Christians . The Levant has been described as the "crossroads of Western Asia , the Eastern Mediterranean, and Northeast Africa ", and in geological ( tectonic ) terms as the "northwest of the Arabian Plate ". The populations of

903-526: The boundaries of the Levant as follows. A distinction is made between the main subregions of the Levant, the northern and the southern: The island of Cyprus is also included as a third subregion in the archaeological region of the Levant: The vast majority of Levantines are Muslims . After the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 7th century, Islam was first introduced into the region. However,

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946-531: The countries along the Eastern Mediterranean shores, extending from Greece in Southern Europe to Egypt and Cyrenaica (Eastern Libya) in Northern Africa . In the 13th and 14th centuries, the term levante was used for Italian maritime commerce in the Eastern Mediterranean, including Greece, Anatolia , Syria-Palestine , and Egypt , that is, the lands east of Venice . Eventually

989-849: The discoveries of the nineteenth century – or quarterly, as La Géographie , with a break from 1940 until 1946. Since 1947 the Society's magazine has appeared three times a year, as Acta Geographica . The Society's library, map collection and photograph collection are among the world's deepest and most comprehensive. The Grande Médaille d'Or des Explorations et Voyages de Découverte (Great Gold Medal of Exploration and Journeys of Discovery) has been awarded since 1829 for journeys whose outcomes have enhanced geographical knowledge. Notable recipients have been John Franklin (1829), John Ross (1834), David Livingstone (1857), Ernest Shackleton (1910) and Roald Amundsen (1913). Levant The Levant ( / l ə ˈ v æ n t / lə- VANT )

1032-658: The early 20th century for three continents before World War I began. Many scholars place the origins of Arab nationalism during these crucial years that witnessed a dwindling of empires and a build-up of tension surrounding Zionist immigration to Palestine and Arab reaction to it. The whole Congress declared itself ready to struggle to bring the Arab Nation into being by means of revolution. Al-Hoda Editor and Lebanese League of Progress President, Naoum Mokarzel started cautiously by saying that: “The Revolution must be literary and reformist”, he continued more aggressively “only

1075-502: The historical region of Syria ("Greater Syria"), which includes present-day Israel , Jordan , Lebanon , Syria , the Palestinian territories and most of Turkey southwest of the middle Euphrates . Its overwhelming characteristic is that it represents the land bridge between Africa and Eurasia . In its widest historical sense, the Levant included all of the Eastern Mediterranean with its islands; that is, it included all of

1118-579: The institution of decentralized regime in each of the Syrian and Arab vilayets , the extension of the administrative powers of the general council of the vilayet of Beirut, the improvement of the financial situation of Lebanon , The resolutions were communicated to the Quai d'Orsay , and to the Imperial Ottoman government. The Congress included a declaration of solidarity with the reformist demands of

1161-516: The last resort should it be bloody, because the political systems of free nations have been constructed by martyrs and not with printers ink.” The Ottoman Empire was in a state of decline at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1908, a revolt led by the Young Turks led to regime change that briefly led to increased freedom of expression until the Turkish crackdown of 1915-1916. Attempts by

1204-480: The men who had accompanied Bonaparte in his Egyptian expedition were members: Edme-François Jomard , Conrad Malte-Brun , Jules Dumont d'Urville , Jules Paul Benjamin Delessert , Hottinguer , Henri Didot , Bottin and others such as Jean-Baptiste Benoît Eyriès . Although the Society rarely funded scientific travel, by issuing instructions to voyagers, encouraging research through competitions, and publishing

1247-471: The mores and customs of the indigenous peoples, and vocabularies of the ancient languages." extended decades-old scientific practices to a new field of anthropological inquiry. The society was to be associated in time with the greatest French and foreign explorers from René Caillié , the first European to return alive from the town of Timbuktu , to the underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau , and leading geographers, among them Vidal de la Blache , founder of

1290-576: The name of Lebanon. Today the term is often used in conjunction with prehistoric or ancient historical references. Another term for "Syria-Palestine" is Ash- Shaam ( Arabic : ٱلشَّام , /ʔaʃ.ʃaːm/ ), the area that is bounded by the Taurus Mountains of Turkey in the north, the Mediterranean Sea in the west, the north Arabian Desert and Mesopotamia in the east, and Sinai in the south (which can be fully included or not). Typically, it does not include Anatolia (also known as Asia Minor),

1333-655: The north. Two minority languages are recognized: Armenian , and Cypriot Maronite Arabic , a hybrid of mostly medieval Arabic vernaculars with strong influence from contact with Turkish and Greek, spoken by approximately 1,000 people. Western Neo-Aramaic is additionally spoken in three villages in Syria: Maaloula , Jubb'adin and Bakhah . Among diaspora communities based in the Levant, Greek , Armenian and Circassian are also spoken. According to recent ancient DNA studies, Levantines derive most of their ancestry from ancient Semitic-speaking peoples of

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1376-441: The place instead of any one culture. The French mandate of Syria and Lebanon (1920–1946) was called the Levant states. Today, "Levant" is the term typically used by archaeologists and historians with reference to the history of the region. Scholars have adopted the term Levant to identify the region due to its being a "wider, yet relevant, cultural corpus" that does not have the "political overtones" of Syria-Palestine. The term

1419-654: The regime to contain Western influence, implement an increasingly centralized government, and movement toward the " Turkification " of Arab lands prompted resistance from parts of the Arab world. War broke out in the Balkans in October 1912, further weakening Istanbul's hold over its domain. Scholars disagree over when exactly Arab nationalism began, but there were glimmers of a distinctive Arab identity beginning to form, partly in response to perceived Ottoman oppression, in

1462-689: The region as the two empires competed with one another for influence. Scholar David Thomas contends that many of the reform groups that participated in the conference "...were more suspicious of the intentions of Britain and France in the Levant than afraid of and hostile to the Ottoman Porte ..." The Congress was held under the auspices of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs . While there were 25 "official" delegates, many representatives of reform societies attended unofficially. The following

1505-504: The results of their work, it served in its early years as "an important institutional support" for the study of Mesoamerica . Two members in the "active core" of the society played central roles in this regard: Jomard and the Irish exile and former United States consul David Ballie Warden. Their terms for a competition for the best new work on "American antiquities", including maps "constructed according to exact methods" and "observations on

1548-634: The term ash-Shām as used by the organization known as ISIL, ISIS, and other names , though there is disagreement as to whether this translation is accurate. In The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant: c. 8000–332 BCE (OHAL; 2013), the definition of the Levant for the specific purposes of the book is synonymous to that of the Arabic " bilad al-sham , 'the land of sham [Syria]'", translating in Western parlance to greater Syria . OHAL defines

1591-530: The term was restricted to the Muslim countries of Syria-Palestine and Egypt. The term entered English in the late 15th century from French. It derives from the Italian levante , meaning "rising", implying the rising of the Sun in the east, and is broadly equivalent to the term al-Mashriq ( Arabic : ٱلْمَشْرِق , [ʔal.maʃ.riq] ), meaning "the eastern place, where the Sun rises". In 1581, England set up

1634-400: The varieties normally grouped together as "Levantine", a number of other varieties and dialects of Arabic are spoken in the Levant area, such as Levantine Bedawi Arabic (by Bedouins ) and Mesopotamian Arabic (in eastern Syria). Of the languages of Cyprus , the two official languages are Turkish and Greek. The most used languages by population are Greek in the south followed by Turkish in

1677-644: The years leading up to the Arab Congress. Particular concerns included the desire to speak Arabic in the public sphere, a decentralized administration (i.e. more local control over administrative matters), and the right for Arab soldiers to serve in their own region, rather than a distant corner of the empire. A number of reform-minded groups sprung up in these early years before World War I. Many remained secret so as to avoid government infiltration. Jewish immigrants had begun arriving in historic Palestine before 1900. England and France were showing interest in

1720-481: Was established by 25 official Arab Nationalists delegates, was convened to discuss desired reforms and to express their discontent with some Ottoman policies. It took place at a time of uncertainty and change in the Ottoman Empire: in the years leading up to World War I , the Empire had undergone a revolution (1908) and a coup (1913) by the Young Turks , and had been defeated in two wars against Italy and

1763-485: Was founded at a meeting on 15 December 1821 in the Paris Hôtel de Ville . Among its 217 founders were some of the greatest scientific names of the time, including Pierre-Simon Laplace (the Society's first president), Georges Cuvier , Charles Pierre Chapsal , Vivant Denon , Joseph Fourier , Gay-Lussac , Claude Louis Berthollet , Alexander von Humboldt , Champollion , and François-René de Chateaubriand . Most of

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1806-542: Was founded for the same purpose. At this time, the Far East was known as the "Upper Levant". In early 19th-century travel writing , the term sometimes incorporated certain Mediterranean provinces of the Ottoman Empire , as well as independent Greece (and especially the Greek islands ). In 19th-century archaeology, it referred to overlapping cultures in this region during and after prehistoric times, intending to reference

1849-476: Was under these conditions that a group of students living in Paris called for a Congress to be held to discuss proposed Arab reforms. According to Najib Azouri , the real organizers of the congress were Chekri Ganem and the Moutran brothers , the rest were moutons de Panurge . While the Congress was not ultimately successful in its proposed aims, it was a reflection of events taking place and dynamics that shaped

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