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Updates: 

Sorin Cosoveanu provided 2004-09-22 census data and revised areas of subdivisions from the Syrian Central Bureau of Statistics.

Country overview: 

Short name	SYRIA
ISO code	SY
FIPS code	SY
Language	Arabic (ar)
Time zone	+2~
Capital	Damascus

 

The Ottoman Empire had a Syria province, containing the vilayets of Aleppo, Beirut, Syria (or Damascus), and Zor. During World War I, the British and French seized the southern part of the Ottoman Empire and parceled it out between themselves. The Treaty of Sèvres (1920-08-10) mandated Syria and Lebanon to France. Syria and Lebanon became independent and separate countries on 1944-01-01. Syria formed a union with Egypt, the United Arab Republic (U.A.R.), on 1958-02-01. They both became regions of the U.A.R. Syria withdrew from the union on 1961-09-29.

Other names of country: 

1. Arabic: al-Jumhuriya al-Arabiya as-Suriya (formal)
2. Danish: Syrien
3. Dutch: Syrië, Syrische Arabische Republiek (formal)
4. English: Syrian Arab Republic (formal)
5. Finnish: Syyria
6. French: Syrie f, République f Arabe Syrienne (formal)
7. German: Syrien, Arabische Republik f Syrien n (formal)
8. Icelandic: Sýrland
9. Italian: Siria f
10. Norwegian: Den arabiske republikk Syria (formal) (Bokmål), Den arabiske republikken Syria (formal) (Nynorsk), Syria
11. Portuguese: Síria, República f Árabe Síria f (formal)
12. Russian: Сирийская Арабская Республика (formal), Сирия
13. Spanish: Siria, República f Árabe Siria f (formal)
14. Swedish: Syrien
15. Turkish: Suriye Arap Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

Syria is probably from Phoenician tsur: rock

Primary subdivisions: 

Syria is divided into fourteen muhafazah (provinces, or governorates).

Province	HASC	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)
Aleppo	SY.HL	SY09	4,045,166	18,498	7,142
Al Ḥasakah	SY.HA	SY01	1,275,118	23,334	9,009
Ar Raqqah	SY.RA	SY04	793,514	19,618	7,575
As Suwaydā'	SY.SU	SY05	313,231	5,550	2,143
Damascus	SY.DI	SY13	1,552,161	118	46
Dar`ā	SY.DR	SY06	843,478	3,730	1,440
Dayr az Zawr	SY.DY	SY07	1,004,747	33,060	12,765
Hama	SY.HM	SY10	1,384,953	10,163	3,924
Ḥimṣ	SY.HI	SY11	1,529,402	40,940	15,807
Idlib	SY.ID	SY12	1,258,427	6,097	2,354
Latakia	SY.LA	SY02	879,551	2,297	887
Quneitra	SY.QU	SY03	66,593	1,861	719
Rif Dimashq	SY.RD	SY08	2,273,074	18,018	6,957
Ţarţūs	SY.TA	SY14	701,395	1,896	732
14 provinces			17,920,810	185,180	71,498
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. If periods are replaced by hyphens, these are the same as the province codes from ISO 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Population: 2004-09-22 census. Capitals: Capitals have the same names as their provinces, except that Damascus is the capital of both Damascus and Rif Dimashq.

Further subdivisions:

See the Districts of Syria page.

The provinces are divided into sixty manatik (sing. mantika: districts), which are further divided into nawahi (sing. nahia: subdistricts). The nawahi contain villages, which are the smallest administrative units.

Territorial extent: 

Syria claims the Turkish province of Hatay, which the Syrians call Iskenderun.

The UN LOCODE page  for Syria lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Origins of names: 

1. Aleppo: said to derive from Arabic Hala al-Shahbaa: milking the fair cow, referring to a legend that the patriarch Abraham milked a cow there
2. Al Jazira: Arabic for the island, referring to the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
3. Jabal Druze: Arabic jabal: mountain, named for Mount Druze in southern Syria

Change history: 

1. 1920: France organized its mandate of Syria. Beirut became the capital. There were six semi-autonomous areas: Aleppo, Alexandretta, Damascus, Jabal Druze, Alaouites (Alawiya, `Alawite), and Lebanon (Great Lebanon; French: Grand Liban).
2. 1923: Northern strip of Syria restored to Turkey by the Treaty of Lausanne.
3. 1925: Syria state formed by merging Aleppo and Damascus provinces.
4. 1926-05: Status of Lebanon changed from province to state, with its borders somewhat enlarged.
5. 1930-05-14: The French imposed a new constitution, under which the French mandate consisted of the republics of Latakia (former Alaouites; French: Lattaquié), Lebanon, and Syria (including Alexandretta), and the semi-autonomous area of Jabal Druze.
6. 1936: Latakia and Jabal Druze merged with Syria under new treaty with France.
7. 1938-09-02: Alexandretta became independent as the Republic of Hatay (later merged with Turkey).
8. 1944-01-01: Lebanon split from Syria.
9. ~1946: Syria reorganized into the districts of Aleppo, Damascus, Euphrates (Al Furat), Hama, Hauran, Ḥimṣ, Jabal Druze, Al Jazira, and Latakia.
10. ~1954: Name of Hauran changed to Dar`ā; name of Jabal Druze changed to As Suwaydā'; name of Al Jazira changed to Al Ḥasakah.
11. ~1960: Euphrates split into Al Rashid and Dayr az Zawr; Idlib split from Aleppo.
12. ~1962: Damascus split into Dimashq (Damascus) province and Damascus city (Madīnat Dimashq).
13. ~1963: Name of Al Rashid changed to Ar Raqqah.
14. 1964-08-27: Quneitra province split from Dimashq.
15. 1967: Israel occupied the Golan Heights. This represents most of Quneitra and part of Dar`ā.
16. ~1972: Ţarţūs split from Latakia.
17. 1987: Status of Damascus city changed from governorate to province; Dimashq province brought under the jurisdiction of Damascus and called Rif Dimashq rural area.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Aleppo: Alep (French); Alepo (Spanish); Haleb, Ḥalab (variant)
2. Al Ḥasakah: Al Hasaka, Al-Haska, Al Hassake, El Haseke, Haseke, Hassakeh, Hazakieh (variant); Hassetché (French); Al Jezira, Jezireh (obsolete)
3. Quneitra: Al Qunatirah, Al Qunayţirah, Al-Qunaytrah, Al Quneitera, El Quneitra, El Kenitra, Kunaitra, Kuneitra, Qunaytira, Qunitra (variant)
4. Ar Raqqah: Al Rakka, Raqqa (variant); Al Rashid, Rashid (obsolete)
5. As Suwaydā': Djebel Druze, Jabal Druze, Jebel Druse, Jebel ed Druz, Al Jubal ad Druze (obsolete); Gebel Druso (Italian-obsolete); Al Sueida, Es Sueida, Es Suweida, Soueida, Suwaidaa, Suwaydá, Swaidaa, Sweida (variant); Suayda (French)
6. Damascus: Damas, Damas-Ville (French); Damasco (Italian, Portuguese, Spanish); Damaskus (German, Norwegian, Swedish); Damascus City, Dimashq, Dimishq, Madînat Dimashq (variant)
7. Dar`ā: Dara'a, Dária, Dera`a, Derraa (variant); Hauran (obsolete)
8. Dayr az Zawr: Dair-Ezzor, Dayr az Zaur, Deir Al Zour, Deir ez Zor, Der Azzor, Dier Elzour (variant)
9. Hama: Ḥamāh (variant)
10. Ḥimṣ: Homs (variant)
11. Idlib: Adlib, Edleb, Idleb (variant)
12. Latakia: Al Lādhiqīyah, El Ladhiqiya, Lattakia, Lattakieh, Lattikia (variant); Lattaquie (French)
13. Rif Dimashq: Damas Campagne (French); Damascus Countryside, Damascus Rural (variant)
14. Ţarţūs: Tartaus, Tartous (variant)

Population history:

Province	1960-09-20	1970-09-23	1981-09-07	2004-09-22
Aleppo	956,561	1,316,872	1,878,701	4,045,166
Al Ḥasakah	351,661	468,506	669,887	1,275,118
Ar Raqqah	177,964	243,736	348,383	793,514
As Suwaydā'	99,512	139,650	199,114	313,231
Damascus	653,472	836,688	1,112,214	1,552,161
Dar`ā	167,049	232,481	362,969	843,478
Dayr az Zawr	221,290	292,780	409,130	1,004,747
Hama	325,076	514,748	736,412	1,384,953
Ḥimṣ	399,714	546,176	812,517	1,529,402
Idlib	331,745	383,695	579,581	1,258,427
Latakia	524,246	389,552	554,384	879,551
Quneitra		16,490	26,258	66,593
Rif Dimashq	346,977	621,266	917,364	2,273,074
Ţarţūs		302,065	443,290	701,395
Total	4,555,267	6,304,705	9,050,204	17,920,810

Sources: 

1. 1960 census: Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas, 1964 edition.
2. 1970 census: Almanaque Abril, 1979 edition. Editora Abril, São Paulo, 1978.
3. 1981 census: The Statesman's Year-Book, 1988-89 edition. St. Martin's Press, New York, 1988.
4. Data from the 1994-09-03 census by province are not available. The total population was about 13,783,000.
5. 2004 census: Syrian Central Bureau of Statistics  (retrieved 2009-07-24).
6. A statistics page from the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development  had population estimates for 2002.