Damascus
Overview
 
Damascus commonly known in Syria as Al Sham ( ), and as the City of Jasmine
Jasmine
Jasminum , commonly known as jasmines, is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family . It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of the Old World...

( ), is the capital and the second largest city of Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering 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....

 after Aleppo
Aleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...

, both are part of the country's 14 governorates
Governorates of Syria
Syria has fourteen governorates, or muhafazat . The governorates are divided into sixty districts, or manatiq , which are further divided into subdistricts, or nawahi...

. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major cultural and religious center of the Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...

. The city has an estimated population of 1,711,000 (2009 est.).

Located in southwestern Syria, Damascus is the center of a large metropolitan area of 2.4 million people (2004).
Timeline

1401    Turko-Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus.

1759    An earthquake hits the Mediterranean destroying Beirut and Damascus and killing 30,000-40,000.

1918    World War I: Arab forces under T. E. Lawrence (a/k/a "Lawrence of Arabia") capture Damascus.

1920    France captures Damascus.

1961    A military coup in Damascus effectively ends the United Arab Republic, the union between Egypt and Syria.

 
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