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ALEPPO (native Haleb)

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 542 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ALEPPO (native Haleb) . (1) A vilayet of See also:Asiatic See also:Turkey, comprising N. See also:Syria and N.W.See also:Mesopotamia, with an See also:extension N. of See also:Taurus to the neighbourhood of Gorun. It comprises three sanjaks, Aleppo, See also:Marash and Urfa. About See also:half is See also:mountain, but there are fertile plains of See also:great extent N. of See also:Antakia, S. of Marash and around the See also:city of Aleppo (see below). The ALEPPO 541 only seaport of importance is See also:Alexandretta (q.v.). The exports are, on the See also:average, over one million See also:sterling, and imports about See also:double in value. The settled See also:population is barely a million; but there is a considerable unsettled See also:element in the S.E.which cannot well .be estimated. The Christians, mainly Jacobite Syrian, but including also Armenians of several denominations (e.g. those of Marash and Zeitun), See also:Maronites and Greeks, See also:form about one-fifth. There are some 20,000 See also:Jews, See also:resident chiefly in the provincial See also:capital; and of the Moslem See also:majority the bulk is Arab, See also:Turkoman and Ansarieh. In the N.W. and N. is a considerable Kurdish population. (2) The provincial capital (anc.

Khalep; Gr. Chalybon-Beroea), situated on a See also:

plateau in the valley of the Kuwaik (anc. Chains) about 10 m. above its dissipation in the great See also:salt-See also:marsh of Matkh. Pop. about 130,000, three-quarters Moslem. Aleppo is about midway between the See also:sea and the See also:Euphrates, a little nearer the latter. The See also:modern city stands on both See also:banks of the Kuwaik, and the older portions are contained within a Saracenic See also:wall, 32 m. in See also:circuit with seven See also:gates. The See also:European residents and Christians live outside in the Kitab and new Azizieh quarters, and the Jews in that of Bahsita. A modern citadel occupies the N.W., the See also:medieval See also:castle on its See also:mound (partly artificial and not a strong position, according to Istakhri) being almost deserted but still forbidden to visitors. There are two mosques of See also:special interest—the Umawi (or Zakaria) on the site of a See also:church ascribed to the empress See also:Helena and containing a See also:tomb reputed to be that of the Baptist's See also:father, and the Kakun. Many See also:minor ones serve the needs of a population traditionally fanatical. Gardens extend for See also:miles along the See also:river, and the bazaars and khans are unusually large. The See also:climate is See also:cold, dry and healthy, despite the prevalence of the famous " Aleppo See also:button," a swelling which appears either on the See also:face or on the hands, and breaks into an See also:ulcer which lasts a See also:year and leave's a permanent scar.

It has been ascribed to a See also:

fly, to the See also:water and to other causes; but it is not See also:peculiar to Aleppo, being rife also at See also:Aintab, See also:Bagdad, &c. The See also:attempt made by the See also:British Euphrates expedition in 1841 to connect Aleppo with the sea by steamer through the nearest point on the Euphrates, Meskine, failed owing to the obstructed See also:state of the stream and the insecurity of the riparian districts. The latter See also:drawback has been minimized by the continued success of the Aleppo See also:administration in inducing the Anazeh See also:Bedouins to become fellahin; but river See also:traffic has not been resumed. A railway, however, connects southward with the See also:Beirut-See also:Damascus See also:line at Rayak. Aleppo is an important consular, station for all European See also:powers, the See also:residence of the See also:Greek and Armenian Patriarchs of See also:Antioch, and of Jacobite and MVIaronite bishops, and a station of See also:Roman See also:Catholic and See also:Protestant See also:missions. It is the See also:emporium of N. Syria, and manufactures textiles in See also:silk, See also:cotton and See also:wool, carpets and See also:leather commodities, besides being the centre of a large See also:district growing cereals, pistachios and See also:fruit. The See also:Turks regard it as one of the strong-holds of their dominion and faith, and a future capital of their See also:empire should they be forced into See also:Asia. As a centre from which See also:good natural roads See also:lead N.,N.E.,W. and S., Aleppo would make a good capital. See also:History and Remains.—The site lies high (1400 ft.) on eight hillocks in a fertile See also:oasis See also:plain, beyond which stretch on the S. and S.E. grassy See also:steppes merging ere See also:long into See also:desert, and on the other quarters rather sterile See also:downs. It has superseded Antioch as the economic centre of N. Syria, and See also:Palmyra as the great , road-station for eastern caravans.

But it is rather a revived than a new capital; Khalep was a very See also:

ancient Syrian and probably "Hittite" city of importance, known from Babylonian, See also:Assyrian and See also:Egyptian records. Seleucus Nicator gave it a Macedonian name, Beroea; but See also:Chalcis, some distance S., was the capital of the See also:province, Chalcidice (later, Kinnasrin), in which it See also:lay, and the centre of that hellenized region, now a vast See also:field of ruins, which stretches W. to the See also:Orontes. Khalep-Beroea, we may infer, remained a native See also:town and a See also:focus of Aramaic See also:influence, a fact which will explain the speedy oblivion 542 of its Macedonian name and the permanent revival of its ancient See also:title, even by Greeks. As Beroea we hear of the See also:place in Seleucid See also:wars and dissensions. There See also:Menelaus, the fomenter of See also:war with the Asmoneans, was put to See also:death by See also:Lysias in 164 B. C., " as the manner is in that place " (Matt. ii. 13. 4), being thrown into a lofty See also:tower full of cinders. There See also:Heracleon, the See also:court favourite and murderer of See also:Antiochus Grypus, was See also:born and made himself a principality (96 B.c.); and there the son of the latter See also:king besieged his See also:brother See also:Philip in the last struggle for the heritage of Seleucus. As Chalybon, the town is called by See also:Ptolemy See also:head of a district, Chalybonitis; but we continue to hear of it as Beroea up to the Arab See also:conquest, e.g. in the history of See also:Julian's eastward See also:march in A.D. 363, and in that of the See also:Persian See also:raid of 540. It was occupied in 611 by See also:Chosroes II.

Overwhelmed by the Saracen See also:

flood in A.D. 638, Beroea disappears, and as Moslem society settles down Halep emerges again as the great gathering-place of caravans passing from Asia Minor and Syria to Mesopotamia, Bagdad and the Persian and See also:Indian kingdoms. Like Antioch it suffered from earthquakes, and See also:late in the 12th See also:century, after a terrible See also:shock, had to be rebuilt by Nur ed-Din. But neither earthquakes nor the See also:plague, to which it was also peculiarly liable, could divert See also:trade and prosperity from it. It belonged to the Eastern See also:Caliphate (the Hamdanids) until temporarily reoccupied by See also:John Zimisces, See also:emperor of See also:Byzantium and a native of neighbouring See also:Hierapolis (q.v.), A.D. 974, after an abortive attempt by Nicephorus thirteen years earlier. Thirteen years later it recognized and received the See also:Fatimites, and passed under various Moslem dynasties, forming See also:part of the Seljuk dominion from logo to 1117. The crusading princes of Antioch never held the place, though they attacked it in 1124; and See also:Saladin, who took it in 1183, made it a stronghold against them and the See also:northern capital of himself and his successors until the Tatar invasion of 1260. Thereafter the Mamelukes took and kept See also:possession, despite the renewed Tatar inroad of 1401, until the final conquest by the Ottomans in 1517. Under the strong See also:hand of the latter the trade of Aleppo with the See also:East revived. One of the first provincial factories and consulates of the British Turkey (See also:Levant) See also:Company was established there in the reign of See also:James I.; and a British See also:agent had been in residence there even in See also:Elizabeth's See also:time. As the eastern outpost of the company's operations, it was connected with the western outpost of the East See also:India Company in Bagdad by a private postal service, and its name became very See also:familiar in See also:England from the part that its merchants (largely Jewish) See also:bore in the transmission of Eastern products to See also:Europe (cf., e.g.

See also:

Shakespeare, Macb.-i. 3. 7; Oth. v. 2. 352). Through it passed the silks of Bambyce, Called bombazines, the See also:light textiles of See also:Mosul (mosulines-muslins) and many other commodities for the wealthy and luxurious. The first See also:blow was struck at this trade by the See also:discovery of the Cape route to India; the second by the opening of a See also:land route through See also:Egypt to the Red Sea; the third and final one by the making of the See also:Suez See also:Canal. Long ere this last event, however, Aleppo had been declining from See also:internal causes. In the latter part of the 18th century and the first years of the 19th it was constantly the See also:scene of bloody dissensions between two See also:rival parties, one led by the See also:local See also:janissaries, the other by the sherifs (religious) ; and the See also:Ottoman See also:governors took the See also:side; now of one, now of the other, in See also:order to See also:plunder a distracted city, too far removed from the centre to be controlled by the sultans, and' too near the rebellious pashalik of See also:Acre and the unsettled district of See also:Lebanon not to be affected by the disorders natural to a frontier province. This state of things led to the suspension of the British consulate by the Turkey Company in 1791; and it was not revived till "Soo, after which date till 1825 it was maintained jointly by the East India Company. In 1803 Jezzar of Acre advanced as near as See also:Hamah; but his death occurred in the following year; and after a sanguinary rising in 1805, Aleppo settled down, but was not at See also:peace, even after a local janissary See also:massacre in 1814, till Mahmud II. had dealt finally with the See also:corps at headquarters (1826). Meanwhile there had been a frightful See also:earthquake in 1822, and a visitation of cholerain the following year.

More See also:

cholera in 1827 and 1832 and another earthquake in 1830 had See also:left the place a See also:wreck, with only half its former population, when Mehemet See also:Ali of See also:Cairo invaded and took Syria. Aleppo shared, and to some extent headed, the Syrian discontent with Egyptian See also:rule, and was strongly held by troops whose huge See also:barracks are still one of the See also:sights of the city. Ready to rise behind See also:Ibrahim See also:Pasha in 1839, it was only prevented by the See also:news of Nezib. Tumults and massacres of Christians occurred in 185o and 1862, accompanied by great destruction of See also:property; but on the whole, since the consolidation of Ottoman rule over Syria by Abdul Mejid's ministers, Aleppo has been reviving, although its trade is more local than of old.

End of Article: ALEPPO (native Haleb)

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