"كتيّب بلاد الرافدين. المجلد IV .١٩١٧" [ظ‎‎٢‎١‎٣] (٥٣٠/٤٣١)

422
GAZETTEEE OF TOWNS
Supplies and Commerce. —To the N. of Aleppo along the Kuweilc
the country is apparently well cultivated, and the plain of Killis is
especially fertile (see under Killis) Agriculture has also been
increasing in the district between Aleppo and the Euphrates, and
villages there are now fairly numerous. Definite estimates of
supplies are lacking. The water-supply is from the Kuweik, from
Halian (9 m. to N.) by a conduit, and from wells.
Cotton and silk tissues, calico embroidery, lace work, and soap
are the chief manufactures. Wheat, barley, oats, lentils, and peas,
cotton, pistachios, liquorice root, and tobacco are among the chief
crops of the Aleppo district. The Ottoman Bank, the Deutsche
Orient Bank, and an agency of the Banque de Salonique are the
principal banking establishments at Aleppo.
For road-transport, besides pack-animals (camels, mules, donkeys),
fourgons, or springless wagons, can be had; their maximum capacity
is 3-5 tons.
Inhabitants. —Some two-thirds of the inhabitants are Moslems.
The remainder are Armenians, Greeks, Jews, Syrian Catholics,
Jacobites, and Maronites, but the numbers of the sects are very
variously given in estimates, and as regards the Armenian popula
tion especially, reference may be made to the note on p. 32. There
was a large European colony here before the war. Arabic is gener
ally spoken.
Administration and Authorities. —Aleppo is the chief town of the
Vilayet of the same name, and is therefore the residence of the Vali.
Before the war Great Britain, France, Russia, the U.S.A., Germany,
Austria-Hungary, Italy, Holland, Spain, and Belgium all maintained
consuls here.
History. —There seems to have been a town on the site of Aleppo
since at least 2000 b.c. In the Macedonian, Eoman, and Byzantine
periods it was a fairly important place under the name of Beroea.
After the Arab conquest it increased in importance as a centre of
traffic between East and West, and in spite of earthquakes, sieges,
and sacks by Mongols it flourished throughout the Middle Ages and
later. Here European merchants came for the Persian and Indian
trade. In the Middle Ages the French and Venetians had factories
at Aleppo. The discovery of the Cape route to India to some extent
affected Aleppo, but it was still a great commercial centre in the
time of James I, when a British factory was established here. In
the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the town was disturbed
and impoverished by the fights between factions, which the Turkish
Government failed to control. The opening of the land route to
India across Egypt, and then the making of the Suez Canal, helped
to divert trade from Aleppo.