Tell Abyad (Tall Abyaḑ)
Tell Abyad is a town in northern Syria. It is the administrative center of the Tell Abyad District within the Raqqa Governorate. Located along the Balikh River, it constitutes a divided city with the bordering city of Akçakale in Turkey.
In antiquity, Tell Abyad and the surrounding region were ruled by the Assyrian Empire and settled by Arameans. Tell Abyad could have been the site of the neo-Assyrian–era Aramean inhabited settlement of Baliḫu, mentioned in 814 BC. Later, various empires ruled the area, such as the Romans, Byzantines, Sassanids, Umayyads, Abbasids and finally the Ottoman Empire. Tell Abyad remained Ottoman until the end of World War I, when it was incorporated in the French mandate of Syria during the partition of the Ottoman Empire.
The modern town was founded by French mandate authorities to control the border with Turkey, with first inhabitants being Armenian refugees from Anatolia, survivors of the deportations conducted during the Armenian genocide, with around 250 Armenian families living in the city prior to the Syrian civil war. After Armenians, the Baggara Arab tribe arrived as members of the French Levant army, and decided to stay and settle in the area.
In antiquity, Tell Abyad and the surrounding region were ruled by the Assyrian Empire and settled by Arameans. Tell Abyad could have been the site of the neo-Assyrian–era Aramean inhabited settlement of Baliḫu, mentioned in 814 BC. Later, various empires ruled the area, such as the Romans, Byzantines, Sassanids, Umayyads, Abbasids and finally the Ottoman Empire. Tell Abyad remained Ottoman until the end of World War I, when it was incorporated in the French mandate of Syria during the partition of the Ottoman Empire.
The modern town was founded by French mandate authorities to control the border with Turkey, with first inhabitants being Armenian refugees from Anatolia, survivors of the deportations conducted during the Armenian genocide, with around 250 Armenian families living in the city prior to the Syrian civil war. After Armenians, the Baggara Arab tribe arrived as members of the French Levant army, and decided to stay and settle in the area.
Map - Tell Abyad (Tall Abyaḑ)
Map
Country - Syria
Flag of Syria |
The name "Syria" historically referred to a wider region, broadly synonymous with the Levant, and known in Arabic as al-Sham. The modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization of the 3rd millennium BC. Aleppo and the capital city Damascus are among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. In the Islamic era, Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt. The modern Syrian state was established in the mid-20th century after centuries of Ottoman rule. After a period as a French mandate (1923–1946), the newly-created state represented the largest Arab state to emerge from the formerly Ottoman-ruled Syrian provinces. It gained de jure independence as a democratic parliamentary republic on 24 October 1945 when the Republic of Syria became a founding member of the United Nations, an act which legally ended the former French mandate (although French troops did not leave the country until April 1946).
Currency / Language
ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
---|---|---|---|
SYP | Syrian pound | £ or لس | 2 |
ISO | Language |
---|---|
AR | Arabic language |
HY | Armenian language |
EN | English language |
FR | French language |
KU | Kurdish language |