Syria: An Economic Survey 



Cultural Status of the Population. Thanks to its geograph- 

 ical situation and the peculiar religious interest attaching to it, 

 Syria is rather European than Turkish from a cultural point of 

 view. Among the prominent factors in its cultural development 

 may be mentioned: (1) the Crusades and the medieval immigra- 

 tion of the Jews from Spain and Central Europe; (2) the immi- 

 gration of Genoese, Venetian, and Greek merchants (Levantines) 

 who settled in the coast towns and assimilated with the population ; 

 and (3) the influx of pilgrims, monks, nuns, and missionaries, 

 and in modern times the German Templars and the Zionist Jews. 

 Culturally the Syrian population may be divided into three types : 

 the inhabitants of (1) the coast towns which are the regular 

 stopping-places of steamers, and Jerusalem; (2) the coast towns 

 to which there is no immigration, and Damascus and Aleppo; 

 and (3) the cities untouched by European influences, such as 

 Horns, Hama, N"ablus, Gaza, etc. 



Fluctuation of the Population. There are no reliable sta- 

 tistics at hand regarding births, marriages, and deaths in Syria. 

 The large number of births is counterbalanced by high infant mor- 

 tality, especially among the Mohammedans, so that the population 

 either remains stationary or increases very slowly. It is equally 

 impossible to secure exact information about immigration and 

 emigration. In general, it appears that in the last three decades 

 there has been a noticeable exodus of Christians from the Lebanon 

 to America, and a marked influx of Eastern European Jews into 

 Palestine, especially into Jerusalem. During the last 30 years ap- 

 proximately 40,000 Jews have immigrated, of whom 12,000-15,000 

 left in 1914 and 1915 because of the war. The number of Lebanon 

 emigrants seems to have reached over 100,000, about y ^ the 

 total population of the Lebanon. The majority of them go to 

 North and South America. Many of them either send money 

 home to their families or else return and invest their earnings in 

 real estate. Bethlehemites and other Christians likewise immigrate 

 to America, and numbers of Mohammedans to Egypt. The Jews 

 have brought considerable sums into Palestine, amounting to 

 5-7 million francs annually. (Halukkah, religious and benevolent 

 institutions, etc.) Besides, those who became bankers, merchants, 

 and farmers, have increased the wealth of the country by 3 

 to 5 millions annually. There has also been an immigration 

 of Oriental Jews into Palestine, from Morocco, Persia, Bokkhara, 

 and the Yemen. The Moroccan and Persian Jews (about 5,000 

 in number) are poor and feeble, whereas the Bokkharans (1,000) 



