The historic geographic region of Syria or Greater Syria (often called Syria-Palestine or the Levant in modern literature, and Sham [?a?m] in traditional Arabic and Islamic literature) is usually defined as an area to the East of the Mediterranean Sea, West of the Euphrates River, North of the Arabian Desert and South of the Taurus Mountains. The classical Arabic name for Syria is Sham (Arabic: ?????? ash-Sham or al-Sham, also Cham under French influence). It roughly corresponds the Levant and Eastern Mediterranean.Throughout history, the region has been controlled by numerous different peoples, including Ancient Egyptians, Canaanites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Ancient Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, the Sunni Arab Caliphates, the Shia Fatimid Caliphate, Crusaders, Ayyubids, Mameluks, Ottomans, the British and the French.The boundaries of the region have changed throughout history, and were last defined in modern times by the proclamation of the short lived Arab Kingdom of Syria and subsequent definition by French and British mandatory agreement. The area was passed to French and British Mandates following WWI and divided into Greater Lebanon, various Syrian-mandate states, Mandatory Palestine and Transjordan. The Syrian-mandate states were gradually unified as the State of Syria and finally became the independent Syria in 1946. Throughout this period, pan-Syrian nationalists advocated for the creation of a Greater Syria.
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