Jabal Druze State Explained

Conventional Long Name:State of Jabal al-Druze
Native Name:French: Djebel Druze
Arabic: جبل الدروز
Common Name:Jabal al-Druze
Status:League of Nations Mandate
Empire:France
P1:State of Damascus
Flag P1:Flag of the State of Damascus.svg
S1:First Syrian Republic
Flag S1:Syria-flag 1932-58 1961-63.svg
Flag:Flag of Syria
Image Map Caption:Location of Jabal al-Druze (turquoise-blue) in the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon
Capital:As-Suwayda
Representative1:Prince Salim Basha al-Atrash
Year Representative1:1921–1923
Representative2:Pierre Tarit
Year Representative2:1935–1936
Era:Interwar period
Year Start:1 May 1921
Date Event1:4 March 1922
Event2:Named "Jabal al-Druze"
Date Event2:1 June 1927
Year End:9 September 1936
Title Representative:Governor

Jabal al-Druze (Arabic: جبل الدروز, French: Djebel Druze) was an autonomous state in the French Mandate of Syria from 1921 to 1936, designed to function as a government for the local Druze population under French oversight.

Nomenclature

On 4 March 1922, it was proclaimed as the State of Souaida, after the capital As-Suwayda, but in 1927 it was renamed Jabal al-Druze or Jabal Druze State. The name comes from the Jabal al-Druze mountain.

History

The Druze state was formed on 1 May 1921 in former Ottoman territory, while other statelets were installed in other parts of the Syrian mandate (e.g. the Alawite State in the Lattakia region). Jabal al-Druze was home to about 50,000 Druze. It was the first, and remains the only, autonomous entity to be populated and governed by Druze. The 1925 Syrian Revolution began in Jabal al-Druze under the leadership of Sultan al-Atrash, and quickly spread to Damascus and other non-Druze areas outside the Jabal al-Druze region. Protests against the division of Syrian territory into statelets were a main theme of Syrian anti-colonial nationalism, which eventually won the victory to reunite the entire French-mandated territory, except Lebanon (which had become independent) and Alexandretta, which was annexed to Turkey as the Hatay Province.

As a result of Syrian nationalist pressure, under the Franco-Syrian Treaty of 1936, Jabal al-Druze ceased to exist as an autonomous entity and was incorporated into Syria.

+ General distribution of population in the State of Jabal Druze according to the French census in 1921–22[1]
ReligionInhabitantsPercentage
43,000 84.8%
7,000 13.8%
700 1.4%
Total 50,700 100%

Governors

See also

References

  1. E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936, Volume 2, page 301.
  2. http://www.archontology.org/nations/syria/jabal_druze/00_1921_1936_s.php Jabal Druze: Heads of State: 1921–1936

External links