|
The main geographic feature of Syria is a mountainous barrier parallel to the coastline which, although not
very high, limits the rainfall beyond it. The hinterland, which occupies 173 kms of the East Mediterranean suffers
a dramatic lack of rain, although the situation has improved these latter years by the erection of dams on the
Euphrates and Orontes rivers. On account of this, Syria has 60,000 km of steppe area (about one third the area
of the country), whose fertility is dependent on rainfall and a desert covering about 58% of the national territory
(185.180 km2).
In spite of such handicaps, Syria is an agricultural country and may claim, as we already mentioned, to be the
point on earth where man settled for the first time because he could live from tilling the land.
In fact its territory occupies the Western and Northwestern parts of this famous Fertile Crescent which envelops
the Syrian desert by drawing a semi-circle around the Golan and Hauran to Mesopotamia through the valley of the
Euphrates. The potential wealth of Syria may in fact lie in its geographical situation between Mesopotamia and
the Iranian plateau on one hand, and Anatolia, Mediterranean Europe and Egypt on the other hand. This has not yet
been exploited as it was in the past, for example when Palmyra had a dominating trading position at the tip of
the Silk Road. The touristic possibilities are immense, if one considers the archeological wealth, but they have
not been exploited yet as they should be in order to provide jobs in the service sector and help renew a handicraft
sector.
|
|
