THE SYRIAN LAND: PROCESSES OF INTEGRATION AND FRAGMENTATION BILAD AL-SHAM FROM THE 18TH TO THE 20TH CENTURY EDITED BY THOMAS PHILIPP & BIRGIT SCHAEBLER FRANZ STEDSfER VERLAG STUTTGART 1998 Contents Preface ix Highways, Railroads, Telegraphs, and Seaports: The Physical Means of Integration l Thomas Philipp Highways and Sea Lanes in Southwest Syria in the 18th Century 3 Leila Fawaz The Beirut-Damascus Road: Connecting the Syrian Coast to the Interior in the 19th Century 19 Frangoise Mitral Changements dans les Routes et les Flux Commerciaux du Desert Syrien 1870-1920: Le Sort Incertain des Oasis du Nord de la Pahnyrene 29 Michael E. Bonine The Introduction of Railroads in the Eastern Mediterranean: Economic and Social Impacts 53 Shereen Khairallah Railway Networks of the Middle East to 1948 79 Linda S. SchUcher Railways in the Political Economy of Southern Syria 1890-1925 97 Eugene Rogan Instant Communication: The Impact of the Telegraph in Ottoman Syria 113 Mahmoud Haddad The City, the Coast, the Mountain, and the Hinterland: Beirut's Commercial and Political Rivalries in the 19th and Early 20th Century 129 vi The Syrian Land Sewerage and City Quarters: The Infrastructure of the Urban Space 755 Heinz Gaube The Traditional Water and Sewer System in the Old City of Aleppo and its Changes in the Mandatory Period 157 cAbd al-Razzaq Moaz The Urban Fabric of an Extramural Quarter in 19th-century Damascus 165 Dorothee Sack The Historic Fabric of Damascus and its Changes in the 19th and at the Beginning of the 20th Century 185 The Role of Administration & Education 203 Abdul-Rahim Abu-Husayn The "Lebanon Schools" (1853-1873): A Local Venture in Rural Education 205 Randi DeguUhem State Civil Education in Late Ottoman Damascus: A Unifying or a Separating Force? 221 Butrus Abu-Manneh The Genesis of Midhat Pasha's Governorship in Syria 1878-1880 251 Mahmoud Yazbak Nablus versus Haifa, 1870-1914: Administrative Developments and their Impact on Social Stratification 269 Gad G. Gilbar Economic and Social Consequences of the Opening of New Markets: The Case of Nablus, 1870-1914 281 Processes of Integration and Fragmentation ... Integration & Resistance 293 Hasan Kayak Wartime Regional and Imperial Integration of Greater Syria during World War I 295 Johann Strauss The Disintegration of Ottoman Rule in the Syrian Territories as Viewed by German Observers 307 Birgit Schaebler State(s) Power and the Druzes: Integration and the Struggle for Social Control (1838-1949) 331 Joshua Landis Shishakll and the Druzes: Integration and Intransigence 369 Index 397.