Aleppo

( Travellers | Cities | Routes | Trade Goods | Themes )

by Caroline Stone

Aleppo, like Damascus, has been settled for some 8000 years, while its recorded history goes back to c.1800 B.C. Aleppo has had several periods of great commercial importance – under the Roman Empire, in the 12th-13th century and again in the 15th-18th centuries. In the latter periods, it owed its prosperity largely to its position between Europe and the overland trade routes to Central Asia and India.

Aleppo was the wealthy capital of the powerful north Syrian state of Yamhad in the 2nd millennium BC, until the Hittites destroyed it around 1600 BC. The city’s ancient name of Khalap is preserved in its Arabic name, Halab. There is then a long period of silence before the city was refounded in the wake of Alexander the Great’s conquests with the name Beroia; some elements of the classical town plan still survive.

Under the Romans, Beroia was an important agricultural centre, particularly concerned in the production of that basic necessity, olive oil. It was also important for the defence of the north- east frontier, although its position in the Roman road network meant that it was always secondary.

Aleppo seems to have risen to real commercial importance with the ascendance of Byzantium; indeed, Aleppo has always turned towards Anatolia, as opposed to Damascus, which was more influenced by Egypt. The city had splendid market buildings, a special suburb to accommodate the Arab caravan drivers and a considerable Jewish population.

During the early years of Islam, Aleppo fell into decay, but in the 10th century, the Hamdanid ruler made it his capital and Aleppo enjoyed a brief but intense intellectual flowering, although there is no evidence of a parallel economic revival.

Sacked by the Byzantines and much fought over during the Crusades, Aleppo did not revive until the time of Nur al-Din Zangi (mid 12th c.), who not only re-imposed Sunni Islam (Aleppo had been strongly influenced by the neighbouring Ismailis, or "Assassins" as they were known in the west), but also restored the long-neglected urban structures: walls, citadel, suqs and canals and founded a famous hospital and insane asylum. Part of the suq is still in use today, as well as the mosques, madrasas and other monuments that owe their existence to him.

Under Saladin’s son, Malik al-Zahir (early 13thc), Aleppo became one of the three most active and important cities in the Islamic world, second only to Cairo in terms of revenue. It was at this date that a series of treaties with Venice made it the prime centre for trade with Europe and greatly stimulated local industries, while its position at a cultural crossroads ensured that Aleppo was the first to receive any new technological developments east or west. The Citadel represented "state of the art" military architecture, the canal system was much admired, and Aleppo was held to be a city of great beauty.

The Mongol invasion of 1260 devastated Aleppo. The century that followed was marked by further destruction by the Mongols, neglect by the Mamluk government, the Black Death, earthquakes and the ravages of Timur.

In the 15th century, however, the destruction of the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia and of trade cities in the Black Sea area worked to Aleppo’s advantage, as the city now became the starting point for the caravan routes east. Many of the most remarkable khans were built at this period to house the silks, spices and other products coming west from Persia and the European cloth and manufactured goods flowing east. Similarly, the suqs were greatly extended and the city more than doubled in extent.

The Ottomans replaced the Mamluks of Egypt as rulers of Aleppo in 1516. The earlier treaties made with the Venetians were now supplemented by agreements with the French, English and Dutch and Aleppo became the most important international trade centre in the Levant. The suqs were once again rebuilt and modernized; much of what remains today in fact dates from the Ottoman period.

Aleppo remained a major trade city until the 18th century. Its supremacy was, however, undermined by heavy taxation, the internecine struggles of the Janissaries and Ashrafs and the rise of Smyrna (Izmir) as a rival centre. Competition from the sea route to India further affected the caravan trade and hence Aleppo’s economic stagnation.

Real decline did not, however, set in until the last quarter of the 18th century when Aleppo was affected by upheavals in France (by then its major European trading partner), poor government and over-taxation. The revolt of 1850 brought a measure of change and the building of the railroad linking Aleppo with Istanbul and Baghdad ushered in a new era.