Timeline of Ottoman Syria History - Events - 19th Century

19th Century

• 1898: German Kaiser Wilhelm visits Jerusalem to dedicate the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. He meets Theodore Herzl outside city walls.
• 29–31 August 1897: The First Zionist Congress is held in Basel, Switzerland, in which the Basel Declaration was approved which determined that the Zionist movement ultimate aim is to establish a homeland for the Jewish people in the region of Palestine secured under public law.
• 1895: Construction of railway line Damascus-Rayek.
• 1895: Construction of railway Beirut-Damascus.
• 1893: A fire destroys the Great Mosque of Damascus.
• 1887-8: Ottoman Palestine was divided into the districts of Jerusalem, Nablus and Acre
• 1882-1903: The First Aliyah took place in which 25,000-35,000 Jew immigrants immigrated to Ottoman Syria.
• 1877–1878: The Russo-Turkish War causes increased taxation in Syria.
• 1874: Jerusalem becomes a Mutesarrifiyyet gaining a special administrative status.
• 1868: the Syrian Scientific Society founded in Beirut.
• 1868: The American University in Beirut established under the name of the Syrian Protestant College.
• 9 June 1861: European powers led by France intervene on the side of the Maronites and force the Ottomans to establish the Maronite-dominated Mutesarrifiyyet of Mount Lebanon.
• 1860: Clashes between Druze and Maronites in Mount Lebanon and Damascus.
• 1860: The first Jewish neighborhood (Mishkenot Sha'ananim) is built outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.
• 1847: the Syrian Association founded in Beirut.
• 1840: Secterian clashes in Mount Lebanon between Druze and Christian Maronites.
• 1840: The Tanzimat reforms begin to have an impact in Syria.
• 15 July 1840: The Austrian Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Russian Empire sign the Convention of London with the ruler of the Ottoman Empire. The signatories offered to Muhammad Ali and his heirs permanent control over Egypt and the province of Acre (roughly what is now Israel), provided that these territories would remain part of the Ottoman Empire and that he agreed within ten days to withdraw from the rest of Syria and returned to Sultan Abdülmecid I the Ottoman fleet which had defected to Alexandria. Muhammad Ali was also to immediately withdraw its forces from Arabia, the Holy Cities, Crete, the district of Adana, and all of the Ottoman Empire.
• 1839: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, backed by the Russian Empire and the Austrian Empire, compels July Monarchy France to abandon Muhammad Ali of Egypt, and it forces him to return Syria and Arabia to the Ottoman Empire.
• 1 January 1837: Galilee earthquake of 1837 - a devastating earthquake the shook the Galilee region, killing thousands of people.
• 1834: 1834 Arab revolt in Palestine.
• 1833: Western powers broker the Convention of Kutahya. The terms require Muhammad Ali to withdraw his troops from Anatolia and receive the territories of Syria, Crete, and Hijaz in exchange.
• 10 May 1832: The Egyptians, aided by Maronites, seize Acre from the Ottoman Empire after a 7-month siege.
• 1832: an Egyptian Army led by Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt marches on Anatolia and defeates an Ottoman army under Grand Vizier Reshid Pasha at the Battle of Konya.
• 1831: Muhammad Ali of Egypt's French-trained forces occupy Syria.