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The Alawite State (), also known in French as Alaouites, after a locally dominant branch of Islam, was a French mandate territory in the coastal area of present-day Syria after World War I.
History
It was renamed the "Sanjak (district within an Ottoman province) of Latakia" in 1930 . Population was 278,000 in 1930, mostly belonging to the Alawite sect of Shi'a Islam.
The collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the Great War brought on a scramble to take control of various provinces of the desintegrating empire. France occupied Syria in 1918, and received the Alawite Territory as a mandate from the League of Nations on September 2, 1920. Initially it was an autonomous territory under French rule, since 1 July 1922 however incorporated into French Syria.
On September 29, 1923, it was declared a state with the port city of Latakia as its capital, on 1 January 1925 formally renamed Alawite State, 1930 renamed State of Latakia, but even then remained under a French governor.
On September 22, 1930, it became the Sanjak of Latakia.
On 5 December 1936 (effective in 1937) it was ultimately incorporated into Syria.
French Governors
- 2 September 1920 - 192. Niéger
- 192. - 1 July 1922 Gaston Henri Gustave Billotte (b. 1875 - d. 1940)
- 1 January 1925 - 1925 Léon Henri Charles Cayla (b. 1881 - d. 1965)
- 1925 - 5 December 1936 H. Schoeffler
Postage stamps
France never designed postage stamps for Alaouites; after an initial period in which Syrian stamps were used, inevitably causing accounting difficulties between Alawite and Syrian postal services, in 1925 French stamps were overprinted "ALAOUITES" followed by a denomination in piastres (French stamps being denominated in francs), followed by the same information in Arabic. Later in 1925, and through 1930, similar overprints were used on stamps of Syria. Airmail overprints included the word "AVION" and after 1926 a picture of a rather primitive-looking monoplane.
See also
Sources
(incomplete)
Former French colonies | Philately by country | History of Syria
"Alawite State"