Aleppo Governorate

Aleppo Governorate ( / ALA-LC: Muḥāfaẓat Ḥalab / ) is one of the fourteen governorates of Syria. It is the most populous governorate in Syria with a population of more than 4,867,000 (2011 Est.), almost 23% of the total population of Syria. The governorate is the fifth in area with an area of , or 18,498 sq. km, about 10% of the total area of Syria. The capital is the city of Aleppo. History Ancient In Classical Antiquity, the region was made up of three regions: Chalybonitis (with its centre at Chalybon or Aleppo), Chalcidice (with its center at Qinnasrīn العيس), and Cyrrhestica (with its center at Cyrrhus النبي حوري). This was the most fertile and populated region in Syria. Under the Romans the region was made in 193 CE part of the province of Coele Syria or Magna Syria, which was ruled from Antioch. The province of Euphratensis was established in the 4th century CE in the east, its centre was Hierapolis Bambyce (Manbij). Under the Rashidun and Umayyad Muslim dynasties, the region was part of the Jund Qinnasrin. In the Abbasid period the region was under the independent rule of the Hamdanids. The Mamluks and then later the Ottomans governed the area until 1918; under the Ottomans, the region was part of the Vilayet of Aleppo.