Can we see any evidence that the so-called “Great Depression” (c. 1873-1896) had an impact on Syria? This paper investigates the problem by focusing on the Hawran, an important grain-producing area south of the Ottoman provincial capital, Damascus. The Hawran is an open plain, sloping upwards towards the east and nearly enclosed by protecting ravines, valleys and highlands. To the north lies the valley of Wadi ‘Ajam and the well-settled and ostensibly well-controlled Damascene oasis (al-Ghuta). To the west stands Mount Hermon (Jabal al-Shaikh), while the slopes and valleys of the Anti-Lebanese mountains (Jawlan, ‘Ajlun), the Lake of Tiberias (Bahr al-Tabariyya) and the tributaries of the Jordan River and its gorge (Baisan, al-Ghur) present further barriers. To the northeast and east lies a volcanic badlands region of heavily eroded gullies and redoubts (al-Safa, al-Laja') and the hills, known then as Jabal Hawran, now as Jabal al-Druz or Jabal al-'Arab, together with a lava rock field to their east (al-Harra) form a buffer between the plain and the Syrian steppe. To the south the Hawran opens out into the Trans-Jordanian plateau and the Syrian steppe, though gullies and ravines also provide some protection here.
