ABSTRACT
It is generally agreed that the Egyptian occupation of Syria in the 1830s unified the country politically and economically, and opened its main cities to western influence.1 The new administration encouraged a sustained growth in commercial and financial involvement of European powers in the country, and led to the proliferation of European and American missionary schools and colleges. Soon after the withdrawal of the Egyptian forces from Syria, as a result of internal factors and the intervention of the European powers, the Ottoman authorities embarked on a variety of modernizing schemes, and announced their intention to implement relatively secular laws throughout the Empire.
