The conquest of Syria by Frankish Crusaders gave renewed impetus to commercial relations between Syria and France. A regular trade route between Marseilles and Syrian ports was established. The treaty of alliance between the Sultan of Turkey and the King of France in the first half of the sixteenth century contributed to bind this province more firmly to France. At the end of the seventeenth century French trading-centers had been established in all the important cities of Syria. Napoleon’s invasion of this province as a result of the Egyptian campaign and French intervention in the Lebanon in 1859 likewise increased French prestige in the region. The confinement of this western hold to Syria can be ascribed to the influence exerted by the boundaries of the province. It forms with Palestine an excellent type of regional unit consisting of an elongated mountainous strip barely 50 miles wide. With the Mediterranean on the west, and deserts on the south and east, its only outlet to the world lay on the north. French builders first undertook to connect the province of Lebanon with the sea by constructing the Beirut-Damascus line. The tracks were subsequently extended to Aleppo, a city whose greatness was founded on its situation along the natural road which connects the Mediterranean with the Persian Gulf. As a railroad center Aleppo’s future looms bright, for the city lies also in the path of the tracks which will connect the Black Sea with the Mediterranean. In southern Syria, the outlook for French enterprise was dimmed for a few years by the construction of a Turkish line from Damascus southwards. Branch lines were carried to the sea. Harbor concessions, however, were granted to French firms. French interests thus retained a notable share of the control over the traffic in and out of Syria. Furthermore, a concession for a line from Rayak to connect with the Jaffa-Jerusalem road which they obtained in 1914 will enable them to compete with the Hejaz line. The last railroad agreement between the French and Turkish governments was signed on April 9, 1914. Concessions on the part of the Turkish government are bestowed in return for French financial support. The lines granted will tap northern Anatolia and Armenia. Connection with the German lines will be made at Boli and at Argana. The area tributary to this line contains fertile plains and plateaus. It is known to be rich in mines, notably in copper. The advent of the railroad will undoubtedly brighten the outlook of the Turkish mining industry.