Latakia

views updated May 23 2018

LATAKIA

major syrian seaport.

On the Mediterranean Sea, Latakia was known in Greek as Laodicea after the name of the mother of Seleucus Nicator (301281 c.e.), who built it. A fertile coastal plain stretches around Latakia (Arabic, al-Ladhaqiyya ). According to the 1982 administrative divisions of Syria, the province of Latakia included 4 mintaqas (sections) based on Latakia, Jabala, al-Haffa, and al-Qardaha, 13 nahiyas (subdivisions) based on 13 towns, 501 villages, and 590 farms. The population of Latakia province in 2002 was 1 million; the city population was about 345,000.

abdul-karim rafeq

latakia

views updated May 21 2018

latakia kind of Turkish tobacco produced near Latakia, the ancient Laodicea, seaport of Syria. XIX.