At the beginning of the 20th century, Syria and Lebanon were primarily Arab-populated regions corresponding to most of the region known to Europeans as the Levant and comprised multiple provincial (eyalet/vilayet) and sub-provincial units of the Ottoman Empire. After the Ottoman defeat there in World War I and as a result of the Treaty of Sevres, they were then ruled under a French mandate given by the League of Nations at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.
