-That, Damascus is the largest capital city of Syria. It is said to be the oldest city in the world still inhabited. It lies in southwestern Syria about 53 miles southeast of Beirut, Lebanon. The city is 2,200 feet above sea level in the valley of the Barada River at the foot of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains. Damascus has a desert climate with only 9 inches of rain each year. The temperature sometimes falls to 20(degree farenheit) in January, the coldest month, and in July it may rise to 100(degree farenheit). It is an Arab City but has minorities of many nationalities. More than 80 per cent of the people are moslems. There are christians of various sects and a few Jews.
The city has about 250 mosques. The Great Mosque is on the site of an early Christian church. Schools include Syrian University, Damascus College, and a number of Christian mission schools. The Bible mentions Damascus in the time of Abraham. The city was conquered by the Hebrews under David. by Assyria, Babylonia, and by Alexander the Great. In 64 B.C. Damascus became the capital of a Roman Province. The Arabs captured it in 635 A.D and made it a moslem center.
Damascus was held briefly by the Crusaders in 1126, was raided by the Mongols in 1260, and was again sacked by the Mongols under Tamerlane in 1399. The Ottoman Turks captured Damascus in 1516 and held it until 1918. At the end of World War I the British captured the city. After the war Damascus became capital of the French mandated territory of Syria. In 1941 during World War II Syria became independent with Damascus as its capital.
In 1960 Damascus had a population of 529,579.
-That, Danville (Illionis) is the city and the seat of Vermilion County. Danville is on the Vermilion River, 123 miles south of Chicago. It is served by four railways and two airlines. Danville is an agricultural and industrial center. Foundry products, electronic and electrical parts, railway equipment, trucks, meat casings, and hardware are produced. The Vermilion County Historical Society museum and a large United States Veterans hospital are here. It was settled in 1824, and was incorporated in 1869, Abraham Lincoln and Ward Hill Lamon had a IWA office here from 1852 to 1859, and one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates was held in the city.
It was the home of Joseph G. Cannon. It has a mayor-council form of government. In 1960 the population was 41,856.
-That, Danville (Virginia) is a city in, but independent of, Pittsylvania County. It is in the Piedmont section on the Dan River, 140 miles southwest of Richmond. Danville is one of the principal world markets for bright-leaf tobacco. Textile manufacturing forms the other principal industry. Foods, beverages, wood and concrete products, machine tools, fertilizers, bricks, and drugs are other products. Hydroelectric power has been extensively developed in the area. It was first settled in 1792. It's first charter, granted in 1830, was replaced by a new one in 1833. In 1865, when Jefferson Davies and his cabinet fled here from Richmond, the city served briefly as the last capital of the Confederacy and then as the capital of Virginia. The population in 1960 was 46,577.
-That, Dardanelles is a strait connecting the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara. It is controlled by Turkey. The Dardanelles seperates the Gallipoli Peninsula in European Turkey from Asia Minor. The strait is almost 40 miles long. Its width varies from 1.2 to 4 miles, and it's average depth is 200ft. The Dardanelles has a strong undercurrent flowing eastward toward the of Marmara, and a weak surface current flowing westward toward the Aegean sea.
The Dardanelles is connected with the black sea of Marmara and the strait of Bosporus. For many years the Dardanelles has had a strategic commercial value because it controls the traffic between the black sea and the Mediterranean sea and thus is an important link between European and Asiatic countries.
The ancient Greeks called the strait Hellespont("Helle's Sea", in honor of Helle, daughter of Athamas). The name Dardanelles was taken from an ancient Greek city, Dardanus, on the Asiatic side of the strait.
Since the 19th century, Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Austria and Turkey have signed several agreements about control of strait. During World War I the site was the scene of a long and costly campaign. During most of world war II the strait was closed to the allies because Turkey remained neutral until late in the war.
