2727 The land of Aram or Syria , which in its widest connotation includes Canaan or Palestine , is a well-watered fertile land, with a Mediterranean sea-coast, on which the famous commercial cities of Tyre and Sidon were situated. Its population is very mixed, as it has been a bone of contention between all the great kingdoms and empires of Western Asia and Egypt , and European interest in it dates from the most ancient times. (R).