May 16, 1916
British diplomat Mark Sykes and the former French consul in Beirut, Charles Georges Picot, negotiate a secret pact to divide the Ottoman territories in the Middle East between their two countries after World War I. Britain, which has controlled the Suez Canal since 1881, is interested in protecting trade between Europe and India and access to oil in the Persian Gulf. France wants to preserve its long history of ties to Syria and Lebanon and maintain access to the region’s cheap supply of cotton and silk.
Both powers had long eyed the Middle East as an area of political and commercial interest. British and French missionaries, merchants and diplomats were stationed in the region as far back as the 16th century.
Throughout the 19th century, Britain and France invaded and held territories in the region. France was the first to do so in 1798 with Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of Egypt. Although Ottoman rule was restored there, France continued to seek control in the region. It invaded and gained control of Algeria in 1830 and ruled there until 1962. Britain conquered Egypt from the Ottomans in 1882 and maintained a military presence there until 1954.
A modern republic, meanwhile, emerges in the heartland of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Turkey.
The Sykes-Picot Agreement is ratified in and accepted by the League of Nations. Britain takes control of Palestine, Iraq and Transjordan, and France controls Syria and later Lebanon.
The map is the original map of the Sykes-Picot Agreement. The area labeled “A” was to be under French influence; the area marked “B” was to be under British influence. The blue area was to be under direct French control; the red area, including the port of Haifa, was to be under direct British control. The area in yellow, including some of present-day Israel, was to be an international zone.
