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Syria is a majority Arabic-speaking country in the Middle East, bordering Lebanon to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north. Syrian was a member of the Arab League from creation to 2011. Prior to the 2011-present Syrian Civil War, the country had a population of over 18 million, divded into fourteen governorates; By 2020, the population is estimated at just over 19 million citizens, though millions of those are being refugees abroad. Syrian Arab Republic traces its name to the Roman province of Syria. Under Arab rule, it largely became known as Bilad al-Sham province. Syria's capital city, Damascus, was the seat of the Umayyad Empire and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Empire. Historically, the region of Syria has often included the territories of Lebanon, Palestine, parts of Turkey and Jordan, but excluded the Jazira region in the north-east of the modern Syrian state. The modern state of Syria was formed during the period of the French Mandate for Syria and Lebanon and attained independence from the French mandate of Syria in 1946.