Ancient Ramitha replaced the earlier settlement of Ugarit (Ras Shamra) to the north, which was destroyed in the 12th century BC. During the Seleucid period (3rd and 2nd centuries BC), it flourished as a port and one of north Syria's principal cities, but in the following centuries earthquakes twice destroyed the city. Latakia was taken in AD 638 by the Arabs, in 1103 by the crusaders, and in 1188 by Saladin. Subsequently the town was administered by Christians from Tripoli, Muslims from Ḥamāh, and the Ottoman Turks; it came within the French mandate of Syria and Lebanon in 1920.

Latakia is now the principal port of Syria; it is located on a good harbour, with an extensive agricultural hinterland. Exports include bitumen and asphalt, cereals, cotton, fruit, eggs, vegetable oil, pottery, and tobacco. Cotton ginning, vegetable-oil processing, tanning, and sponge fishing are local industries. The University of Latakia was founded in 1971 and renamed Gamiʾt Tishrīn (University of October) in 1976. The city is linked by road to Aleppo, Tripoli, and Beirut. All but a few Classical buildings have been destroyed, often by earthquakes; those remaining include a Roman triumphal arch and Corinthian columns known as the colonnade of Bacchus.

Latakia governorate embraces Syria's fertile Mediterranean coastal area. It is an important agricultural region, producing abundant crops of tobacco, cotton, cereal grains, and fruits. Area governorate, 887 square miles (2,297 square km). Pop. (1994) city, 357,562; (2005 est.) governorate, 897,000.