Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a Country in Western

Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a
Country in Western Asia, on the eastern shore of
The Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon's location at the
crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian
hinterland. Has dictated its rich history, and shaped a
cultural Identity of religious and ethnic diversity.
For the people of the Mediterranean, Lebanon is
in the area where the sun rises. It was decided
that this eastern section of the Sea will be called
the Levant. So, everyone can call the Lebanese
Levantines just like the Greeks and the Egyptians.
Lebanon is a very small country, perched on 2 mountainous ranges called the Lebanon
and the anti-Lebanon, with a valley in the middle named the Beka'a. It is bordered by
Syria in the North and East, by Israel ( Palestine) in the South, and the Mediterranean
Sea in the West. Unlike the rest of the Middle East, Lebanon is a very "green" country,
with lot's of flowers and trees and small rivers. There is no desert in Lebanon, just lot's
of rocky mountains.
The Stone Age -- a long time ago -180,000 years
Lebanon has been inhabited for hundreds of thousands of years. River banks were the
natural high-ways of prehistoric people. They moved along the Litani, Nahr Ibrahim,
Nahr el-Kalb and Nahr Beirut rivers in search of food, hunting, fishing and gathering
roots, wild plants and fruit. The only weapon they had were branches and stones, which
they used to defend themselves and to kill wild animals. Lions, tigers, wolves,
rhinoceros, gazelles, goats, bears and foxes roamed the mountains, forests and the
inland and coastal plains.
They took shelter in the caves of the mountains
overlooking the entire coast. The discovery of
fire allowed them to heat themselves, cook
meat, have light at night and frighten away wild
animals for the first time. They learned to chip
the stones they used as weapons and tools in order to make them sharper and more
pointed. These people were known as Neanderthals.
About 80,000 years ago, the Neanderthals disappeared, and their place was taken by
Homo Sapiens, the modern human species. They also lived in caves, but produced a
greater variety of stone tools.
The Beginnings of Agriculture -- about 7,000 years ago
People understood that seeds falling in the ground grew into
plants. They cultivated the land near their caves and sowed
crops. They domesticated dogs, sheep and goats. They kept their
grain harvest in storage jars made out of clay. Now that they
started organizing their food supplies, they spent less time
hunting, and started decorating their tools. With the discovery of
Copper, people started coming up with new tools and weapons,
and also started creating personal decorative items to hold their
clothes together. Jewelry became very much sought after.
Gradually, people moved away from their caves and settled in the
plains where they had more space for cultivation. Here, near their fields, they built their
shelters, their first houses.
The first villages began to appear. The new houses were round or oval. Walls were
made of mud mixed with straw. The floors were made of beaten earth, sometimes
covered with crushed limestone, and rested on foundations made of large pebbles
gathered from the surrounding area. Villages were scattered along the coast, in the
mountains, and in the plain now called the Beka'a.
Birth of the City-State -- about 4,800 years ago
The people living along the Lebanese coast during this period called themselves
Canaanites, and belonged to Semitic tribes which had spread throughout the Middle
East. Others often referred to them as Phoenicians. Trade with
Egypt developed. To travel between Egypt and Lebanon faster
and easier, the Phoenicians invented the boat. These boats
carried cedar, pine and fir wood as well as jars of olive oil. The
boats came back laden with Nubian gold, linen, ropes and
grains.
The growth of barter trade, by sea as far away as the Nile (in
Egypt), and by land as far as Mesopotamia (Iraq), transformed
the little village of Gubla (later referred to as Byblos) into a city-state. Metal workers,
potters, soldiers and fishermen lived and worked side by side.
City-states were always located by a harbor or on a trade route, and were often
surrounded by fertile land where smaller villages grew up. A stone rampart safeguarded
the town from jealous neighbors. Each city had its own king and priests.
The Phoenicians - Kings of Mediterranean Trade
The Phoenicians sailed west and set up trading settlements throughout the
Mediterranean. They brought back copper from Cyprus, tin from Spain and ivory from
Africa. The seafaring people of Sur (one of the Phoenician city-state) collaborated with
their new neighbors, the Hebrews. Together they brought back gold, silver and spices
from Arabia and Ethiopia, by way of the Red Sea.
The Phoenicians were good craftsmen and their skilled work was highly prized. They
crafted gold, silver, bronze, ivory and wood. They invented glass, and produced jewelry.
They were excellent builders and helped the Hebrews
build King Solomon's temple and palace. These men
were known as the "Free Masons" as they were not the
"property" of any King. They were also called on to
decorate many palaces in Mesopotamia.
In Sur and Sidon, a shellfish called the murex was
processed to obtain a dye called the Tyrian purple. That
color -known as Urjuwan- was used to mark royalty.
As they had to deal with many people around and about the
Mediterranean, the Phoenicians needed a simple system to write
down their business deals. So they invented a set of 22 symbols,
which composed the first alphabet of the World. The Phoenician
alphabet was written from right to left. The ancient Greeks based
their alphabet on the one that was taught to them by the
Phoenicians. Their most famous teacher was Prince Cadmus,
brother of Princess Europa of Tyre who gave her name to the
Continent. The Greeks changed the writing order from left to right.
Many other alphabets derived from the Phoenician one, and kept
the order from right to left, such as the Arabic alphabet.
They engraved their documents in stone and wood, and often recorded their
transactions and letters on papyrus paper. Gubla, the city where the alphabet was
discovered, traded a lot with paper. The Greeks called this paper Byblos, and -at the
time of Alexander The Great- started referring to Gubla as Byblos. Byblos later on gave
its name to the first holy book, the "Bible".
The Phoenician cities were prosperous Sea ports, coveted by many people of the
Mediterranean and the Middle East. Often, to escape an invasion, the Phoenicians took
refuge in some of their trading settlements, that gradually became colonies.
There were so many invaders! First the Egyptians, led by their Pharaoh Akhenaton,
then the Hittites who came from the north -around Turkey-, then the Egyptians' armies
of the Pharaoh Ramses, the Assyrians who ruled further east in Mesopotamia, then the
Babylonians from Mesopotamia again, under the leadership of king Nebuchadnezzar,
the Persians with King Cyrus, the Greeks with their Macedonian King -Alexander the
Great- and, of course the Romans with General Pompey and Caesar.
All these invasions happened in the part of history referred to as B.C. or Before
Christ.
One of the colonies sprung out of the Motherland -as the Phoenicians around the
Mediterranean called Lebanon- is Cartage, in Tunis, North Africa. This famous city that
grew to challenge Rome was founded by Elissa, princess of Sur. According to the
legend, the African King told her he will give her as big a land as the skin of a bull.
Princess Elissa had the bull skin cut into very thin strips, and used them to line out the
perimeter of her new city, which in Phoenician is Quart-Hadesht. Cartage's fame is
mostly credited to Hanibaal who's army crossed the European Alps with his elephants.
After Rome defeated Hanibaal, he took refuge in Lebanon, showing that links between
the colonies and the motherland were very strong.
The Phoenicians were great adventurers, they explored all of the Mediterranean, went
out of it into the Atlantic Ocean, travelled along the Atlantic European Coast,
establishing colonies along the way. They also circled around Africa, all the way back to
Egypt. Legend has it that they even came to the Americas, but could not repeat their
adventure. Maybe that was the origin of the Legend of Atlantis!
Under the Roman Empire
The Romans conquered the Phoenician cities about 64 BC. They divided up their
empire into administrative regions called provinces. The Phoenician coast, mountains
and the Beka'a were included in a vast eastern region called Syria.
The Romans were great builders. They built a lot of cities from scratch, or added many
important buildings in existing ones, such as
temples, theaters, arenas, porticos, and
public baths. They also established a
network of roads, spotlighted by milestones,
throughout their provinces.
Heliopolis in Roman -or Baalbeck, in
Phoenician- was founded at a crossroads of the caravan routes, in the Beka'a.
Heliopolis is the "City of the Sun", and was constructed using the biggest man-made
stones of the world. Some of the stones used were so big, that story-tellers started
referring to Baalbeck as the city built by the giants. In reality, Baalbeck was originally
designed to be a retirement center for Roman Warriors. But the Romans had to impress
the local citizens of their empire, as the Phoenicians were also renown builders in
antiquity.
The city of Beryte -Beirut- became the capital of the entire coastal region. Beirut was a
famed University center of the Roman empire. It is not by accident that the first Law
School ever was founded in Beirut.
During this period, Jesus was born in Palestine. The Phoenicians of Sidon and Sur were
amongst the first Christians.
The Byzantine Empire -- 395 AD
Most Phoenicians became Christians during the first centuries of our Era. However, the
Roman Empire was still pagan, and Christianity was not recognized by the officials of
the Empire.
Legend has it that Empress Helen, mother of Emperor
Constantine was a devout Christian, and that he promised
her to convert to Christianity if she were to find the Cross of
Jesus in Jerusalem and tell him the same day. Jerusalem
is far from Constantinople (Istanbul, in Turkey), so
Empress Helen traveled by land through today's Turkey,
Syria, and Lebanon to reach Galilee and Judea. On her
way, she posted guards on high points. On the day the
Cross was found, a bonfire was lit from Jerusalem as a
signal. The guards she posted followed her example, and
served as relays until the message reached the Emperor. Not only did Emperor
Constantine converted to Christianity, but he made it the official state religion of the
Empire. With his conversion, a new calendar was adopted, with the first year estimated
to be the one of the birth of Jesus-Christ.
In 395, the Roman Empire split into a Western and Eastern Empire. The Eastern
Empire became known as Byzantine, and was the only
part of the former Roman Empire that lasted. Its capital
was Constantinople, and religion was known as
Orthodox. Lebanon was part of this Empire, and
continued to enjoy a period of prosperity brought on by
its strategic location on the Silk Route. That famed
road brought on silk and spices from as far away as
China into Europe.
Early in the 4th century, a series of earthquakes and
tidal waves ravaged Lebanon, destroying many buildings and cities both on the shore
and in the Beka'a. Beirut so far has been destroyed 6 times by the sea, and rebuilt
again.
At that time, a hermit named Marun lived in the mountains north-east of Antioch. After
his death, his followers became known as the Maronites.
The Islamic Conquests -- 635 AD
Around 610 was the birth of the Islamic religion, a prophet named Muhammad began to
preach the Islam in Mecca in the Arabian peninsula. In 622, the Prophet fled with his
followers from Mecca to Medina (both in Saudi Arabia), and that year marked the 1st
year of the Moslem calendar, known as the Hegira.
When the Prophet died, Moslems chose a religious and political leader called a Caliph.
They expanded their territory through many wars known as Jihad, or holy war. One of
the first regions they
conquered are the "northern
territories" or El-Sham of the
Arabic peninsula. In
conquering Lebanon, the
Moslems fought the Christian
armies of Byzantium, whom
they called the Roumis. The
Byzantines were defeated, and retreated further north. Lebanon was made part of the
Sham territory of the Islamic Empire. Islam became the Law and official religion of the
land. Christians and Jews were allowed to worship as long as they paid taxes to the
Moslems, and obeyed their laws. Arabic became the official language of the region.
In 656 AD, the cousin and son in-law of the Prophet battled for the title of Caliph. Ali, the
son-in-law became caliph until he was assassinated 5 years later. Mu'aa'wyah, the
cousin, succeed to Ali. However, the Moslems spilt into Shi'ites -as people called the
followers of Ali- and Sunnites, led by Mu'aa'wyah. In becoming Caliph, Mu'aa'wyah
founded the Umayyad Dynasty in 661 AD, and set the capital of his Empire to be
Damascus, in Syria.
On the Christian side, the Maronites broke away from the Byzantine Church in 680 AD,
appointed their own patriarch, who lived in the Orontes Valley. In 685, the Byzantines
overrun the Valley and burnt the Monastery of Mar Marun -the Patron Saint of the
Maronites- The Maronite patriarch transferred his Church headquarters to the
Mountains of Lebanon, by the Qadisha Valley.
The Abbassides dynasty succeed to the Umayyad in 750 AD, and
moved their capital from Damascus to Baghdad, in Iraq. Life in Biladel-Sham (northern countries) became harsher as the Abbassides
levied higher taxes and imposed tougher laws. Trade with other
Mediterranean regions suffered. To strengthen their presence in the
region, the Abbassides encouraged Arab tribes to settle in Beirut and
the surrounding area, called the Gharb (west). But the power of the
Abbasside Caliphate diminished, and a new dynasty, descendent
from the Prophet's own daughter Fatima declared its independence
from Baghdad in 969 AD. The Fatimides settled in Egypt and
extended their authority to the costal region of Bilad-el-Sham and Damascus. Contrary
to the Umayyad and the Abbassides who were Sunnites, the Fatimides were Ismaili
Shi'ites.
Around 986, under the Fatimid Caliph El-Hakim, a new religion was born and spread by
a man called Darazi. This was the beginning of the Druze religion. Many families in the
regions of Gharb, Matn, Shuf and Wadi el-Taym became Druze. But from 1030 AD, a
person could only be Druze if born Druze.
In 1054 AD, the Great Christian Schism occurred, with the Church of Rome and
Constantinople splitting from one another. The Christians of Lebanon were part of the
Eastern Church of Antioch, and fell under the authority of the Church of Constantinople.
At that time, all the Christians of the East were called the Melchites, except for the
Maronites.
In 1055 AD, the Seljuks overthrew the Abbassides in Baghdad, and took back
Damascus, the Beka'a and the Holy Cities of Palestine from the Fatimids. The Seljuks
and the Fatimids fought for control of the Eastern shores of Bilad-el-Sham.
The Crusades -- 1096-1291 AD
The Seljuks did not respect the tradition of hospitality
towards the Christians of the regions and the Pilgrims to
the Holy Places. They even extended their authority at
the expense of the Byzantines, and threatened
Constantinople. All the Christians of the region appealed
to the Pope of Rome who called on the Princes of
Europe to free the Holy Land. Hence, in 1096, the first
Crusade set off to conquer Jerusalem and the riches of
the Orient.
The Crusaders fought the Seljuks with the help of the Byzantines. They first freed
Antioch (in Turkey) then pushed south towards Lebanon. The Crusaders were better
known as the Franks or Franjs as the Arab called them. In 1099, they re-conquered
Jerusalem, and founded the Kingdom of Jerusalem which also included Beirut, Sayda
and Sur. The Seljuks remained in Damascus, and continued to try to reconquer the land
ruled by the Crusaders. So the Crusaders built many forts in Lebanon and Palestine to
organize their defense. Trade flourished again on the Mediterranean. Unfortunately,
when the Crusaders conquered Tripoli, they burnt the famous library of Dar el-Ilm with
all of its precious manuscripts. In the old times, libraries were very rare, and often
contained unique books that were never copied or reproduced.
In all there were eight crusades over a period of two centuries. The most famous
Crusaders were:






Comte Raymond de Saint-Gilles (who founded the Sanjil Castle over Tripoli),
Frederick Barbarossa, better known as Frederick RedBeard,
King Richard the Lion Heart of England,
King Baudouin IX of France -- known as al-Bardawil
Frederick II from Germany, and Saint Louis or King Louis IX of France.
The End of the Crusades -- 1187 AD
In 1171, a man named Salah el-Dine el-Ayyubi took power in Egypt, and
founded the Ayyubide Dynasty. He was a Sunnite Kurd raised in Baalbeck,
so many called him Salah el-Dine El-Kurdi. He was the first Moslem to reconquer some of the land lost to the Crusaders. He was a very respected
man. He even sent out his doctor to treat his enemy, Richard the Lion
Heart, King of England, who was leading the Third Crusade.
In 1250, the Mameluks, former slaves from Turkey, took power from the
Ayyubides in Egypt and founded their own Dynasty. They were staunch
Sunni Moslems, and forced many to convert to Islam. Some non-Sunnites practiced
dissimulation, pretending to be Sunnite to hide their real religious beliefs.
In 1292, the Mameluks drove out the Crusaders who took refuge in Cyprus, and tried in
vain for a full century to regain the territory they had lost.
The Mameluks reorganized their territory into administrative sectors, and entrusted the
government of these areas to a local ruler who was given the title of Emir (Prince), or
Sheikh (Count), depending on his importance. To facilitate communication, the
Mameluks used beacon fires, horses and carrier pigeons. Soldiers kept watch of the
coast from towers called burj.
The Crusaders learnt a lot from the rich civilization of the Middle East, in terms of
construction, home building, agricultural irrigation and processes, medicine, chemistry,
physics, and astrology to name but a few. Even the numbers they took back to Europe
are called today "Arabic" numbers. This knowledge set the basis of what became later
on the European Renaissance, that is at the root of today's modern civilization.
The Ottoman Empire -- 1300-1918 AD
In 1300, a Turk of Mongol origin founded the Ottoman Empire and took power from the
Seljuks. The Ottomans captured Constantinople and renamed it Istanbul then set on
south and took the Lebanese and Syrian territories from
the Mameluks in 1516.
empire was the same as that of the Mameluks. Under him
came the Wali, then the Emir, the Sheikh and then the
peasants.
In 1590, a prince called Emir Fakhr el-Dine from the Lebanese family of Ma'an became
the third Ma'an emir to govern the Emirate of the Shuf. Ambitious but wise, he set out to
enlarge and enrich his emirate, and surrounded himself with Christian, Druze and
Moslems advisors. He succeed in annexing the Beka'a, Sayda, the Kesrwan and Beirut.
Emir Fakhr el-Dine was such a small man that his enemy used to
make fun of him by saying that "an egg can fall out of his pocket
without breaking". The Emir replied that "... the smallest pen can
record everything in the Universe". In 1608, The Emir made a
trade pact with the Italian State of Tuscany. In 1610, the first
printing press of the empire was built in Lebanon, in the Monastery
of Qozhaya, in the Kadisha valley, using "Syriac" characters, a
language close to that of the Aramaic that Jesus Christ spoke.
Emir Fakhr el-Dine is considered the founder of modern Lebanon.
In 1613, the army of the Wali of Damascus invaded the region.
Fakhr el-Dine fled to Italy, but returned after five years of exile, and
re-conquered his emirate. His victory was such that the Ottoman Sultan gave him the
tile of "sultan el-barr". But Fakhr el-Dine became too powerful, and in 1633 Fakhr elDine was captured and imprisoned in Istanbul. He was executed two years later.
The Chehab family succeed to the Ma'an, and Emir Bashir Chehab was their first
prince, and he was Sunnite. He and his successors governed the region in relative
peace. From about 1750 onwards, various emirs of the
Chehab and the Abillama' families converting to
Christianity, with Emir Bashir Chehab II becoming the
first governing prince of the region to be a Christian
(Maronite) in 1788. He built a magnificent palace at Beit
el-Dine, many roads, and planted a fine pine forest on
the hills overlooking Beirut. But, he was defeated by an
army composed of English, Austrians, and Ottomans
soldiers, and went into exile after 52 years of reign. He died in Istanbul. His successor,
Bashir III Chehab was appointed by the Ottoman, and was Christian too. He was the
last of the Princes of Mount Lebanon, as a new officer of the Ottoman army Omar
Pasha became the new governor of the mountains in
1842.
The "Mutassarrifiya" of Independent Mount
Lebanon -- 1861
In the middle part of the 19th Century, severe problems
happened amongst the people of Mount Lebanon. The
Ottomans did not intervene until after many thousands were killed, and French troops
landed in Beirut. The Ottoman Sultan sent a representative to Lebanon to discuss a
possible solution with delegates from France, Great Britain, Russia, Austria and Prussia
(Ancient Germany).
As a result, Mount Lebanon became an independent Ottoman
province, called a Mutassarrifiya, with a Governor. Daoud Pasha -a
Christian- was the first of eight governors to rule Lebanon until
World War I. Under this new arrangement, Beirut progressed not
only economically, but culturally as well. Starting in 1860, education
became widespread again with the help of European and American
"missionaries". The Saint Joseph University and the American
University of Beirut were founded , and new printing presses were
put to work to publish the many books and newspapers produced
by the literary Corps.
As a result of this newfound freedom of expression, a literary
movement was born in Beirut, known as the Nahda. It provided the
basis of a cultural revival of the Arabic language. Beirut became the cultural center of
the Middle East. The Bible was translated in Arabic. The first Arabic Encyclopedia was
compiled in Beirut by Butros Bustany.
With the turn of the century, the Ottoman Tramway and the Lighting Company of Beirut
were founded as the first of their kind in the area in 19060. In 1913, the first plane flown
to Lebanon landed in Tripoli (North Lebanon) on December 24th, and
in Beirut on Christmas Day. But the population became too dense for
such a small country, and the first wave of emigration from Lebanon
to Egypt, Africa and the Americas occurred. Many emigrants became
rich in their new countries and sent lot's of money back to their
relatives in Lebanon. One famous Lebanese emigrants is Gibran
Kahlil Gibran, the author of "Prophet", which he wrote in the United
States.
Unfortunately, World War I broke out in 1924, with the Ottoman
Empire siding with the Germans and the Austrians. The Ottoman
Army abolished the Mutassarrifiya and appointed a Moslem Ottoman governor. Famine
spread in Lebanon and Syria due to a naval blockade and the destruction of crops by
locusts.
The French, British and Americans were
victorious in WWI, the Ottoman Empire
abolished, and France was entrusted with
the Mandate over Lebanon and Syria.
The Birth of Today's Lebanon
In 1920, the French proclaimed the creation
of Greater Lebanon in Beirut, which included
Mount Lebanon, the Beka'a, Wadi el-Taym (Taym Valley), Jabal Amel (Mount Amel),
Sur, Saida, Beirut and Tripoli. Starting in 1922, the Lebanese elected a local
Representative Council, which drew up the Lebanese Constitution under French
supervision.
This Constitution became the law of the land, and was
approved by the French in 1926. It defined the
borders of Greater Lebanon which it renamed the
Republic of Lebanon, as a "united, independent,
indivisible and absolutely sovereign State" (Article 1),
with all citizens equal under the law -men and
women-. Executive power was given to the President
of the Republic, assisted by a Cabinet of Ministers
(similar to the American "Secretaries" of State, etc..).
Legislative power was held by the Parliament (like the
Congress). Parliament members were democratically
elected by the people. The Parliament elected the President, who appointed the Prime
Minister who, in turn, chooses Cabinet members.
The first President of Lebanon was Charles
Debbas, who was elected in 1926 still under
the French Mandate. It is not until 1943 that
Lebanon became fully independent, during
World War II. Until then, France suspended
the Constitution whenever it felt like it!
Beshara el-Khouri was elected the first
President of Free Lebanon (although he
really was the third one elected since the
creation of modern Lebanon, Emile Eddeh
being the second one. In the mean time, three other presidents were "appointed" by the
French: Alfred Naccash, Ayyub Tabet, and Petro Trad).
President Beshara el-Khouri called on a Moslem Sunnite, Ryad el-Solh to form a
Cabinet of Ministers. Together, these two men created the National Pact, a verbal
agreement between these two men, that was never written down. The National Pact
defined Lebanon as an independent country with an "Arabic aspect" -and not an Arabic
country-. The President was to be a Christian Maronite, the Prime Minister a Moslem
Sunnite, and the President of the Parliament a Moslem Shi'ite. All religions were to be
given positions in the Cabinet, and the importance of the position held was linked to the
relative size of the religious communities. In this manner, Lebanon would not have one
official religion, but all religions would be recognized and represented. Lebanon's civil
law was written in a way to allow the application of religious laws over the members of
that religion alone.
Lebanon was amongst the founding members of the United
Nations, and the Arab League. A Lebanese scholar, Dr
Charles Malek was appointed to head the team that wrote the
Charter of Human Rights for the United Nations. Beirut
enjoyed a period of prosperity fueled by "Petro-Dollars" sent
home by the Lebanese engineers and businessmen of the
Arabic Gulf region (the Persian Gulf). However, problems
started again in 1958, and later on in 1975, date of the
beginning of the latest war in Lebanon.
‫بحبك يالبنان يا وطني بحبك‬