Lebanon

Coordinates: 33°50′N 35°50′E / 33.833°N 35.833°E / 33.833; 35.833
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Republic of Lebanon
الجمهورية اللبنانية (Arabic)
al-Jumhūrīyah al-Lubnānīyah
Flag of Lebanon
Speaker of the Parliament
Nabih Berri
Legislature
French mandate ended
24 October 1945
• Withdrawal of French forces
17 April 1946
24 May 2000
30 April 2005
Area
• Total
10,452 km2 (4,036 sq mi) (161st)
• Water (%)
1.8
Population
• 2022 estimate
5,296,814[7] (122nd)
• Density
560/km2 (1,450.4/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)2022 estimate
• Total
Increase $78.233 billion[8] (108th)
• Per capita
Increase $11,793[8] (114th)
GDP (nominal)2022 estimate
• Total
Increase $21.780 billion[8] (103rd)
• Per capita
Increase $3,283[8] (133rd)
Gini (2011)Positive decrease 31.8[9]
medium
HDI (2021)Decrease 0.706[10]
high (112th)
CurrencyLebanese pound (LBP)
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)
UTC+3 (EEST)
Driving sideright[11]
Calling code+961[12]
ISO 3166 codeLB
Internet TLD

33°50′N 35°50′E / 33.833°N 35.833°E / 33.833; 35.833 Lebanon (

Arabic: لُبْنَان Lubnān pronounced [lɪbˈneːn]), officially the Republic of Lebanon,[c] is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east, by Israel to the south, and by the Mediterranean Sea to the west; Cyprus lies a short distance away from the country's coastline. Lebanon's location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterlands has contributed to the country's rich history and shaped a unique cultural identity denoted by religious diversity.[13] Located in the Levant region of the Eastern Mediterranean, the country has a population of more than five million people and covers an area of 10,452 square kilometres (4,036 sq mi). Lebanon's capital and largest city is Beirut, followed by Tripoli and Jounieh. While Arabic is the official language, French is also recognized in a formal capacity; Lebanese Arabic is the country's vernacular, though French and English play a relatively significant role in everyday life,[14] with Modern Standard Arabic
being limited to news and government matters.

The earliest evidence of human civilization in Lebanon dates back to 5000 BCE.[15] From 3200 to 539 BC, Lebanon was home to Phoenicia, a maritime empire that stretched the Mediterranean Basin.[16] In 64 BC, the Roman Empire conquered the region, and Lebanon soon became a major center for Christianity under the aegis of the Byzantine Empire. In the 7th century, the Muslim conquest of the Levant brought the region under the control of the Rashidun Caliphate. The 11th century saw the beginning of the Crusades and the establishment of Crusader states, though these later fell to the Ayyubids and the Mamluks, who in turn ceded the territory to the Ottoman Turks in the aftermath of the Ottoman–Mamluk War of 1516–1517. Under Ottoman ruler Abdulmejid I, the first Lebanese proto-state was established in the form of the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate, created in the 19th century as a home for Maronite Christians under the Ottoman "Tanzimat" period.

After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire around World War I, the five Ottoman provinces constituting modern-day Lebanon came under the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon, to be administered by France. Under the Mandate administration, France established Greater Lebanon as the predecessor state to today's independent Lebanon. However, French rule over the region weakened significantly in the aftermath of the German invasion of France in 1940. By 1943, Lebanon had gained independence from Free France and subsequently established a distinct form of confessionalist government, with the state's major religious groups being apportioned specific political powers. The new Lebanese state was relatively stable for a short period after independence,[17] but this was ultimately shattered by the outbreak of large-scale fighting in the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990) between various political and sectarian factions. Amidst the internal hostilities of this period, Lebanon was also subjugated by two overlapping military occupations: by Syria from 1976 to 2005 and by Israel from 1985 to 2000. Since the end of the conflict, there have been extensive efforts to revive the economy and rebuild national infrastructure.[18]

Lebanon is a developing country, ranked 112th on the Human Development Index.[19] It has been classified as an upper-middle-income state.[20] However, the Lebanese liquidity crisis, coupled with nationwide corruption and recent disasters such as the 2020 Beirut explosion, have precipitated the collapse of Lebanon's currency and fomented political instability, widespread resource shortages, and high unemployment and poverty. The World Bank has defined Lebanon's economic crisis as one of the world's worst since the 19th century.[21][22] Despite the country's small size,[23] Lebanese culture is renowned both in the Arab world and globally, powered primarily by the Lebanese diaspora.[24] Lebanon is a founding member of the United Nations and of the Arab League,[25] and is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, and the Group of 77, among others.

Etymology

The name of Mount Lebanon originates from the Phoenician root lbn (𐤋𐤁𐤍) meaning "white", apparently from its snow-capped peaks.[26][27]

Occurrences of the name have been found in different

Middle Bronze Age texts from the library of Ebla,[28] and three of the twelve tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh
. The name is recorded in Ancient Egyptian as Rmnn (𓂋𓏠𓈖𓈖𓈉), where R stood for Canaanite L.[29] The name occurs nearly 70 times in the Hebrew Bible, as לְבָנוֹן.[30]

Lebanon as the name of an administrative unit (as opposed to the mountain range) that was introduced with the

Arabic: الجمهورية اللبنانية al-Jumhūrīyah al-Lubnānīyah) upon its independence in 1943.[citation needed
]

History

The borders of contemporary Lebanon are a product of the

Hellenistic, Sasanian and Roman
empires.

After the 7th-century Muslim conquest of the Levant, it was part of the Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Fatimid and Seljuk empires. The crusader state of the County of Tripoli, founded by Raymond IV of Toulouse in 1102, encompassed most of present-day Lebanon, falling to the Mamluk Sultanate in 1289 and finally to the Ottoman Empire in 1516.[31] With the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Greater Lebanon fell under French mandate in 1920,[32] and gained independence under president Bechara El Khoury in 1943. Lebanon's history since independence has been marked by alternating periods of relative political stability and prosperity based on Beirut's position as a regional center for finance and trade, interspersed with political turmoil and armed conflict (1948 Arab–Israeli War, Lebanese Civil War 1975–1990, 2005 Cedar Revolution, 2006 Lebanon War, 2007 Lebanon conflict, 2006–08 Lebanese protests, 2008 conflict in Lebanon, 2011 Syrian Civil War spillover, and 2019–20 Lebanese protests).[33]

Antiquity

Byblos is believed to have been first occupied between 8800 and 7000 BC[34] and continuously inhabited since 5000 BC,[35] making it among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.[36][37] It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[38]

Evidence dating back to an early settlement in Lebanon was found in Byblos, considered among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.[15] The evidence dates back to earlier than 5000 BC. Archaeologists discovered remnants of prehistoric huts with crushed limestone floors, primitive weapons, and burial jars left by the Neolithic and Chalcolithic fishing communities who lived on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea over 7,000 years ago.[39]

Lebanon was part of northern Canaan, and consequently became the homeland of Canaanite descendants, the Phoenicians, a seafaring people based in the coastal strip of the northern Levant who spread across the Mediterranean in the first millennium BC.[40] The most prominent Phoenician cities were Byblos, Sidon and Tyre. According to the Bible, King Hiram of Tyre collaborated closely with Solomon, supplying cedar logs for Solomon's Temple and sending skilled workers.[41] The Phoenicians are credited with the invention of the oldest verified alphabet, which subsequently inspired the Greek alphabet and the Latin one thereafter.[42]

In the 9th century BC,

Phoenician colonies, including Carthage in present-day Tunisia and Cádiz in present-day Spain, flourished throughout the Mediterranean. Subsequently, foreign powers, starting with the Assyrians, imposed tribute and attacked non-compliant cities. Babylonians took control in the 6th century BC.[41] In 539 BC, The cities of Phoenicia were incorporated into the Persian Achaemenid Empire by Cyrus the Great.[43] The Phoenician city-states were later incorporated into the empire of Alexander the Great following the siege of Tyre in 332 BC.[43]

Map of Phoenicia and trade routes

In 64 BC, the Roman general

, the latter which the land of present-day Lebanon was a part of.

The region that is now Lebanon, as with the rest of Syria and much of

Maronites and moved into the mountains to avoid religious persecution by Roman authorities.[44] During the frequent Roman–Persian Wars that lasted for many centuries, the Sassanid Persians occupied what is now Lebanon from 619 till 629.[45]

Middle Ages

During the 7th century, Muslim Arabs conquered Syria from the Byzantines, incorporating the region, including modern-day Lebanon, under the Islamic Caliphate.[46] In the era of Uthman's caliphate (644–656), Islam gained significant influence in Damascus, led by Mu'awiya, a relative of Uthman, serving as the governor. Mu'awiya sent forces to the coastal region of Lebanon, prompting conversions to Islam among the coastal population. However, the mountainous areas retained their Christian or other cultural practices.[41] Despite Islam and Arabic becoming officially dominant, the population's conversion from Christianity and Syriac language was gradual. The Maronite community, in particular, managed to maintain a large degree of autonomy despite the succession of rulers over Lebanon and Syria. The relative (but not complete) isolation of the Lebanese mountains meant the mountains served as a refuge in the times of religious and political crises in the Levant. As such, the mountains displayed religious diversity and the existence of several well-established sects and religions, notably, Maronites, Druze, Shiite Muslims, Ismailis, Alawites and Jacobites.[citation needed]

After the Islamic conquest, Mediterranean trade declined for three centuries due to conflicts with the Byzantines. The ports of Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, and Tripoli struggled to recover, sustaining small populations under Umayyad and Abbasid rule. Christians and Jews were often obligated to pay the jizya, or poll tax levied on non-Muslims.[46] During the 980s, the Fatimid Caliphate took control of the Levant, including Mount Lebanon, resulting in the rejuvenation of Mediterranean trade along the Lebanese coast through renewed connections with Byzantium and Italy. This resurgence saw Tripoli and Tyre flourishing well into the 11th century, focusing on exports such as textiles, sugar, and glassware.[46]

During the 11th century, the

Jabal Amel and the Beqaa Valley was ruled by Shia feudal families under the Mamluks and the Ottoman Empire. Major cities on the coast, Sidon, Tyre, Acre, Tripoli, Beirut, and others, were directly administered by the Muslim Caliphs and the people became more fully absorbed by the Arab culture.

The Fall of Tripoli to the Egyptian Mamluks
and destruction of the Crusader state, the County of Tripoli, 1289

Following the fall of Roman

Franks from Western Europe to reclaim the former Byzantine Christian territories in the Eastern Mediterranean, especially Syria and Palestine (the Levant). The First Crusade succeeded in temporarily establishing the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the County of Tripoli as Roman Catholic Christian states along the coast.[47]
These crusader states made a lasting impact on the region, though their control was limited, and the region returned to full Muslim control after two centuries following the conquest by the Mamluks.

Among the most lasting effects of the Crusades in this region was the contact between the Franks (i.e., the French) and the Maronites. Unlike most other Christian communities in the Eastern Mediterranean, who swore allegiance to Constantinople or other local patriarchs, the Maronites proclaimed allegiance to the Pope in Rome. As such the Franks saw them as Roman Catholic brethren. These initial contacts led to centuries of support for the Maronites from France and Italy, even after the fall of the Crusader states in the region.

Ottoman rule