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THE HISTORY OF LEBANON~* Pre-Historic
(50,000 BC – 10,000 BC) Paleolithic Period**The evidence of tools found in caves along the coast of Lebanon shows that it was inhabited all through the classic stages of human development: Paleolithic, Neolithic, the bronze, and the iron working periods. Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon people were making flint tools in this region around 50,000 years ago.
~*(10 000 BC- 4000 BC) Neolithic Period**Village life followed the domestication of plants and animals with the Neolithic Revolution starting around 10,000 BC. The traces of the coastal settlements in Lebanon date back to around 9000 BC in Byblos, favoring it’s founding among the earliest ‘communities’ during this period.~*History of Lebanon
Phoenicians - Greek - Romans (4000 BC - 600 AD)
~*(4000 BC) The Phoenicians/ Canaanites**The recorded history shows a group of coastal cities and heavily forested mountains inhabited by the Canaanites around 4000 BC. These early inhabitants referred to themselves according to their city of origin, and called their nation Canaan. They lived in the narrow East-Mediterranean coast and the parallel strip mountains of Lebanon. Around 2800 BC Canaanites traded cedar timber, olive oil and wine from Byblos for metals and ivory from Egypt. The Coastal cities fell to Amorites around 2000 BC, and to Egyptians from round 1800 until 1200 BC when they recovered independence.
(above) Phoenician colonies around the Mediterranean Sea (first Millennium B.C.)~*Inventing the Alphabet**Around 1600 B.C. the Phoenicians invented the alphabet, and passed them onto the world. The Greeks adopted the 22-letter alphabet from the Phoenicians which has led to the Latin letters of present day.~*Constructing Kings David and Solomon Palaces and Temple**The Phoenician king Hiram of Tyre (989-936 BC) built a palace for David and two palaces and a temple for Solomon. The Bible provides a vast amount of information about them. The Phoenicians built David’s Palace and Solomon’s Temple. They also built King Solomon two palaces, of which one was called 'Forest of Lebanon'. Craftsmen of Phoenicia used Lebanon’s cedar and metal to accomplish the work around the mid of the tenth century BC. (for Details)
The Phoenicians adjusted to successive conquerors later and managed to keep their trade business ongoing, and kept a sort of political independence.**(875-608 BC) The power-raising Assyrians invaded Phoenicia in 875 BC and deprived the Phoenicians of their independence. Byblos, Tyre and Sidon rebelled several times and the Assyrians brought total destruction to the cities in response.**(585-538 BC) The Babylonians became the new power and occupied Phoenicia. Phoenician cities rebelled and Tyre was destroyed, again**(538 BC-333 AD) The Persians occupied the region including Phoenicia. The Phoenician navy supported Persia during the Greco-Persian war (490-449 BC). Phoenicians revolted when overburdened with heavy tributes imposed by the Persians in the forth century BC.**(333 - 64 BC) The Greeks defeated the Persian troops when Alexander the Great attacked Asia Minor in 333 BC. The Phoenician cities made no attempt to resist and acknowledged Alexander’s suzerainty. However, when he tried to offer a sacrifice to Melkurt, Tyre’s god, the city resisted and he besieged it.**The city fell after 6 months of resistance. Alexander’s conquest left a Greek imprint on the area. The Phoenicians, being a cosmopolitan civilization amenable to outside influences, adopted aspects of Greek civilization and continued with their trade business.
(64 BC-600 AD) Romans and Christianity**The Romans added Lebanon to its Empire. Economic and intellectual activities flourished in Lebanon during the Pax Roman. The inhabitants of the principal Phoenician cities of Byblos, Sidon and Tyre were granted Roman citizenship.**These cities were centers of the pottery, glass and purple dye industries; their harbors also served as warehouses for products imported from Syria, Persia and India. They exported cedar, perfume, jewelry, wine and fruit to Rome.**Economic prosperity led to a revival in construction and urban development; temples, palaces and the first School of Law in history were built throughout the country, as well as paved roads that linked the cities. Ruins of Roman temples and monuments are found all around Lebanon with the largest in Baalbek.**The Bible states that the first woman who believed in Christianity, became the first convert outside the Jews was a Phoenician woman. From the Northern Phoenician ports Saint Peter left to Rome and built the first church.**After the Roman Empire divided, the economic and intellectual activities continued to flourish in Beirut, Tyre and Sidon for more than a century.**The fifth century witnessed the birth of Maronite Christianity. Saint Maroun (also Maron) found a refuge in the northern mountains of Lebanon. A great portion of the Phoenicians became Christians, and their faith was named for him. Maronite Catholics later made great contributions to the Lebanese history, independence and culture.
**The Canaanites who inhabited that area were called Phoenicians by the Greeks (from the Greek word phoinos, meaning ‘red’) in a reference to the unique purple dye the Phoenicians produced from murex seashells. The Phoenicians mastered the art of navigation and dominated the Mediterranean Sea trade for over 500 years. They excelled in producing textiles, carving ivory and working with metal and glass. The Phoenicians built several local cities East of the Mediterranean among which are: Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, Berytus (Beirut), Tripoli, Arvad Island-City, Baalbek and Caesarea.**They established trade routes to Europe and Western Asia. Phoenician ships circumnavigated Africa a thousand years before those of the Portuguese. They founded colonies wherever they ventured on the North and South of the Mediterranean in Cyprus, Rhodes, Crete, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Marseilles, Cadiz, and Carthage around the first Millennium B.C.
~*Arab- Crusades- Mamluks (600 AD - 1516 AD)
~*(636-750) Arab Rule**The sixth century witnessed an increased feeling of nationalism in Mount Lebanon and the Phoenician coast that gradually gave way to the name of Lebanon for the entire territory. The seventh century started the shaping of the multi-cultural Lebanon we know. The mountains became more populated especially by the Maronites and Marada. Later, the Aramaic/ Assyrians and Cheldanites joined them, escaping persecution. The followers of the new religion of Islam fit coherently in the community since most of them were not migrants from Arabian Peninsula, but locals who converted to Islam.**After Arab Muawyah was appointed as governor of Syria, he garrisoned troops to the Lebanese coast. Historians mention that the Arab-Muslims neither could, nor were willing to, fight in the mountains of Lebanon. Hence, they captured only coastal lands. Lebanon maintained a special situation with special autonomy. Some Arab historians wrote that Lebanon sometimes was not even treated as a part of the Islamic Empire. It was the only region were most of the population did not enter into the new religion of Islam.**While the Roman Empire army fell facing the Muslim troops, the Mountains of Lebanon stood still. Mauwyah had to pay financial tribute to the Lebanese- Maronites and Marada in order to stop their raids on Arab troops in 670 AD. Muawyah also seeked the Lebanese ship builders help to construct a navy. The Lebanese took care of the navigation while the Arabs led the troops in a successful battle against Cyprus 649 AD.**The Lebanese adopted many aspects from the Arabic culture, and excelled in science and Arabic literature. It was the people who lived in the mountains of Lebanon, especially the Maronites and the Aramaic who translated the Greek books into Arabic and later on built with the Arabs the advanced Arabic science based on these books.
Later, under Umayyads Islamic rule, Mount Lebanon kept its characteristics; the Umayyads were not concerned much about converting people to Islam, especially those with farmlands, and are well fortified in the mountains.
(750-1110) The Abbasids**The Abbasids replaced the Umayyads ruling the Islamic Empire in early 750. They treated Lebanon as a conquered country. Their harshness led to several revolts, with the most famous being the rebellion of the Lebanese mountaineers in 759 AD. By the end of the tenth century the prince of Tyre proclaimed independence from the Abbasids and coined money with his own name. However, his rule was later terminated by the Fatimids.**One of the groups that came to seek refuge in Lebanon was a small Christian sect called Melchites, they became known as Greek Catholics. Also, the Druze who was persecuted as hypocritical Islamic-Shia group found a refuge in Mount Lebanon around 1020.**Under Abbasids philosophy, literature and science received great attention. Lebanon made a notable contribution to this intellectual renaissance. Lebanese physician Rashid AdDine, jurist Al Awzai and philosopher Qusta ibn Luqa were leaders in their fields.
The country enjoyed economic boom in which the harbors of Tyre and Tripoli were busy with shipping textile, ceramic and glass to-and –from the Arab regions and the
(1095-1291) The Crusades**After capturing Jerusalem, the Crusaders turned to the Lebanese coast. Tripoli surrendered in 1109 while Beirut and Sidon in 1110. Tyre stubbornly resisted but finally fell in 1124 after a long siege.
Although they failed to establish a permanent presence, the Crusaders left their imprint on Lebanon as clear in the remains of many towers, castles and churches along the coast and in the mountains.
The Crusaders, the Mamluks and Mongols armies sought to master the region during the thirteenth century; however the victory came to the Mamluks.
(1282-1516) The Mamluks**Mamluk Islamic dynasty ruled Egypt for more than two centuries. They ruled Syria and parts of Lebanon in the late thirteenth century. Meanwhile, from the 11th to the 13th century, the Shia Muslims migrated from Syria, Iraq and Arabian Peninsula to Lebanon seeking refuge. The Shais and Druze rebelled in 1921 while the Mamluks were busy fighting the Crusaders and Mangols. They turned later and crushed the rebellion in 1309.
Beirut became a center of intense trading activities between the Middle East and Europe. Intellectual life in Lebanon flourished, and economic prosperity continued till the end of Mamluk rule.
~*Ottomans- French- Independence ( 1516 AD - 1943 AD)~*(1516 - 1916) The Ottomans (Turks) and Lebanon**The Ottoman Empire who occupied the Middle East and Eastern Europe in the sixteenth century, ruled Lebanon through local leaders. Lebanon managed to get conditioned or total independence several times under Ottoman rule.
Independent Lebanon, Fakhr EdDine Reign**Prince Fakhr EdDine II was a druze Lebanese who built a modern Lebanese community. In an effort to attain complete independence for Lebanon, he concluded a secret agreement with Ferdinand I, duke of Tuscany in Italy against the Ottomans. The Ottomans found out about that and sent him to exile in Tuscany in 1613.**Fakhr EdDine returned to Lebanon in 1618 and built a regular army that reached 100,000 soldiers formed from the different religious sects of Lebanon. The Lebanese Army defeated the army of Mustafa Pasha, Ottoman-appointed governor of Damascus, in a historical battle at Anjar in 1623.**The Lebanese prince initiated several measures to modernize the country forming close ties with the dukes of Tuscany and of Florence. He brought architects, irrigation engineers and agricultural experts from Italy. He strengthened Lebanon’s strategic position by expanding its territory.**The Lebanese prince ruled a land that extended; North to Kelikia (Turky); South to Arish (Egypt); and East to Damascus (Syria) with Beirut being the Capital. That area was more than three times larger than Lebanon today.**In order to stop Lebanon’s progress toward complete independence, the Ottomans ordered the Governor of Damascus to attack the Lebanese ruler. Fakhr EdDine was defeated, and was executed in Constantinople in 1635.
Lebanese Immigration of the nineteenth Century**In general, Lebanese felt oppressed and were not able to make their living under the Ottoman rule. Many Lebanese, especially Christians, emigrated to Egypt and other parts of Africa as well as North and South America. Remittance that these Lebanese emigrants sent to their relatives in Lebanon has enhanced the Lebanese economy until this day.
1860 Events and 1861 Lebanese Administration**The Ottomans divided Lebanon into districts, segregating or adding regions as deemed convenient for them to weaken the country; they annexed part of it to Syrian districts in attempts to erase the Lebanese identity.**Furthermore, they attributed sectarian divisions and appointed rulers accordingly, to create religious conflicts. In 1860 feudal sectarian conflict raised between Druze and Christians led to thousands of victims.**European forces landed in Lebanon to quell the fighting. To solve the problem, the six powerful countries then forced the Ottomans to award Lebanon regional independence with Lebanese administration and armed forces.**Lebanon became an intellectual and commercial center in the second half of the 19th century. Foreign missionaries established schools throughout the country. The American University of Beirut was founded in 1866, followed by the French St. Joseph’s University in 1875.**The Arabic literature had renaissance era marked by numerous publications where Lebanese authors outshined. It was the Lebanese first prolific press in the East that managed to preserve the Arabic literature from distinction under Ottoman oppression.
(1916-1920) World War I**After the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, the Turkish (Ottoman) forces in Syria occupied Lebanon and appointed a Turk ruler over the country. The Lebanese refused the occupation.**The Turks responded by commandeering Lebanon’s food supplies causing famine and plagues. Lebanon lost more than one third of its population then.**The Turks cut down Lebanon’s trees to fuel their trains and military consuming more than half of Lebanon’s forests. In 1916 the Turkish authorities executed Lebanese leaders in Beirut for alleged anti-Turkish activities.**That date of May 6th is commemorated annually in Lebanon as Martyrs’ Day.**Lebanon was relieved in September 1918 when the British general Edmund Allenby and Faysal I, son of Sharif Husain of Mecca reached the region. In 1920, the League of Nations gave France a mandate over Lebanon.
(1920-1943) Mandate Period and Independence**On September 1st, 1920, France proclaimed the establishment of Greater Lebanon with its present borders. In 1926, the Lebanese constitution was modeled after that of the French**The constitution provided a parliament, a president and a cabinet. The president is elected by the parliament, which is popularly elected. After the allies won World War II, Lebanese national leaders asked France to end the mandate.**France proclaimed the independence of Lebanon in 1941 but continued to exercise authority. In 1943, Lebanon formed its first democratic government of independence and amended the constitution ending the mandate.**The French authorities responded by arresting and imprisoning the Lebanese president, prime minister and others. Lebanese Christian and Muslim leaders united their forces, advantaging from the international and regional influence, to pressure the French government that yielded by releasing the prisoners on November 22, 1943 and recognizing Lebanon's complete independence.**The French helped rebuilding the Lebanese infrastructure, economy and social systems. They developed a network of roads linking major cities and enlarged the harbor of Beirut.**The governmental and judicial systems were fundamentally developed while the educational, agricultural and public-health systems improved.~*Switzerland of the East (1943 AD - 1969 AD)
**1943 National Pact**The Lebanese political Christian and Muslim leaders forged an unwritten National Pact post independence in 1943. The pact was designed to promote cooperation among the rival religious groups starting a unique concept of a confessional democracy. The pact states that Lebanon is an independent country with Arabic and European cultures.**The pact was partly grounded in the 1932 census implementing a distribution of seats in the parliament on a ratio of 6 to 5: Christians to Muslims.**The Major administrative positions were also distributed among major sects with: the President is to be a Maronite Christian, the Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim and the Speaker of the parliament a Shiite Muslim.
Switzerland of the East**Lebanon enjoyed three decades of prosperity under a free-market economy. Tourism, agriculture, education and democracy flourished and advanced claming for Lebanon the title ‘Switzerland of the East’, and for Beirut ‘ Paris of the Middle East’. Lebanon was known to be the most democratic country in the Arab league.**However, the golden decades of this tiny country of Lebanon did not continue to thrive with the surrounding regional and international events and discord of that era.
1948 and 1959 Events**The first Arab-Israeli war of 1948 sent about 150,000 Palestinians to refugee camps in Lebanon. Palestinians come to play an important part in Lebanese politics benefiting from the political freedom atmosphere that does not exist in other Arab states.**1958, the rising star of Egypt’s Gamal Abdel-Nasser threatened to absorb Lebanon into a short-lived union of Syria and Egypt. Internal tensions were high, and a short rebellion erupted.**Lebanese President Camille Chamoun invoked the protection of Lebanon under the Eisenhower doctrine and the three-month rebellion was ended with US intervention.**Christians and Muslims leaders tried to keep Lebanon neutral to maintain the economical and cultural boom that continued exceptionally till the end of the sixties.**(1967-1969) Lebanon maintained a neutral role in the Six-Day War of 1967 between Arab countries and Israel. The war sent another wave of Palestinian refugees to Lebanon.**Saheka, the Syrian-Palestinian guerrilla and PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) militia were increasing in numbers and threatening the stability of Lebanon by controlling the civilian Palestinian refugee camps and other Lebanese territories.**They gained sympathy and support from some groups of Muslims and from Arab-nationalists in Lebanon. The Arab countries prevented any Palestinian martial activities in their lands.**However, they pressured allowing Palestinians using the Lebanese land to mount raids on Israel in the Arab Cairo agreement of 1969. Lebanon started moving toward its darkest phase in modern history.
~*War in Lebanon ( 1970 AD - 1982 AD)
~*War in Lebanon**In 1970, Jordan expelled the PLO from its territories sending many civilian refugees and armed guerrillas into Lebanon. Meanwhile, the communist countries were having economic problems.**Syria was a typical communist country allied with the Soviet Union adapting its economical and political systems. The flourished free-market in its neighboring small country of Lebanon was the capture for Syria.**The dictator of Syria, Hafez Asad, clearly declared his intentions of annexing Lebanon on August 8, 1973 by announcing that ‘Lebanon and Syria are one country and one people yet are run by two governments’.**Arms and funding were flowing to Lebanon and many political parties were turned into armed forces while the Lebanese army was getting weaker and unable to take control. In April 13, 1975, Palestinian gunmen killed four Christian Lebanese in front of a church east of Beirut, while Christian militiamen ambushed a bus load of Palestinians later of the same day.**A brutal fight broke up the war in Lebanon then. In 1976, the Syrian army invaded the Lebanese northern region of Akkar, and advanced into the Bekaa valley east of Lebanon.**A month later, the Syrian dictator delivered his famous speech in the Syrian capital stating that he sent the Syrian army to Lebanon without a permission from any authorities.**The League of Arab Countries tried to sent peace-keeping troops to Lebanon, but they were forced to leave the country for the Syrian army later. The Syrian troops in Lebanon meanwhile worked on silencing the Lebanese voices that were criticizing its martial interference by assassinating several Lebanese national and religious figures.**Palestinian militiamen kept launching attacks from the areas they controlled in South Lebanon against Northern Israel. The Israeli response was more severe and often impacted Lebanese civilians.**The attacks developed into an Israeli invasion of Southern Lebanon in March 1978. The United Nation Interim Forces were deployed in South Lebanon to reduce the tension and the Israeli forces pulled back later.**The Syrian army continued gradually occupying more regions in Lebanon including parts of the capital ‘Beirut’.**In the early eighties, Lebanon was being destroyed with continuous fighting, while PLO militias occupied most of Beirut and kept launching attacks against Northern Israel.~*The Occupation and Liberation of Lebanon**For 22 bitter and devastating years, Israel occupied Lebanese territory. Invading Lebanon in 1978, Israeli forces would remain in varying numbers until forced to withdraw in May 2000. The years of hostile occupation saw domestic feuds, shifting alliances, foreign interference, and continual violence. The occupation was an advancing tide of full-scale military invasions pushing Israeli troops north into Lebanon, and a receding tide of agreements and reconfigurations pulling Israeli troops back into the south. In the end, it was the pride and determination of the Lebanese people that drove Israel out of Lebanon.**In March 1978, Israel introduced its “Litani Operation.†The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) had been actively working from Lebanon. In a quest to extinguish the PLO, Israel launched an aerial assault on Southern Lebanon. The assault destroyed 2500 homes and killed over 2000 Lebanese and Palestinians. Many fled to the North. Many of those who stayed behind were seized by Israeli troops on suspicion of supporting the PLO. Those who were seized were tortured and often killed. The crisis of 1978 was brought back down to a simmer when US President Carter threatened to cut off arms and aid to Israel unless they withdrew their forces from Lebanon. The UN Security Council passed Resolution 425 calling on Israel “immediately to cease its military action against Lebanese territorial integrity and withdraw forthwith its forces from all Lebanese territory.†As Israel withdrew (leaving its SLA in place), the UN sent in 7000 troops as the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).**Israel had succeeded in establishing its SLA in Southern Lebanon. Israel had failed, however, to abolish the PLO. In June 1982, with the assassination attempt in London on the Israeli ambassador to Britain, Israel had its pretext for a renewed invasion of Southern Lebanon. Laying blame on the PLO (which was later absolved of the crime), Israel launched Operation Peace for Galilee: Big Pines Plan. Israeli air raids and Israeli tanks paved the way to Beirut, leaving behind 9500 dead and 16,000 wounded. The army blockaded the city so that there were no supplies coming in; they cut both water and electricity. Then, for 70 days, Israel blasted Beirut with bombs and mortars. On 12 August, Beirut suffered 11 hours of non-stop, saturation bombing. Over 500 people died. The city was destroyed.**In a US-brokered deal, seven Arab countries agreed to take in over 8000 PLO members and their leader, Yasser Arafat, from Beirut. But this eviction, which seemingly met Israel’s stated goal of ridding itself of the PLO, was not enough to end its military operations in Lebanon. Israel and the Phalange party, killed the 1500 or so PLO family members who had stayed behind at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Facing international pressures and strong resistance from within Lebanon, Israel eventually reduced its military presence in 1985—to continue to occupy a vast majority of Southern Lebanon.**Fierce clashes continued between the Israeli forces and the Lebanese Shia Muslims whose land Israel continued to occupy. In 1985 a new political party was formed in response to the chronic violence: the “party of God,†or “Hezbollah†in Arabic. Following the Islamic dictates of social service, they vowed to support and care for their community; as part of that caring, they vowed to resist its foreign occupation.**It was also in 1985 that Israel and its SLA opened Khiam Prison, a detention and interrogation centre where thousands of Lebanese were held without trial, tortured and often killed. But it was not only the ordinary Lebanese civilian that was targeted. In February 1992 Israel assassinated Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Abbas al-Moussawi, together with his wife and son. In response, the new resistance force fired rockets into Israeli settlements in northern occupied Palestine. Retaliating in July 1993, Israel launched the “Seven-Day War.†In 1224 air raids, Israel killed 140, wounded 500, and displaced over 200,000.**Simmering violence again erupted in April 1996. In 16 days, Israeli air raids covered the whole of Lebanon, leaving massive damage to infrastructure, hundreds of thousands displaced, scores injured, and 250 dead. The massacre at Qana, in particular, led to international condemnation of Israel’s continued vicious attacks.**But the Lebanese sought pride, not pity. The Lebanese resistance refused further Israeli insult. Determined to maintain dignity in their lives and to restore dignity to their land, Lebanese resistance missions intensified. Israeli occupation forces suffered heavy losses; its proxy militia SLA was broken. The Lebanese resistance pushed on. Ultimately, on 24 May 2000, Israel was forced to make a hasty exit from Lebanon.**As families returned to Southern Lebanon on the heels of the exiting Israeli troops, members of the Lebanese resistance assured the peaceful nature of the transition. Any SLA members who had not fled with the Israelis were simply turned over to the Lebanese Army. Although the SLA had collaborated with Israel, there was not one act of vengeance on them. The Lebanese reclaimed their homes with the same honor and dignity with which they had fought to regain their long-occupied land. At last, Liberation Day had come.
