| Lebanon has both an incredible physical and spiritual beauty. However, it is the history of the nation, and the strategic role it has played throughout the ages’ dating as far back 4,000 years ago that is the most spectacular. The Lebanese are direct descendants of the sea-faring Phoenicians considered to be one of the great races of the ancient world. Not only were the Phoenicians outstanding sailors and traders, they are also famous for two major achievements: they were among the first to explore and colonize areas in the Mediterranean beyond the Strait of Gibraltar; and they left their alphabet to the Western world.
Despite their great achievements, the Phoenicians fell to the Chaldeans and than the Persians in the sixth century BC. Throughout subsequent centuries the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, and Ottomans all ruled over Lebanon. But the conquest was never final. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, two prominent families, the Maans and the Chehabs, fought to protect and to extend Lebanon’s autonomy. After the death of Bashir II in 1840, the Ottomans pursued a policy of direct rule over Lebanon, resulting in the Civil War of the 1860s. This prompted several European powers to intervene, and they guaranteed the autonomy of Lebanon until 1914. Following the First World War, the League of Nations assigned Lebanon to France. Lebanon became a republic in 1926 and achieved independence from France in 1943. | |
