Lebanon

The coast of present-day Lebanon held some of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. By the third millennium BCE Byblos was a flourishing port trading cedar timber with Egypt, and along the shore rose the other great Canaanite centres—Berytus (Beirut), Sidon and Tyre. The Greeks would later call these mariners Phoenicians, after the purple dye, Tyrian purple, extracted from murex shells that became one of their most coveted exports. Each city was an independent state with its own king and patron deity: Baal and Baalat at Byblos, Eshmun at Sidon, and Melqart at Tyre.

The Phoenicians' most enduring legacy was the alphabet. At Byblos a linear alphabetic script of twenty-two consonantal signs was in use by the early first millennium BCE, and almost all of the earliest known Phoenician inscriptions come from the site. Adopted and adapted by the Greeks, this writing system became the ancestor of the Greek and Latin alphabets and, through them, of much of the world's scripts. From their narrow coastal base the Phoenicians became the Mediterranean's foremost merchants, sailors and colonisers.

From the ninth century BCE Tyre and Sidon planted trading colonies across the Mediterranean, the greatest of them Carthage in North Africa, traditionally founded in 814 BCE. The home cities prospered as crossroads between the great empires, paying tribute in turn to Assyria, Babylon and Persia while retaining their commercial vigour. Tyre famously withstood a long siege by Nebuchadnezzar II before its independence finally ended; in 332 BCE Alexander the Great captured the island city after building a causeway to its walls, bringing the age of the autonomous Phoenician states to a close.

Turning points

1. c. 3000 BCEFormation

   Byblos trades cedar with Egypt

   Byblos flourishes as a port exporting Lebanese cedar to Egypt, beginning a record of urban habitation that makes it one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

   [1] [5]

2. early 1st millennium BCECulture & Ideas

   The Phoenician alphabet at Byblos

   A twenty-two letter alphabetic script comes into use at Byblos; adopted by the Greeks, it becomes the ancestor of the Greek and Latin alphabets and the writing of much of the world.

   [5] [4] [6]

3. trad. 814 BCEPeoples & Migration

   Tyre founds Carthage

   Tyrian colonists are traditionally credited with founding Carthage, the most powerful of the Phoenician colonies in the western Mediterranean.

   ↗See the data

   [4] [2]

4. 332 BCEWar & Rupture

   Alexander the Great takes Tyre

   After a long siege and the building of a causeway to the island city, Alexander captures Tyre, ending the independence of the Phoenician city-states.

   ↗See the data

   [2] [4]

After Alexander, the Lebanese coast passed to his Hellenistic successors and, from the first century BCE, to Rome. The region grew prosperous within the empire: Berytus became a Roman colony famous for its school of law, while the city of Baalbek, refounded as the colony of Heliopolis, was endowed over more than two centuries with one of the largest temple complexes of the Roman world. Pilgrims thronged to its sanctuaries of Jupiter, Bacchus and Venus, the so-called Heliopolitan Triad; the Temple of Bacchus survives as one of the best-preserved Roman temples anywhere.

Christianity spread early along this coast, where the cities of Tyre and Sidon are named in the Gospels. From the new faith emerged a community that would shape Lebanon for centuries: the Maronites, who traced their origins to Saint Maron, a Syrian ascetic of the late fourth and early fifth centuries, and to the monastery founded in his name on the Orontes. Drawn into the doctrinal disputes that divided eastern Christianity, the Maronites gradually migrated from Syria into the rugged northern mountains of Lebanon, whose isolation offered refuge.

Mount Lebanon's broken terrain became a sanctuary for communities marginalised elsewhere, a pattern that defined the country's distinctive religious mosaic. The Maronites established a self-governing church under their own patriarch and clung to their mountain strongholds through every subsequent change of empire. When Arab Muslim armies swept through the Levant in the 630s, defeating Byzantium, the highlands retained a Christian character even as the wider region was transformed, setting the stage for the long coexistence of mountain peoples that lay ahead.

Turning points

1. 1st–3rd century CECulture & Ideas

   Baalbek becomes Roman Heliopolis

   Refounded as a Roman colony, Baalbek is endowed over more than two centuries with colossal temples to Jupiter, Bacchus and Venus, becoming one of the most famous sanctuaries of the Roman world.

   [3] [7]

2. late 4th–early 5th centuryReligion

   Saint Maron and the Maronite origins

   The Maronite community traces its origin to Saint Maron, a Syrian hermit whose ascetic following grows into a distinct church that later takes refuge in the mountains of Lebanon.

   [8]

3. 636War & Rupture

   Arab Muslim conquest of the Levant

   Arab armies defeat Byzantium and bring the Levant under Muslim rule, while the Christian communities of Mount Lebanon retain their distinct character in the highlands.

   ↗See the data

   [10] [9]

Figures of the era

When the Ottomans conquered Syria in 1516 they left the mountain largely to local chieftains, and from this looser order rose the emirate of Mount Lebanon. Its most remarkable ruler was Fakhr al-Din II of the Druze Maan dynasty (c. 1572–1635), who for the first time brought the Druze and Maronite districts of the mountains under a single authority. Although a Druze, he won the support of the Maronites and by 1631 dominated much of Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. He encouraged trade and silk production, cultivated ties with the Medici grand dukes of Tuscany, and is frequently regarded as the father of modern Lebanon.

Fakhr al-Din's growing power alarmed the Ottomans, who sent an army against him; he was defeated in 1633, captured the following year and executed in Constantinople in 1635. Yet the union of the Druze and Maronite districts that he had forged survived his fall. When the Maan line died out at the end of the seventeenth century, leadership passed to the related Shihab family, who continued to govern the mountain as paramount emirs and tax-farmers under Ottoman overlordship into the nineteenth century.

The most powerful of the Shihabs was Bashir Shihab II (1767–1850), who ruled from Beiteddine for roughly half a century from 1788. Born into a branch of the family that had embraced Maronite Christianity, he was the emirate's only Maronite ruler, presiding over a shift from feudal tenures toward a cash-crop and handicraft economy centred on silk. For a time he allied with the Egyptian invader Ibrahim Pasha, but when Egyptian rule in Syria collapsed under European and Ottoman pressure in 1840, Bashir II was deposed and exiled, and the emirate that had given Mount Lebanon its autonomy came to an end.

Turning points

1. 1516Politics & Power

   Ottoman conquest of Syria

   The Ottomans defeat the Mamluks and take Syria and Lebanon, but leave Mount Lebanon largely to local emirs, allowing a semi-autonomous emirate to develop.

   [10]

2. c. 1590s–1633Formation

   Fakhr al-Din II unites the mountain

   Fakhr al-Din II of the Druze Maan dynasty unites the Druze and Maronite districts of Mount Lebanon, expands his domains across the Levant and cultivates ties with Tuscany.

   [11] [10]

3. 1635War & Rupture

   Execution of Fakhr al-Din II

   Defeated by Ottoman forces wary of his power, Fakhr al-Din is captured and executed in Constantinople, but the union of Druze and Maronite districts he created endures.

   ↗See the data

   [11]

4. 1840Politics & Power

   Fall of Bashir Shihab II

   After siding with Egypt's Ibrahim Pasha, the long-ruling emir Bashir Shihab II is deposed and exiled when Egyptian rule in Syria collapses, ending the autonomous emirate.

   [12] [10]

Figures of the era

The fall of the emirate left Mount Lebanon divided and unsettled. Tensions between Druze landholders and Maronite peasants—sharpened by social change and rival European patronage—erupted in 1860 into a brutal sectarian conflict in which thousands of Christians were killed in the mountain and in Damascus. The figures are disputed, but contemporaries estimated many thousands of deaths. The bloodshed prompted a French-led international intervention, and under European pressure the Ottomans established in 1861 an autonomous Mount Lebanon, the Mutasarrifate, governed by a Christian official and a council representing the sects.

This special status lasted until the First World War, when famine devastated the mountain and the Ottomans imposed direct rule. After the empire's defeat, the victorious powers placed Syria and Lebanon under a French mandate confirmed by the League of Nations. On 1 September 1920 the French high commissioner General Henri Gouraud proclaimed the State of Greater Lebanon, enlarging the old autonomous province with Beirut, Tripoli, Sidon, Tyre and the Bekaa valley. The new borders folded large Sunni, Shi'a and Greek Orthodox populations into a state where Maronites remained the largest single community.

In 1926 Greater Lebanon was reorganised as the Lebanese Republic with a constitution, though France retained ultimate authority. Nationalist pressure mounted, and during the Second World War the Free French promised independence. Elections in 1943 brought to power a government determined to end the mandate; when France arrested the new leaders that November, popular protest and international pressure forced their release, and Lebanon emerged as a sovereign state governed by the confessional National Pact.

Turning points

1. 1860War & Rupture

   Sectarian conflict in Mount Lebanon

   Violence between Druze and Maronites spreads to Damascus and kills many thousands of Christians (figures are disputed estimates), prompting a French-led European intervention.

   ↗See the data

   [10] [17]

2. 1861Politics & Power

   The Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate

   Under European pressure the Ottomans grant Mount Lebanon autonomy as the Mutasarrifate, governed by a Christian official and a council of the religious communities.

   [10]

3. 1 September 1920Colonisation

   Creation of Greater Lebanon

   French High Commissioner Henri Gouraud proclaims the State of Greater Lebanon, enlarging the old province with the coastal cities and the Bekaa under a French mandate.

   ↗See the data

   [10] [9]

4. 1926Politics & Power

   The Lebanese Republic and constitution

   Greater Lebanon is reorganised as the Lebanese Republic with a written constitution, though France retains ultimate authority under the mandate.

   [10]

Figures of the era

Independent Lebanon was built on a delicate confessional compromise. The unwritten National Pact of 1943, agreed between the Maronite president Bechara El Khoury and the Sunni prime minister Riad al-Solh, reserved the presidency for a Maronite, the premiership for a Sunni and the speakership of parliament for a Shi'a, and balanced the country's Western and Arab orientations. The United States recognised Lebanon's independence in September 1944, and the last French troops left at the end of 1946, completing the transition to sovereignty.

Freed from the mandate, Lebanon flourished. Liberal banking laws, a free-market economy and a strategic position between East and West made Beirut the financial centre of the Middle East and a magnet for trade, tourism and the press. From the mid-1950s into the early 1970s—remembered as Lebanon's golden age—the capital was celebrated as the Paris of the Middle East, a cosmopolitan city of universities, publishers, beaches and nightlife whose glamour drew visitors from across the region and beyond.

Yet beneath the prosperity strains accumulated. The 1932 census on which confessional shares were based was never repeated, even as the demographic balance shifted; wealth was unevenly distributed; and the country was buffeted by regional currents, including the influx of Palestinian refugees and the growing presence of Palestinian guerrilla organisations after 1967. Sharp disputes over the role of the armed Palestinian factions, and over the confessional system itself, steadily polarised Lebanese politics and brought the republic to the brink of breakdown.

Turning points

1. 1943Politics & Power

   The National Pact

   Bechara El Khoury and Riad al-Solh agree the unwritten National Pact distributing the presidency, premiership and parliamentary speakership among Maronites, Sunnis and Shi'a.

   [17] [10]

2. 8 September 1944Independence

   U.S. recognition of Lebanon

   The United States formally recognises Lebanon as an independent state, and establishes diplomatic relations later that year.

   ↗See the data

   [18]

3. 31 December 1946Independence

   French withdrawal completed

   The last French troops leave Lebanon, completing the country's transition to full sovereignty.

   ↗See the data

   [10] [18]

4. c. 1955–1975Economy & Trade

   Beirut, the Paris of the Middle East

   Lebanon's golden age makes Beirut the banking, commercial and cultural capital of the region, renowned for its cosmopolitan prosperity.

   ↗See the data

   [9] [10]

Figures of the era

Lebanon's civil war began on 13 April 1975 and lasted until 1990, drawing in a shifting array of confessional militias and outside powers. Estimates of the dead vary widely and are necessarily approximate, commonly placed in the range of roughly 120,000 to 150,000. Syrian forces entered in 1976, and Israel invaded in 1982, besieging Beirut and driving out the Palestine Liberation Organization; the assassination of president-elect Bashir Gemayel and the Sabra and Shatila massacre followed. The Taif Agreement of 1989 ended most of the fighting and adjusted the confessional balance, shifting power from the Maronite president toward the Sunni prime minister and cabinet.

The post-war Second Republic was rebuilt under Syrian tutelage. Prime Minister Rafic Hariri led an ambitious reconstruction of Beirut, but the country remained under Syrian military presence and the growing influence of Hezbollah, the Shi'a movement that had emerged during the war and the Israeli occupation of the south. Hariri's assassination by a car bomb on 14 February 2005, which killed him and many others, triggered the mass protests of the Cedar Revolution and led Syria to withdraw its troops after nearly three decades. A United Nations–backed tribunal later convicted a Hezbollah operative in absentia for the killing.

The years that followed brought recurring political deadlock, a 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, and spillover from the Syrian conflict. From 2019 Lebanon fell into one of the most severe economic crises in modern history, its currency and banking system collapsing; on 4 August 2020 a vast store of ammonium nitrate detonated at the port of Beirut, killing more than two hundred people and devastating the capital. After years of paralysis, parliament elected army commander Joseph Aoun president in January 2025, and a technocratic government under Prime Minister Nawaf Salam took up the tasks of reconstruction and reform amid renewed Israel–Hezbollah fighting and a November 2024 ceasefire, leaving Lebanon's recovery still uncertain into 2026.

Turning points

1. 13 April 1975War & Rupture

   The Lebanese Civil War

   Fighting erupts in Beirut and escalates into a fifteen-year civil war that draws in Syria, Israel and many militias; deaths are estimated, very approximately, in the range of 120,000–150,000.

   ↗See the data

   [13] [17]

2. 1982War & Rupture

   Israeli invasion and siege of Beirut

   Israel invades Lebanon and besieges Beirut, forcing out the PLO; the assassination of president-elect Bashir Gemayel is followed by the Sabra and Shatila massacre.

   ↗See the data

   [13]

3. 1989Politics & Power

   The Taif Agreement

   Brokered with Arab support, the Taif Agreement winds down the war and rebalances the confessional system, shifting authority from the Maronite president to the Sunni prime minister and cabinet.

   [13] [17]

4. 14 February 2005Politics & Power

   Hariri assassination and the Cedar Revolution

   A car bomb kills former prime minister Rafic Hariri and others; mass protests known as the Cedar Revolution lead Syria to withdraw its forces after nearly thirty years.

   [14] [16] [15]

5. 2019–presentCatastrophe

   Economic collapse and the Beirut port explosion

   From 2019 Lebanon suffers one of the world's worst economic crises; on 4 August 2020 an ammonium-nitrate explosion at the port of Beirut kills more than 200 people and devastates the capital.

   ↗See the data

   [19] [15]

Figures of the era