Lebanon: Map & History

History

The Natufian culture was the first to become sedentary at around 12000 BC.

Evidence of early settlement in Lebanon was found in Byblos, considered among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. 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.

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.

Government and politics

Lebanon is a parliamentary democracy that includes confessionalism. The National Pact, erected in 1943, laid out a governing arrangement intended to harmonize the interests of the country's major religious groups. The president has to be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, the speaker of the Parliament a Shi'a Muslim, the deputy prime minister and the deputy speaker of Parliament Eastern Orthodox. This system is intended to deter sectarian conflict and to represent fairly the demographic distribution of the 18 recognized religious groups in government.

Until 1975, Freedom House considered Lebanon to be among only two (together with Israel) politically free countries in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Economy

Lebanon's constitution states that 'the economic system is free and ensures private initiative and the right to private property'. Lebanon's economy follows a laissez-faire model. Most of the economy is dollarized, and the country has no restrictions on the movement of capital across its borders. The Lebanese government's intervention in foreign trade is minimal. The Investment Development Authority of Lebanon was established with the aim of promoting investment in Lebanon. In 2001, Investment Law No.360 was enacted to reinforce the organisation's mission.

Lebanon is now suffering the worst economic crisis in decades. As of 2023, the GDP has shrunk by 40% since 2018, and the currency has experienced a significant depreciation of 95%.

Culture

The culture of Lebanon reflects the legacy of various civilizations spanning thousands of years. Originally home to the Canaanite-Phoenicians, and then conquered and occupied by the Assyrians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs, the Crusaders, the Ottoman Turks and most recently the French, Lebanese culture has over the millennia evolved by borrowing from all of these groups.