Mount Lebanon (, ; , ; ) is a mountain range in Lebanon. It is about long and averages above in elevation, with its peak at . The range provides a typical alpine climate year-round.
Mount Lebanon is well-known for its snow-covered mountains, home to surviving Cedrus libani forests and diverse high-altitude flora and fauna. The name Lebanon itself originates from the white, snow-covered tops of this mountain range.
Lebanon has historically been defined by the mountains, which provided protection for the local population. In Lebanon, changes in scenery are related less to geographical distances than to . The mountains were known for their oak and pine forests. The last remaining old growth groves of the famous Cedrus libani are on the high slopes of Mount Lebanon, in the Cedars of God World Heritage Site.
The used the forests of Mount Lebanon to build their ship fleet and to trade with their neighbors. The most notable example is the First Temple built by Solomon who used cedar wood sent by Hiram I of Tyre . Phoenicians and successor rulers consistently replanted and restocked the range; even as late as the 16th century, its forested area was considerable.An Occasion for War, Civil Conflict in Lebanon and Damascus in 1860, Leila Tarazi Fawaz.
Eusebius records that the Emperor Constantine destroyed a temple of Venus on the summit of Mount Lebanon.Eusebius 'Life of Constantine' III.54 After the 5th century AD, Christian monks who were followers of a hermit named Maron, arrived from the Orontes river valley in Northern Syria and began preaching their religion to the inhabitants of the northernmost parts of the mountain range. In the late 8th century a group known as the Mardaites (also Jarajima) settled in North Lebanon following the order of the Byzantine Empire Emperor; their mission was to raid Islamic territories in Syria. They merged with the local population, refusing to leave after the emperor struck a deal with the Muslim Caliph of Damascus; thus, they became part of the Maronites society. In 1291 after the fall of Acre, the last crusader outpost in the Levant, remnants of the European settlers who succeeded in escaping capture by the settled in the Northern part of Lebanon and become part of the Maronite society.
Mount Lebanon has been visited and called home by many Islam ascetics and Sufism since the 7th century, mentioned by many travelers to the region, few of which are known by name such as Shiban al-Muallah and Abbas al-Majnun. In the 10th century, Twelver Shia Islam communities were likely established in Kisrawan and the adjacent area to the north when Shia Islam Islam was in the ascendant in Tripoli and the Islamic world at large. In the 13th century, a significant Shia population dominated Keserwan stretching out as far north as Dinniyeh, where reportedly the Shia feudal lord family, the Hamadas, were entrusted with tax-collection in 1470. Subject to harsh military campaigns and state policies put forth by the Mamluk Sultanate and Ottoman Turks over the centuries, this Shia population decreased over time and was driven to settle in Southern Lebanon and the Bekaa valley, becoming a small minority in Mount Lebanon by the 19th century.
In the 9th century, tribes from the "Harim Mountains" area north of Aleppo in Syria began settling the southern half of the mountain range. These tribes were known as the Tanukhids and in the 11th century they converted to the Druze faith and ruled the areas of Mount Lebanon stretching from Metn in the north to Jezzine in the south. This entire area became known as the 'Jabal ad-Duruz'. In the early 17th century, Emir Fakhr-al-Din II was entrusted as the main tax-collector and land-assigner in the Druze part of the mountains known as the Chouf. In an effort to re-populate the Chouf after the 1585 Ottoman expedition, Fakhreddine opened the door to Christians and in particular the Maronite settlement of the Chouf and Metn.
During the Ottoman era, the Qays–Yaman rivalry saw a resurgence in Mount Lebanon. The feud was mostly fought out between different Druze clans until the Battle of Ain Dara in 1711 led to the near complete exodus of Yamani Druze.
Throughout the 18th century and into the 19th century more and more Maronites settled in the Druze regions of the Mount. The Druze viewed these Maronite settlements as a threat to their power in Mount Lebanon and in a series of clashes in the 1840s and 1860s, a miniature civil war erupted in the area resulting in the massacre of thousands of Christians. United Nations Decade on Human Rights Education, 1995-2005 The Druze won militarily, but not politically, because European powers (mainly France and Great Britain) intervened on behalf of the Maronites and divided Mount Lebanon into two areas; Druze and Maronite. Seeing their authority decline in Mount Lebanon, a few Lebanese Druze began migrating to the new Jabal al-Druze in southern Syria. In 1861, the "Mount Lebanon" autonomous district was established within the Ottoman Empire system, under an international guarantee.
For centuries, the Maronites of the region have been protected by the noble Khazen family, which was endowed the responsibility by Pope Clement X and Louis XIV and given Sheikh status in return for guarding the princes Fakhr-al-Din II and Younès al-Maani. The sword of the Maronite Prince . Khazen.org. Origins of the "Prince of Maronite" Title . Khazen.org. An Interview with Cheikh Malek el-Khazen . CatholicAnalysis.org. Published: 28 July 2014. The Khazen crest reflects the family's special closeness to Mount Lebanon, with snowy mountains and a cedar tree depicted. The Khazen Crest (image). LES KHAZEN CONSULS DE FRANCE . Khazen.org. ( English Translation )
During the Lebanese Civil War of 1983-84, Mount Lebanon became the site of the Mountain War. The sub-conflict resulted in a victory for the LNRF, causing factors of the Lebanese Armed Forces to withdraw from the southern summit.
For decades, the Christians pressured the European powers to award them self determination by extending their small Lebanese territory to what they dubbed "Greater Lebanon", referring to a geographic unit comprising Mount Lebanon and its coast, and the Beqaa Valley to its east. After the First World War, France took hold of the formerly Ottoman holdings in the northern Levant, and expanded the borders of Mount Lebanon in 1920 to form Greater Lebanon, which was to be populated by remnants of the Middle Eastern Christian community. The Christians ended up gaining territorially, but the new borders merely ended the demographic dominance of Christians in the newly created territory of Lebanon.
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