The Republic of Lebanon is a small country bordered by the Mediterranean Sea, Syria, and Israel. Originally home to the Phoenicians (who invented an early phonetic alphabet!), Lebanon has a rich cultural history, which some say dates back as far as 7,000 years. After World War 1, Lebanon was mandated to France, so there is a great deal of French influence here, including the architecture and the language (French and English are second languages here, after the official language of Arabic). At one time, Lebanon was referred to as “Paris of the Middle East.” Lebanon became independent in 1943. The capital city (and home to most of the population) is Beirut. Lebanon is a parliamentary democracy, which implements a special system known as confessionalism, which is intended to fairly represent the demographic distribution of the 18 recognized religious groups in government. The majority of Lebanese are Muslim, but there are high numbers of Christians and Catholics as well.
Lebanon was engaged in a civil war that lasted from 1975-1990, resulting in significant loss of lives, property and the economy. There was also a war in 2006 between Israel and Lebanon, which resulted in serious damage to the city of Beirut. Now, Beirut is undergoing growth and rebuilding and is a popular tourist destination.
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