Coordinates: 33°53′13″N 35°30′47″E / 33.88694°N 35.51306°E / 33.88694; 35.51306

Beirut بيروت Beyrouth
Flag Seal
Beirut Location in Lebanon. The surrounding district can be seen on the map.
Coordinates: 33°53′13″N 35°30′47″E / 33.88694°N 35.51306°E / 33.88694; 35.51306
Country	Lebanon
Governorate	Beirut, Capital City
Government
• Mayor	Bilal Hamad
Area
• City	20 km2 (8 sq mi)
• Urban	100 km2 (40 sq mi)
• Metro	200 km2 (80 sq mi)
Population
• City	361,366 (UN)[1]
• Urban	1,900,000
• Metro	2,250,000 ~ 3,000,000
Time zone	+2
• Summer (DST)	+3 (UTC)
Website	City of Beirut

Beirut (Arabic: بيروت‎ Bayrūt, Greek: Βηρυττός, Latin: Berytus, French: Beyrouth, Hebrew: ביירות‎ Beyrut) is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. As there has been no recent population census, the exact population is unknown; estimates in 2007 ranged from slightly less than 1 million to slightly more than 2 million. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coast, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport. The Beirut metropolitan area consists of the city and its suburbs. The first mention of this metropolis is found in the ancient Egyptian Tell el Amarna letters, dating from the 15th century BC. The city has been inhabited continuously since then.

Beirut is Lebanon's seat of government and plays a central role in the Lebanese economy, with many banks and corporations based in its city centre, Hamra Street, Rue Verdun and Ashrafieh. The city is the focal point of the region's cultural life, renowned for its press, theatres, cultural activities and nightlife. After the destructive Lebanese Civil War, Beirut underwent major reconstruction,^[2][3][4] and the redesigned historic city centre, marina, pubs and nightlife districts have once again made it a tourist attraction. Beirut was named the top place to visit by The New York Times in 2009,^[5] and as one of the ten liveliest cities in the world by Lonely Planet in the same year.^[6]

In 2011 MasterCard Index revealed that Beirut had the second-highest visitor spending levels in the Middle East and Africa. Dubai came in first with $7.8 billion, followed by Beirut with $6.5 billion, Tel Aviv with $3.8 billion, Cairo with $3.7 billion and Johannesburg with $3.3 billion.^[7]

Archaeology and Prehistory[link]

Canaanean Blade. Suggested to be part of a javelin. Fresh grey flint, both sides showing pressure flaking. Somewhat narrower at the base, suggesting a haft. Polished at the extreme point. Found on land of the Lebanese Evangelical School for Girls in the Patriarchate area of Beirut.

Several prehistoric archaeological sites were discovered within the urban area of Beirut, revealing flint tools of sequential periods dating from the Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic, and through the Neolithic to the Bronze Age.

Beirut I, or Minet el Hosn, was listed as "Beyrouth ville" by L. Burkhalter and said to be on the beach near the Orent and Bassoul Hotels on the Avenue des Français in central Beirut.^[8][9] The site was discovered by Lortet in 1894 and discussed by Godefroy Zumoffen in 1900.^[10] The flint industry from the site was described as Mousterian and is held by the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon.^[11]

Beirut II, or Umm el Khatib, was suggested by L. Burkhalter to have been north of Tarik el Jedideh, where P.E. Gigues discovered a Copper Age flint industry at around one hundred meters above sea level. The site was built on and destroyed by 1948.^[11]

Beirut III, Furn esh Shebbak or Plateau Tabet, was suggested to have been located on the left bank of the Beirut River. L. Burkhalter suggested that it was west of the Damascus road, although this determination has been criticized by Lorraine Copeland.^[11] P. E. Gigues discovered a series of Neolithic flint tools on the surface along with the remains of a structure suggested to be a hut circle. Auguste Bergy discussed polished axes that were also found at this site, which has now completely disappeared as a result of construction and urbanization of the area.^[12]

Beirut IV, or Furn esh Shebbak, river banks, was also on the left bank of the river and on either side of the road leading eastwards from the Furn esh Shebbak police station towards the river that marked the city limits. The area was covered in red sand that represented Quaternary river terraces. The site was found by Jesuit Father Dillenseger and published by fellow Jesuits Godefroy Zumoffen,^[10] Raoul Describes^[13] and Auguste Bergy.^[12] Collections from the site were made by Bergy, Describes and another Jesuit, Paul Bovier-Lapierre. A large number of Middle Paleolithic flint tools were found on the surface and in side gullies that drain into the river. They included around 50 varied bifaces accredited to the Acheulean period, some with a lustrous sheen, now held at the Museum of Lebanese Prehistory. Henri Fleisch also found an Emireh point amongst material from the site, which has now disappeared beneath buildings.

Beirut V, or Nahr Beirut (Beirut River), was discovered by Dillenseger and said to be in an orchard of Mulberry trees on the left bank of the river, near the river mouth, and to be close to the railway station and bridge to Tripoli. Levallois flints and bones and similar surface material were found amongst brecciated deposits.^[14] The area has now been built on.^[15]

Beirut VI, or Patriarchate, was a site discovered while building on the property of the Lebanese Evangelical School for Girls in the Patriarchate area of Beirut. It was notable for the discovery of a finely styled Canaanean blade javelin suggested to date to the Néolithique Ancien or Néolithique Moyen periods of Byblos and held in the school library.^[11]

Beirut VII, or Rivoli Cinema and Byblos Cinema sites near the Bourj in the Rue el Arz area, are two sites discovered by Lorraine Copeland and Peter Wescombe in 1964 and examined by Diana Kirkbride and Roger Saidah. One site was behind the parking lot of the Byblos Cinema and showed collapsed walls, pits, floors, charcoal, pottery and flints. The other, overlooking a cliff west of the Rivoli Cinema, was composed of three layers resting on limestone bedrock. Fragments of blades and broad flakes were recovered from the first layer of black soil, above which some Bronze Age pottery was recovered in a layer of grey soil. Pieces of Roman pottery and mosaics were found in the upper layer.^[11] Middle Bronze Age tombs were found in this area, and the ancient tell of Beirut is thought to be in the Bourj area.^[16]

History[link]

Beirut's history goes back more than 5000 years.^[17] According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, its antiquity is indicated by its name, derived from the Canaanite be'erot ("wells"), referring to the underground water table that is still tapped by the local inhabitants for general use.^[18][19] Excavations in the downtown area have unearthed layers of Phoenician, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Crusader and Ottoman remains.^[20] The first historical reference to Beirut dates from the 14th century BC, when it is mentioned in the cuneiform^[19] tablets of the Amarna letters, three letters that Ammunira of Biruta^[21] (Beirut) sent to the pharaoh of Egypt.^[22] Biruta is also referenced in the letters from Rib-Hadda, king of Byblos. The oldest settlement was on an island in the river that progressively silted up. The city was known in antiquity as Berytus. This name was taken in 1934 for the archaeological journal published by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the American University of Beirut.^[23]

Hellenistic/Roman period[link]

In 140 BC the city was destroyed by Diodotus Tryphon in his contest with Antiochus VII Sidetes for the throne of the Macedonian Seleucid monarchy. Beirut was soon rebuilt on a more conventional Hellenistic plan and renamed Laodicea in Phoenicia (Greek: Λαοδικεια ή του Φοινίκη) or Laodicea in Canaan in honor of a Seleucid Laodice. The modern city overlies the ancient one and little archaeology was carried out until after the end of the civil war in 1991. Large sites in the devastated city center have now been opened to archaeological exploration. A dig in 1994 established that one of Beirut's modern streets, Souk Tawile, still follows the lines of an ancient Greek and Roman one.

Mid first century coins from Berytus bear the head of Tyche, goddess of fortune; on the reverse, the city's symbol appears: a dolphin entwines an anchor. This symbol was taken up by the early printer Aldus Manutius in 15th century Venice. Beirut was conquered by Agrippa in 64 BC. The city was assimilated into the Roman empire, veteran soldiers were sent there, and large building projects were undertaken.^[24][25][26] Beirut was considered the most Roman city in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.^[27]

In 14 BC, during the reign of Herod the Great, Berytus became a colonia and was named Colonia Iulia Augusta Felix Berytus. Its law school was widely known;^[28] two of Rome's most famous jurists, Papinian and Ulpian, both natives of Phoenicia, taught there under the Severan emperors. When Justinian assembled his Pandects in the 6th century, a large part of the corpus of laws was derived from these two jurists, and in 533 Justinian recognized the school as one of the three official law schools of the empire. After the 551 Beirut earthquake^[19][24][29] the students were transferred to Sidon.^[30]

View of Beirut with snow-capped Mount Sannine in the background – 19th century

Middle Ages[link]

Beirut passed into Arab control in 635^[25][31] and was ruled by the Arslan Family, Arabs from Yemen descended from the Lakhmids,^{[citation needed]} from 635 to 1110.^{[citation needed]} Prince Arslan bin al-Mundhir founded the Principality of Sin-el-Fil in Beirut in 759 AD. From this Principality developed the later Principality of Mount Lebanon, which was the basis for the establishment of Greater Lebanon, today's Lebanon.^{[citation needed]} As a trading centre of the eastern Mediterranean, Beirut was overshadowed by Acre during the Middle Ages. From 1110 to 1291 it was in the hands of the Crusaders' Kingdom of Jerusalem. John of Ibelin, the Old Lord of Beirut (1179–1236) rebuilt the city after the battles with Saladin and also built the Ibelin family palace in Beirut.^[31]

Ottoman rule[link]

Pine Forest of Beirut, 1914

Beirut was controlled by local Druze emirs throughout the Ottoman period.^[32] One of them, Fakhr-al-Din II, fortified it early in the 17th century,^[33] but the Ottomans reclaimed it in 1763.^[33] With the help of Damascus, Beirut successfully broke Acre's monopoly on Syrian maritime trade and for a few years supplanted it as the main trading centre in the region. During the succeeding epoch of rebellion against Ottoman hegemony in Acre under Jezzar Pasha and Abdullah Pasha, Beirut declined to a small town with a population of about 10,000 and was an object of contention between the Ottomans, the local Druze, and the Mamluks. After Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt captured Acre in 1832,^[34] Beirut began its revival.

By the second half of the nineteenth century, Beirut was developing close commercial and political ties with European imperial powers, particularly France. European interests in Lebanese silk and other export products transformed the city into a major port and commercial centre. Meanwhile, Ottoman power in the region continued to decline. Sectarian and religious conflicts, power vacuums, and changes in the political dynamics of the region culminated in the 1860 Lebanon conflict. Beirut became a destination for Maronite Christian refugees fleeing from the worst areas of the fighting on Mount Lebanon and in Damascus.^[35] This in turn altered the ethnic composition of Beirut itself, sowing the seeds of future ethnic and religious troubles there and in greater Lebanon. However, Beirut was able to prosper in the meantime. This was again a product of European intervention, and also a general realization amongst the city's residents that commerce, trade, and prosperity depended on domestic stability.^[36]

In 1888, Beirut was made capital of a vilayet (governorate) in Syria,^[37] including the sanjaks (prefectures) Latakia, Tripoli, Beirut, Acre and Bekaa.^[38] By this time, Beirut had grown into a very cosmopolitan city and had close links with Europe and the United States. It also became a centre of missionary activity that spawned impressive educational institutions, such as the American University of Beirut. Provided with water from a British company and gas from a French one, silk exports to Europe came to dominate the local economy. After French engineers established a modern harbor in 1894 and a rail link across Lebanon to Damascus and Aleppo in 1907, much of the trade was carried by French ships to Marseille. French influence in the area soon exceeded that of any other European power. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica reported a population consisting of 36,000 Muslims, 77,000 Christians, 2500 Jews, 400 Druze and 4100 foreigners.

An aerial panoramic view of Beirut in the last third of the 19th century

Modern era[link]

The Green Line that separated west and east Beirut, 1982

After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire following World War I, Beirut, along with the rest of Lebanon, was placed under the French Mandate. Lebanon achieved independence in 1943, and Beirut became its capital city. The city remained a regional intellectual capital, becoming a major tourist destination and a banking haven, especially for the Persian Gulf oil boom. This era of relative prosperity ended in 1975 when the Lebanese Civil War broke out throughout the country.^[39][40] During most of the war, Beirut was divided between the Muslim west part and the Christian east.^[41] The downtown area, previously the home of much of the city's commercial and cultural activity, became a no man's land known as the Green Line. Many inhabitants fled to other countries. About 60,000 people died in the first two years of the war (1975–1976), and much of the city was devastated. A particularly destructive period was the 1978 Syrian siege of Achrafiyeh, the main Christian district of Beirut. Syrian troops relentlessly bombed the eastern quarter of the city, but Christian militias defeated multiple attempts by Syria's elite forces to capture the strategic area in a three-month campaign later known as the Hundred Days' War. Another destructive chapter was the 1982 Lebanon War, during which most of West Beirut was under siege by Israeli troops. In 1983, French and US barracks were bombed, killing 241 American servicemen, 58 French servicemen, 6 civilians and the 2 suicide bombers.^[42][43][44]

Since the end of the war in 1990, the people of Lebanon have been rebuilding Beirut, and by the start of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict the city had somewhat regained its status as a tourist, cultural and intellectual center in the Middle East and as a centre for commerce, fashion, and media. The reconstruction of downtown Beirut has been largely driven by Solidere, a development company established in 1994 by Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. The city has been host to the Asian Club Basketball Championship and the Asian Football Cup and has hosted the Miss Europe pageant eight times, 1960–1964, 1999, 2001–2002.

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri was assassinated in 2005 near the Saint George Bay in Beirut.^[45][46] A month later about one million people gathered for an opposition rally in Beirut.^[47][48] The Cedar Revolution was the largest rally in Lebanon's history at that time.^[49] The last Syrian troops withdrew from Beirut on 26 April 2005,^[50] and the two countries established diplomatic relations on 15 October 2008.^[51]

During the 2006 Lebanon War, Israeli bombardments seeking Hezbollah targets caused damage in many parts of Beirut, especially the poorer and largely Shiite South Beirut, which is controlled by Hezbollah. In May 2008, after the government decided to disband Hezbollah's communications network (a decision it later rescinded), violent clashes broke out briefly between government allies and opposition forces, before control of the city was handed over to the Lebanese Army. After this a national dialogue conference was held in Doha at the invitation of the Prince of Qatar. The conference agreed to appoint a new president of Lebanon and to establish a new national government involving all the political adversaries. As a result of the Doha Agreement, the opposition's camp in the capital was removed.^{[clarification needed][citation needed]}

Geography[link]

Pigeons' Rock (Raouché)

Beirut seen from SPOT satellite

Beirut sits on a peninsula extending westward into the Mediterranean Sea^[52] about 94 km (58 mi) north of the Lebanon-Israel border.^[53] It is flanked by the Lebanon Mountains and has taken on a triangular shape, largely influenced by its situation between and atop two hills: Al-Ashrafieh and Al-Musaytibah. The Beirut Governorate occupies 18 square kilometres (6.9 sq mi), and the city's metropolitan area 67 square kilometres (26 sq mi).^[52] The coast is rather diverse, with rocky beaches, sandy shores and cliffs situated beside one another.

Climate[link]

Beirut has a Mediterranean climate characterized by a hot, humid yet rainless summer, a pleasant autumn and spring, and a cool, rainy winter. August is the hottest month, with a monthly average high temperature of 32 °C (90 °F), and January and February are the coldest months, with a monthly average low temperature of 10 °C (50 °F). The prevailing wind during the afternoon and evening is from the west (onshore, blowing in from the Mediterranean); at night it reverses to offshore, blowing from the land out to sea.

The average annual rainfall is 890 millimetres (35 in), with the majority falling in winter, autumn and spring. Much of the autumn and spring rain falls in heavy downpours on a limited number of days, but in winter it is spread more evenly over a large number of days. Summer receives very little rainfall, if any. Snow is rare and does not usually settle, but hail and sleet can occur quite often in winter. Large snowstorms, however, occurred in 1920, 1942 and 1950.