Profile of Lebanon

Official name: Republic of Lebanon Independent since: 1943

Former colonial rulers: Ottoman Empire; France Location: eastern shore of Mediterranean Sea Area: 4,015 square miles Capital: Beirut

Population: 3.7 million (2002 est.)

Official language: Arabic

Major religions: Islam; Christianity

Gross domestic product: US$18.8 billion (2001 est.)

Major exports: re-exports; paper products; food and livestock; machinery and transport equipment

Military expenditures: US$343 million (2000)

The power politics of the Arabs, Islamic dynasties, Christian Crusaders from the West, and the Ottoman Turks. During the era of the Ottoman Empire many residents of Lebanon, such as the Maronite Christians who formally united with the Roman Catholic Church in 1736, were strongly influenced by French politics.

The territory of Mount Lebanon was established as an autonomous district of the Ottoman Empire in 1861. Foreign missionaries founded the American University of Beirut in 1866 and Beirut's French Saint Joseph's University in 1875. These influential universities produced new intellectual leaders, who formed political parties that aimed for equal rights for Muslims and Turks and cultivated a new sense of Arab identity.

When Ottoman Turkey entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary) in 1914, Lebanon suffered as much or more than any other Ottoman territory, as harsh suppression of protests resulted in executions and a blockade around Lebanon that caused famine and plague.

Following the San Remo Conference at the conclusion of World War I, Lebanon was occupied by Allied forces and was established as a nation in 1920 after the inclusion of some additional territories by French general Henri Gouraud.

In 1923 the League of Nations, the predecessor of the United Nations (U. N.), formally gave the predominantly Catholic French the mandate for Lebanon and neighboring Syria.

In September, 1940, Gouraud formally proclaimed the expansion of prewar Lebanon into Greater Lebanon, with Beirut as its capital, thus expanding Lebanese territory eastward across the

Bekaa Valley to the crest of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains and southward to the present border of Israel. This expansion shifted the population's ethnic balance and fueled the ongoing bitter debate over governmental representation for Lebanon's diverse religious communities.

Following the 1940 German victory over France during World War II, Lebanon was controlled by the Vichy government (named for the city where the German-controlled French government ruled). In July, 1941, Lebanon was occupied by the British and Free French. On November 26, 1941, General Georges Catroux, acting for Free French general Charles de Gaulle, proclaimed Lebanon's independence. However, the new state did not achieve full independence until 1943.

The Free French were initially reluctant to relinquish full control to the Lebanese and arrested almost the entire government on November 11, 1942. The Free French later succumbed to British diplomatic intervention, and the withdrawal of British and French troops was completed by the end of 1946.

Christian leaders of the Constitutional Bloc led by Beshara al-Khoury then reached an unwritten agreement with Muslim leaders that became known as the National Pact. This arrangement defined Lebanon as a sovereign country that would retain its distinct Arab character while allowing for the equitable representation of ethnic-religious groups within its political structure.