Lebanon Today – The Phoenicia of Yesterday
The country was under the rule of the Turkish Empire for 400 years until the end of the First World War, in 1918. Year in which France declared it its Protectorate until 1943, when it granted independence.
The colonial powers, England and France, defined its borders, naturally responding to their interests after the partition of Palestine in 1948, to create the State of Israel. The great Syria, which included what today is Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan and other territories, disappeared and was reduced to its current borders. Only in 2008, Damascus established diplomatic relations with Lebanon in a de facto recognition of its independence.
Today, the number of inhabitants is estimated at 6,082,357 million1 even though the last census was made in 19322. These are divided into 18 religious creeds among Sunni Muslims, Shiites and Alawites; Christian Maronites, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Catholics, Melkites and Protestants along with Druze, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Copts. Which, among many others, make up the country of only 10,452 km2, which means a density of 582 inhabitants per km2.
