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BEIRUT or BEYROUT. (I) A vilayet of See also:Syria, constituted as recently as 1888, which stretches along the See also:sea-See also:coast from See also:Jebel el-Akra, See also:south of the See also:Orontes, to the Nahr Zerka, south of See also:Mount See also:Carmel, and towards the south extends from the Mediterranean to the See also:Jordan. It includes five sanjaks, See also:Latakia, See also:Tripoli, Beirut, See also:Acre and Buka'a. (2) The See also:chief See also:town of the vilayet (anc. Berytus), the most important seaport town in Syria, situated on the south See also:side of St See also:George's See also:Bay, on rising ground at the See also:foot of See also:Lebanon. Pop. 120,000 (Moslems, 36,000; Christians, 77,000; See also:Jews, 2500; See also:Druses, 400; foreigners, 4100). Berytus, whether it is to be identified with See also:Hebrew Berothai or not (2 Sam. viii. 8; Ezek. xlvii. 16), was one of the most See also:ancient settlements on the Phoenician coast; but nothing more than the name is known of. it till B.C. 140, when the town was taken and destroyed by Tryphon in his contest with See also:Antiochus VII. for the See also:throne of the Seleucids. It duly passed under See also:Rome, was much favoured by the Herods and became a colonia. It was famous for its See also:schools, especially that of See also:law, from the 4th See also:century A.D. onwards. Justinian recognized it as one of the three See also:official law schools of the See also:empire (A.D. 533), but within a few years, as the result of a disastrous See also:earthquake (551), the students were transferred to See also:Sidon. In the following century it passed to the See also:Arabs (635), and was not again a See also:Christian See also:city till 1111, when See also:Baldwin captured it. See also:Saladin retook it in 1187, and thenceforward, for six centuries and a See also:half, whoever its nominal lords may have been, Saracen, Crusader, See also:Mameluke or (from the 16th century) Turk, the Druse emirs of Lebanon dominated it (see DRUSES). One of these, Fakr ed-Din Maan II., fortified it See also:early in the 17th century; but the See also:Turks asserted themselves in 1763 and occupied the See also:place. During the succeeding See also:epoch of See also:rebellion at Acre under Jezzar and Abdullah pashas, Beirut declined to a small town of about Io,000 souls, in dispute between the Druses, the Turks and the pashas,—a See also:state of things which lasted till See also:Ibrahim See also:Pasha captured Acre in 1832. When the See also:powers moved against the Egyptians in 1840, Beirut had recently been occupied in force by Ibrahim as a menace to the Druses; but he was easily driven out after a destructive See also:bombardment by See also:Admiral See also:Sir See also:Robert Stopford (1768-1847). Since the pacification of the Lebanon after the See also:massacre of the Christians in 186o (for later See also:history, see LEBANON), Beirut has greatly increased in extent, and has become the centre of the transit See also:trade for all See also:southern Syria. In 1894 a See also:harbour, constructed by a See also:French See also:company, was opened, but the insecurity of the See also:outer roadstead militates against its success. Nevertheless trade is on the increase. In 1895 a French company completed a railway across the Lebanon to See also:Damascus, and connected it with Mezerib in the Hauran, whence now starts the See also:line to the See also:Hejaz. Since 1907 it has also had railway communication with See also:Aleppo; and a narrow-See also:gauge line runs up the coast to Tripoli. The steepness of the Lebanon railway, and the break of gauge at Rayak, the junction for Aleppo, have prevented the diversion of much of the trade of See also:North Syria to Beirut. The town has been supplied with See also:water, since 1875, by an See also:English company, and with See also:gas, since 1888, by a French company. There are many See also:American and See also:European institutions in the city: the American Presbyterian See also:mission, with a girls' school and a See also:printing See also:office, which published the Arabic See also:translation of the See also:Bible, and now issues a weekly See also:paper and See also:standard See also:works in Arabic; the Syrian See also:Protestant See also:college with its theological See also:seminary, medical See also:faculty, training college and astronomical See also:observatory; the Scottish mission, and St George's See also:institute for Moslem and Druse girls; the See also:British Syrian mission schools; the See also:German See also:hospital, orphanage and boarding school; the French hospital and schools, and the Jesuit " Universite de St See also:Joseph " with a printing office. In summer most of the richer residents reside on the Lebanon, and in See also:winter the See also:governor of the Lebanon and many Lebanon notables inhabit houses in Beirut. The town has many See also:fine houses, but the streets are unpaved and the bazaars mean. The Moslem inhabitants, being in a minority, have often shown themselves fanatical and turbulent. There are several fairly See also:good hotels for tourists. (C.W. W. ; D. G. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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