{"id":98066,"date":"2026-05-05T01:08:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T01:08:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/98066\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T01:08:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T01:08:38","slug":"lebanon-history-map-people-economy-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/98066\/","title":{"rendered":"Lebanon | History, Map, People, Economy, &#038; Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lebanon is bounded to the north and east by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Syria\" class=\"md-crosslink \" data-show-preview=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Syria<\/a>, to the south by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Israel\" class=\"md-crosslink \" data-show-preview=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Israel<\/a>, and to the west by the Mediterranean Sea.<\/p>\n<p> Relief <\/p>\n<p class=\"topic-paragraph\">As in any mountainous region, the physical geography of Lebanon is extremely complex and varied. Landforms, climate, soils, and vegetation undergo some sharp and striking changes within short distances. Four distinct physiographic regions may be distinguished: a narrow coastal plain along the Mediterranean Sea, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Lebanon-Mountains\" class=\"md-crosslink \" data-show-preview=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lebanon Mountains<\/a> (Jabal Lubn\u0101n), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Bekaa-valley\" class=\"md-crosslink \" data-show-preview=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bekaa<\/a> (Al-Biq\u0101\u02bf) valley, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Anti-Lebanon-Mountains\" class=\"md-crosslink \" data-show-preview=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Anti-Lebanon<\/a> and Hermon ranges running parallel to the Lebanon Mountains.<\/p>\n<p class=\"topic-paragraph\">The coastal plain is narrow and discontinuous, almost disappearing in places. It is formed of river-deposited <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/science\/alluvium\" class=\"md-crosslink autoxref \" data-show-preview=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">alluvium<\/a> and marine sediments, which <a class=\"md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb\" data-term=\"alternate\" href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/dictionary\/alternate\" data-type=\"EB\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">alternate<\/a> suddenly with rocky beaches and sandy bays, and is generally fertile. In the far north it expands to form the Akkar Plain.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"link-module shadow-sm d-block qa-quiz-module\" href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/quiz\/guess-the-country-by-its-neighbors-quiz\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/passport-visas-stamps-world-map.jpg\" alt=\"Opened passport with visas, stamps, seals, world map. (travel, tourism)\" class=\"rounded-sm mr-15\" width=\"70\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Britannica Quiz<\/p>\n<p>Guess the Country by Its Neighbors Quiz<\/p>\n<p><\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"topic-paragraph\">The snowcapped <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Lebanon-Mountains\" class=\"md-crosslink \" data-show-preview=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lebanon Mountains<\/a> are one of the most prominent features of the country\u2019s landscape. The range, rising steeply from the coast, forms a ridge of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/science\/limestone\" class=\"md-crosslink autoxref \" data-show-preview=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">limestone<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/science\/sandstone\" class=\"md-crosslink autoxref \" data-show-preview=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sandstone<\/a>, cut by narrow and deep gorges. It is approximately 100 miles (160 km) long and varies in width from 6 to 35 miles (10 to 56 km). Its maximum elevation is at Qurnat al-<a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Qurnat-al-Sawda\" class=\"md-crosslink \" data-show-preview=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sawd\u0101\u02be<\/a> (10,131 feet [3,088 meters]) in the north, where the renowned cedars of Lebanon grow in the shadow of the peak. The range then gradually slopes to the south before rising again to a second peak, Mount Sannine (8,842 feet [2,695 meters]), northeast of Beirut. To the south the range branches westward to form the Sh\u016bf Mountains and at its southern reaches gives way to the hills of Galilee, which are lower.<\/p>\n<p class=\"topic-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Bekaa-valley\" class=\"md-crosslink \" data-show-preview=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bekaa<\/a> valley lies between the Lebanon Mountains in the west and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains in the east; its fertile soils consist of alluvial deposits from the mountains on either side. The valley, approximately 110 miles (180 km) long and from 6 to 16 miles (10 to 26 km) wide, is part of the great <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/East-African-Rift-System\" class=\"md-crosslink \" data-show-preview=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">East African Rift System<\/a>. In the south Bekaa becomes hilly and rugged, blending into the foothills of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Mount-Hermon\" class=\"md-crosslink \" data-show-preview=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mount Hermon<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Mount-Hermon\" class=\"md-crosslink \" data-show-preview=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jabal al-Shaykh<\/a>) to form the upper <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Jordan-Valley\" class=\"md-crosslink \" data-show-preview=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jordan Valley<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"hermes-cta-description\">\n       Trusted knowledge for those who want to know more.\n      <\/p>\n<p>      <a class=\"btn btn-blue\" href=\"https:\/\/premium.britannica.com\/premium-membership\/?utm_source=premium&amp;utm_medium=inline-cta&amp;utm_campaign=shorter-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">SUBSCRIBE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/inline-left.webp.webp\" alt=\"Penguin, ship, mountain, atlas\" class=\"hermes-cta-decorative-image\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/inline-right.webp.webp\" alt=\"shohei ohtani, plants, andy wharhol art\" class=\"hermes-cta-decorative-image\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/inline-mobile.webp.webp\" alt=\"Mobile\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"topic-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Anti-Lebanon-Mountains\" class=\"md-crosslink \" data-show-preview=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Anti-Lebanon range<\/a> (Al-Jabal al-Sharq\u012b) starts with a high peak in the north and slopes southward until it is interrupted by Mount Hermon (9,232 feet [2,814 meters]).<\/p>\n<p>  Drainage <\/p>\n<p class=\"topic-paragraph\">Lebanese rivers, though numerous, are mostly winter torrents, draining the western slopes of the Lebanon Mountains. The only exception is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Litani-River-Lebanon\" class=\"md-crosslink \" data-show-preview=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Litani<\/a> River (90 miles [145 km] long), which rises near the famed ruins of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Baalbeck\" class=\"md-crosslink \" data-show-preview=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Baalbek<\/a> (Ba\u02bflabakk) and flows southward in Bekaa to empty into the Mediterranean near historic Tyre. The two other important rivers are the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Orontes-River\" class=\"md-crosslink \" data-show-preview=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Orontes<\/a> (Nahr al-\u02bf\u0100\u1e63\u012b), which rises in the north of Bekaa and flows northward, and the Kab\u012br.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lebanon is bounded to the north and east by Syria, to the south by Israel, and to the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[1162,1199,1198,1197,93],"class_list":{"0":"post-98066","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lebanon","8":"tag-article","9":"tag-britannica","10":"tag-encyclopeadia","11":"tag-encyclopedia","12":"tag-lebanon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116519298921211574","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}