Known as the ‘Paris of the East’ during the swinging 60’s, Lebanon was – and to a large extent – still is, the playground of the Middle East. This is a country whose earliest evidence of civilisation goes back over 7,000 years, predating history itself. The fabled ‘promised land’, it is a fascinating melting pot of different civilisations from the Bronze Age through to the Phoenicians (whose maritime power flourished for a 1,000 years) before coming under control of the Romans in 64BC.
Following the end of the Crusades, the Ottomans ruled for the next 400 years, only coming to end in 1918 with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Thereafter it became a French Mandate before being granted independence in 1943.
The road from independence has not always been easy and despite the fame, financial power and glamour of 1960’s Beirut, Lebanon was shattered by civil war in 1975 which lasted until 1990. Even after the war came to an end Syrian forces remained in occupation until the ‘Cedar Revolution’ in 2005. A year later, Israel invaded and occupied Southern Lebanon following attacks by Hezbollah.
