LEBANON MOUNTAINS

Arabic Jabal Lubnan, French Mont Liban, also called Jabal Al-gharbi, or Mt. Lebanon, mountain range, extending almost the entire length of Lebanon, paralleling the Mediterranean coast for about 150 mi (240 km), with northern outliers extending into Syria. The northern section, north of the saddle, or pass, of Dahr al-Baydar (through which the BeirutDamascus railroad and highway run), is the widest and loftiest part of the mountains, which average 7,000 ft (2,100 m) above sea level, with a few snowcapped peaks, including Qurnat as-Sawda', at 10,131 ft. On the western flanks, east of Bsharri, are the remaining groves of the renowned Cedars of Lebanon. South of the pass the mountains average 5,0006,000 ft in altitude. In southern Lebanon they are broken by the 900-ft-deep gorge of the Nahr (river) al-Litani. Although the porous limestone of the mountains forms poor, thin soil, it has helped create numerous underground springs that make irrigated cultivation of the lower and middle slopes possible. A variety of tree crops (including olives, apricots, and apples) are grown on the coastal side. The view presented by the snow-clad peaks may have given Lebanon its name in antiquity; laban is Aramaic for white. The economy Until 1975 Lebanon had an economy characterized by a minimum of government intervention in private enterprise. Since the civil war, the weak central government has exercised little power in economic matters, and local militias have dominated public decision making. The services sector generated the overwhelming proportion of national income before the civil war and employed the largest proportion of the labour force; industry generated the second largest proportion of income and of employment. Agriculture accounted for a smaller proportion of income. The growth of services was related mainly to international transport and trade and to the position of Beirut as a centre of international banking and tourism. The war of 197576, the Israeli invasion of 1982, and the continuing violence have left deep scars and have led to chaos in the economy. There has been extensive destruction in all sectors, but especially in housing, trade, and public services, and the country's productive capacity has been drastically reduced. The greatest reduction in productive capacity seems to be in services, followed by industry and agriculture. Resources The mineral resources of Lebanon are few. There are deposits of high-grade iron ore and lignite; building-stone quarries; high-quality sand, suitable for glass manufacture; and lime. The Litani River hydroelectric project generates electricity and also has increased the amount of irrigated land for agriculture. The land Relief 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 Lebanon Mountains (Jabal Lubnan), al-Biqa' (Beqaa) valley, and the Anti-Lebanon and Hermon ranges running parallel to the coastal mountains. The coastal plain is narrow and discontinuous, almost disappearing in places. It is formed of river-deposited alluvium and marine sediments, which alternate suddenly with rocky beaches and sandy bays, and is generally fertile. In the far north it expands to form the 'Akkar Plain. The snowcapped Lebanon Mountains are the most prominent feature of the country's landscape. The range, rising steeply from the coast, forms a ridge of limestone and sandstone, cut by narrow and deep gorges. It is approximately 100 miles long and varies in width from 35 to six miles. Its maximum elevation is at Qurnat as-Sawda' (10,138 feet [3,090 metres]) in the north, where the renowned cedars of Lebanon grow in the shadow of the peak. The range then gradually slopes to the south, rising again to a second peak, Jabal Sannin, northeast of Beirut. To the south the range gives way to the hills of Galilee, which are lower. The limestone composition of the mountains provides a relatively poor topsoil. The lower and middle slopes, however, are intensively cultivated, the terraced hills standing as a scenic relic of the ingenious tillers of the past. On the coast and in the northern mountains reddish topsoils with a high clay content retain moisture and provide fertile land for agriculture, although they are subject to considerable erosion. Al-Biqa' 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 long and from six to 16 miles wide, is part of the great East African Rift System. In the south, al-Biqa' becomes hilly and rugged, blending into the foothills of Mt. Hermon (Jabal ash-Shaykh) to form the upper Jordan Valley. The Anti-Lebanon range (al-Jabal ash-Sharqi) starts with a high peak in the north and slopes southward until it is interrupted by Mt. Hermon (9,232 feet). Drainage Lebanese rivers, though numerous, are mostly winter torrents, draining the western slopes of the Lebanon Mountains. The only exception is the Litani (90 miles long), which rises near the famed ruins of Baalbek (Ba'labakk) and flows southward in al-Biqa' to empty into the Mediterranean near historic Tyre. The two other important rivers are the Orontes (Nahr al-'Asi), which rises in the north of al-Biqa' and flows northward, and the Kabir. The people Lebanon has a heterogeneous society composed of numerous ethnic, religious, and kinship groups. Primordial attachments and local communalism antedate the creation of the present territorial and political entity and continue to survive with remarkable tenacity. Ethnic and linguistic groups Ethnically, the Lebanese compose a mixture in which Phoenician, Greek, Armenian, and Arab elements are discernible. Arabic is the official language, but French and English are widely spoken. A small percentage of the population is Armenian-speaking, and Syriac is used in some of the churches of the Maronites (Roman Catholics following an Eastern rite).