13 ATLASES
History of Lebanon in maps
Lebanon as it appears in 13 interactive history atlases, from 264 BC to 2015: Phoenicia, the Lebanese coast — Tripoli & Tyre, the Levant coast, Lebanon. Each era below lists who ruled the land and when control changed, linked to the dated map that shows it.
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What was Lebanon before it was Lebanon? The sections below follow this land through every era covered by the Maps of History atlases: who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed. Each line links to the dated map. Modern borders serve as an approximation, as each atlas says on the map itself.
Phoenicia (mod. Lebanon) · Ancient Rome
Tyre and Sidon belonged to Phoenicia, home of the trading diaspora that founded Carthage. The Phoenician alphabet was an important ancestor of the script Romans used. Under Roman rule the coastal cities remained prosperous ports and centers of purple-dye production. At Berytus (Beirut), a celebrated law school contributed to the legal tradition later embodied in the Corpus Iuris.
| 264 BC | Hellenistic kingdoms — the opening position |
| 62 BC | Roman territory |
| Breakaway Roman empires (260–274) | |
| Roman territory |
ANCIENT ROME: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
The Lebanese coast — Tripoli & Tyre · Crusades
Two crusader centers stood on the Lebanese coast. The County of Tripoli lasted until Qalawun stormed and levelled it in 1289. Tyre was the one great city that did not fall to Saladin after Hattin, and the kingdom was rebuilt from there. Maronite Christians on the coast often allied with the Franks, while its ports brought wealth to Italian merchants.
| The Islamic powers — Seljuk, Zengid, Ayyubid, Mamluk — the opening position |
CRUSADES: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
The Levant coast (mod. Lebanon) · Mongol Empire
| The Islamic powers — the opening position | |
| The Mongol Empire | |
| The Islamic powers |
MONGOL EMPIRE: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Lebanon · Industrial Revolution
| Opened by force or treaty — the opening position | |
| Opened by force or treaty |
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Lebanon · Age of Revolutions
| Neutral / uncommitted — the opening position |
AGE OF REVOLUTIONS: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Lebanon · Meiji Japan and post-Soviet Russia
| Non-aligned or stateless — the opening position |
MEIJI JAPAN AND POST-SOVIET RUSSIA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Lebanon (Ottoman Empire) · WWI
Lebanon · Stalin’s Soviet Union
STALIN’S SOVIET UNION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Lebanon · Road to WW2
| Colonial empires & possessions — the opening position |
ROAD TO WW2: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Lebanon · WW2
| Western Allies — the opening position | |
| Axis allies & puppets | |
| Western Allies |
Lebanon · Cold War
| NATO & core Western allies — the opening position | |
| Non-aligned & neutral | |
| Non-aligned & neutral |
COLD WAR: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Lebanon · Feminism and the Tunisian Revolution
| Refused: women excluded; ERA never ratified — the opening position | |
| Right won in law | |
| No reform yet / outside this story |
FEMINISM AND THE TUNISIAN REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Lebanon · Refugee crises
REFUGEE CRISES: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Related
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