The Port of Beirut is the biggest city and capital of Lebanon. Lying on a peninsula at the foot of the Lebanon Mountains in the center of the Mediterranean coastline, it is the country's most important seaport.
Port History
Archeological excavations in downtown Beirut have uncovered layers of artifacts from ancient Phoenician, Greek, Roman, Arab, and Ottoman cultures. First mentioned in Egyptian writings dating to the 15th Century BC, the Port of Beirut has been inhabited since that time. In 1994, a dig proved that one of the city's modern streets still follows an ancient Greek and Roman road.
揃eirut?comes from the Canaanite Be抏rot, describing the underground water table still in use. The Port of Beirut was given the status of Roman colony in 14 BC, and it had fashionable suburbs during Roman times. The Roman city was destroyed by earthquakes and a devastating tidal wave in 551, and it remained in ruins until conquered by Muslims in 635 AD.
Muslims reconstructed the city into a walled garrison with an insignificant role until the 10th Century. The Port of Beirut was taken by the Crusaders in 1110 and made a fief of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem. Under that rule, the Port of Beirut enjoyed thriving trade with Italian cities. The Mamluks ended the Crusaders?rule in 1291, when the Port of Beirut was Syria's chief port for Venitian spice merchants.
Passing to Ottoman rule in 1516, the Port of Beirut's commercial importance declined. But by the 17th Century, it became an important exporter of Lebanese silk to Europe. Though technically under the rule of the Ottomans, the Port of Beirut fell to Ma抧 and Shihab emirs for decades during the 18th Century. The city suffered greatly during the Russo-Turkish War and declined to the status of a village of 6000 souls.
Modern Beirut was born with Europe's Industrial Revolution. Conquest of the area by Egypt brought a new era of commercial growth. By the middle 19th Century, population had grown to 15 thousand and military conflicts brought refugees from the mountains.
In 1888, the Port of Beirut became the capital of a new province that included coastal Syria and Palestine and, by 1900, it had a population of 120 thousand. Protestant and Roman Catholic missionaries were active in the Port of Beirut. In 1866, what later became the American University of Beirut was established. The missionaries brought printing presses that stimulated the publishing industry. By 1900, the Port of Beirut was the center for Arabic journalism, and when intellectuals pushed for a revival of Arabic culture, Beirut became the first voice for modern Arab nationalism.
Occupied by the Allies after World War I, the city was made capital of the State of Greater Lebanon and the later Lebanese Republic (1926). Resenting Christian-dominated Lebanon, Beirut Muslims loyalty to Pan-Arabism led to conflict between the two religious groups. Added to social tensions due to rapid growth was the flood of Palestinian refugees after 1948. Open fighting broke out first in 1958 and again, more violently, between 1975 and 1990. During the latter violence, the Port of Beirut was divided, and its long-standing foreign community largely fled the city. Lebanon has been rebuilding the city since 1990. Despite regional strife, by 2006, it was regaining its reputation as a popular Middle East tourist, intellectual, and cultural center.
While the Port of Beirut has long functioned as a center for trade and naval activity, the current port was founded at the end of the 19th Century. In 1887, the Ottomans gave the concession to an Ottoman company that fortified their property. In 1925, control of the port passed to France. In 1960, a Lebanese company won the concession. The private operations ended in 1990 when Lebanon gave control to a temporary committee to manage the Port of Beirut.
Port Commerce
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