| Beirut |
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| Monday,December 08,2008 Posted: 22:28 BJT(28 GMT) |
| From:net Article type:Reproduced |
Beirut’s history dates back over 5,000 years. Under the city’s downtown area lie remnants of Ottoman, Mamluke, Crusader, Abbassid, Omayyad, Byzantine, Roman, Persian, Phoenician and Canaanite Beirut. Its name first appeared in cuneiform as early as the 14th century B.C. In the first century B.C., it became a Roman colony, only to be destroyed later by a triple catastrophe of earthquake, tidal wave and fire in 551A.D. Arab control then dominated until the Crusaders took over in 1110. Following the Crusaders were the Mamlukes and the Turks. After World War I there was a French mandate period, and in 1943 Lebanon gained its independence. |
