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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Lebanon
Index
The area of Lebanon is approximately 10,452 square kilometers.
The country is roughly rectangular in shape, becoming narrower
toward the south and the farthest north. Its widest point is 88
kilometers, and its narrowest is 32 kilometers; the average width
is about 56 kilometers.
The physical geography of Lebanon is influenced by natural
systems that extend outside the country. Thus, the Biqa Valley is
part of the Great Rift system, which stretches from southern Turkey
to Mozambique in Africa. Like any mountainous country, Lebanon's
physical geography is complex. Land forms, climate, soils, and
vegetation differ markedly within short distances. There are also
sharp changes in other elements of the environment, from good to
poor soils, as one moves through the Lebanese mountains.
A major feature of Lebanese topography is the alternation of
lowland and highland that runs generally parallel with a
north-to-south orientation. There are four such longitudinal strips
between the Mediterranean Sea and Syria: the coastal strip (or the
maritime plain), western Lebanon, the central plateau, and eastern
Lebanon
(see fig. 3, Physical Features).
The extremely narrow coastal strip stretches along the shore of
the eastern Mediterranean. Hemmed in between sea and mountain, the
sahil, as it is called in Lebanon, is widest in the north
near Tripoli, where it is only 6.5 kilometers wide. A few
kilometers south at Juniyah the approximately 1.5-kilometer-wide
plain is succeeded by foothills that rise steeply to 750 meters
within 6.5 kilometers from the sea. For the most part, the coast is
abrupt and rocky. The shore line is regular with no deep estuary,
gulf, or natural harbor. The maritime plain is especially
productive of fruits and vegetables.
The western range, the second major region, is the Lebanon
Mountains, sometimes called Mount Lebanon, or Lebanon proper before
1920. Since Roman days the term Mount Lebanon has encompassed this
area. Antilibanos (Anti-Lebanon) was used to designate the
eastern range. Geologists believe that the twin mountains once
formed one range. The Lebanon Mountains are the highest, most
rugged, and most imposing of the whole maritime range of mountains
and plateaus that start with the Amanus or Nur Mountains in
northern Syria and end with the towering massif of Sinai. The
mountain structure forms the first barrier to communication between
the Mediterranean and Lebanon's eastern hinterland. The mountain
range is a clearly defined unit having natural boundaries on all
four sides. On the north it is separated from the Nusayriyah
Mountains of Syria by An Nahr al Kabir (the great river); on the
south it is bounded by Al Qasimiyah River, giving it a length of
169 kilometers. Its width varies from about 56.5 kilometers near
Tripoli to 9.5 kilometers on the southern end. It rises to alpine
heights southeast of Tripoli, where Al Qurnat as Sawda (the black
nook) reaches 3,360 meters. Of the other peaks that rise east of
Beirut, Jabal Sannin (2,695 meters) is the highest. Ahl al
Jabal (people of the mountain), or simply jabaliyyun,
has referred traditionally to the inhabitants of western Lebanon.
Near its southern end, the Lebanon Mountains branch off to the west
to form the Shuf Mountains.
The third geographical region is the Biqa Valley. This central
highland between the Lebanon Mountains and the Anti-Lebanon
Mountains is about 177 kilometers in length and 9.6 to 16
kilometers wide and has an average elevation of 762 meters. Its
middle section spreads out more than its two extremities.
Geologically, the Biqa is the medial part of a depression that
extends north to the western bend of the Orontes River in Syria and
south to Jordan through Al Arabah to Al Aqabah, the eastern arm of
the Red Sea. The Biqa is the country's chief agricultural area and
served as a granary of Roman Syria. Biqa is the Arabic plural of
buqaah, meaning a place with stagnant water.
Emerging from a base south of Homs in Syria, the eastern
mountain range, or Anti-Lebanon (Lubnan ash Sharqi), is almost
equal in length and height to the Lebanon Mountains. This fourth
geographical region falls swiftly from Mount Hermon to the Hawran
Plateau, whence it continues through Jordan south to the Dead Sea.
The Barada gorge divides Anti-Lebanon. In the northern section, few
villages are on the western slopes, but in the southern section,
featuring Mount Hermon (286 meters), the western slopes have many
villages. Anti-Lebanon is more arid, especially in its northern
parts, than Mount Lebanon and is consequently less productive and
more thinly populated.
Data as of December 1987
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