Dick Douwes, The Ottomans in Syria: a History of Justice and Oppression

Mount Lebanon’s society was divided largely in the same carrying a revolution so revolutionary as to outshine their Caucasian Mount Lebanon’s society was divided largely in the same way as the rest of the empire: between local notables (‘ayan) and the peasant class (ra’aya).3 Most of the region’s high-ranking military officers were of the Druze and Sunni sects with few Maronites. Officially, the Mountain was divided between two Ottoman eyalets (also called beylerbeyliks) along the Beirut-Damascus Road: between the eyalets of Sidon, to the south, and Tripoli, to the north.4 Practically, however, Mount Lebanon was ruled relatively independently from these eyalets due to the region’s complicated and unique features. As Mount Lebanon is the region with the highest average elevation in the Ottoman Eastern Mediterranean, its geography complicated any attempt at longdistance governance and administration. Consequently, a tradition emerged whereby the respective eyalets ceded de facto governance of their portion of the Mountain to the highest-ranking local officials Mount Lebanon, who held close ties to the Ottoman government. These elites, espousing different religious beliefs, ruled Mount Lebanon between brief and limited conflict, caused by political rather than religious feuds.5 The Mountain’s complicated demography also contributed to its de facto autonomy. The largest portion of the Mountain’s population identified as Maronite, a Christian sect following the West Syriac Catholic rite. They lived alongside the Druzes, followers of a unique belief system with Isma'il, Christian, Gnostic, and NeoPlatonist elements, some of whom helped the Ottomans conquer the region in the 16th century. While numerically smaller than the Maronites overall, the Druze were the dominant population of certain villages in the southern half of the Mountain, known as the Shuf. 6 Several other smaller groups included Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims, Greek Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Armenians, and Jews, each with

3. Makdisi, Culture of Sectarianism, 6. 4. Kamal S. Salibi, The Modern History of Lebanon (Delmar, N.Y: Caravan Books, 1977), xi, 24.; Makdisi, Culture of Sectarianism 28, 30. 5. Makdisi, Culture of Sectarianism, 29. 6. Dick Douwes, The Ottomans in Syria: a History of Justice and Oppression (London: I.B. Tauris, 2000), 88-89, 101, 113.