About Lebanon

The Lebanese Republic is a small, mostly mountainous country in Western Asia, on the eastern ilion, it was created when the French mandate expanded the borders of the former autonomous Ottoman Mount Lebanon district, forming in September 1926 the Lebanese Republic. Lebanon subsequently became an independent country in 1943.

A demographically and geographically highly diverse country, Lebanon follows a special political system known
as confessionalism, distributing power as evenly as possible among its various religious sects, of which more
than 18 are officially recognized. No accurate numbers on the distribution of the population per sect are
available since the only census was conducted in 1932.

Its official languages are Arabic and French. Armenian and English are also widely spoken and understood.

The flag of Lebanon features a cedar in green against a white backdrop, bounded by two horizontal red stripes along the top and bottom. A combination of temperate climate, many historic landmarks and world Heritage sites continues to attract large numbers of tourists to Lebanon annually, despite its political instability. In addition, Lebanon's reputable banking system and capitalist economy, largely unique to the region, have given it significant economic status among Arab countries. The thriving tourism and banking activities have naturally made the services sector the most important pillar of the Lebanese economy.

Lebanon's lack of raw materials for industry and its complete dependency on Arab countries for oil have made
it difficult for the Lebanese to engage in significant industrial activity. As such, industry in Lebanon is mainly limited to small businesses concerned with reassembling and packaging imported parts.

Lebanon is ideally suited for agricultural activities in terms of water availability and soil fertility, as it possesses the highest proportion of cultivable land in the Arab world. Ironically though, Lebanon does not have a large agricultural sector.

There are approximately 16 million people of Lebanese descent spread all over the world, Brazil hosting the largest Lebanese community. However Argentina, Australia, Canada, Colombo, Mexico and Venezuela also have large Lebanese communities.