Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon is a country located in Western Asia, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Bordered by Syria to the north and east, and occupied Palestine to the south. Lebanon's position at a crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland has enriched its rich history and formed its cultural identity, religious and ethnic diverse.
Known civilization in Lebanon for the first time in more than 7000 years BC. Lebanon was the home of the Phoenicians, the maritime culture has flourished for almost 2500 years (3000-539 BC). In the wake of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, underwent five provinces that make up modern Lebanon under the authority of France. France has expanded the borders of Mount Lebanon, which was populated mostly by Catholics, Maronites and Druze, to include more Muslims. Lebanon gained independence in 1943, and established a political system unique, known as confessionalism, which is a mechanism for the sharing of power on the basis of religious communities, Bishara al-Khuri, who became the first president of Lebanon after independence, Riad Solh, who became the first Prime Minister of the Lebanese, were considered as the founders of Republic of modern Lebanon's history and "national champions" that led the country after independence. French forces withdrew in 1946.
Before the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990), the country witnessed a period of relative calm and prosperity, driven by tourism, agriculture, and banking services. Because of its financial strength and diversity, Lebanon was known in its heyday as the "Switzerland of the East." And attracted large numbers of tourists, so it was referred to the capital Beirut, "the Paris of the Middle East." At the end of the war, there have been extensive efforts to revive the economy and rebuild national infrastructure.
Until July 2006, enjoy the great stability of Lebanon, and the rebuilding of Beirut was almost complete, and growing numbers of tourists flocked to the resorts in the country. Then, caused the war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 for a month in large numbers of civilian deaths and damage to civilian infrastructure of Lebanon.
Because of its financial system tightly organized, not the Lebanese affected to a large extent by the financial crisis 2007-2010. In 2009, despite the global recession, economic growth in Lebanon was estimated at about 9%, and hosted the largest number of tourists in its history.
