Wikijunior:Asia/Lebanon

Lebanon is a country also known as Republic of Lebanon. It consists of a narrow strip of territory and is one of the world’s smaller sovereign states. Though Lebanon, particularly its coastal region, was the site of some of the oldest human settlements in the world—the Phoenician ports of Tyre (modern Ṣūr), Sidon (Ṣaydā), and Byblos (Jubayl) were dominant centres of trade and culture in the 3rd millennium BCE—it was not until 1920 that the contemporary state came into being. In that year France, which administered Lebanon as a League of Nations mandate, established the state of Greater Lebanon. Lebanon then became a republic in 1926 and achieved independence in 1943. The capital city is Beirut and the currency used is Lebanese Pound (LBP).

Where is Lebanon?
Lebanon is situated at the eastern side of Mediterranean sea, bordering Syria to its east and Israel to its south.

How many people live in Lebanon?
There are no official census has taken place in Lebanon since 1932 due to the sensitive balance between the country's religious groups. There are no official data of the census data but based on estimation, there are about 4.43 million ~ 6.1 million populations lived in Lebanon.

What are the most common languages in Lebanon?
Arabic language is the most commonly language used in Lebanon.

What is the most common religion in Lebanon?
Due to almost no data on population census, it is estimated almost half of population practices Islam, with a quarter practices Maronite (Eastern Roman Catholics), and the others minorities practices Druze, Greek Catholic and Greek Orthodox.

What is the sport of Lebanon?
Weight lifting has been popular with many Lebanese athletes since the mid-20th century, and the country has traditionally sent weight lifters to international competitions with some regularity.

What are some important sites?
Tripoli railway station -It is located near El-Mina, Tripoli, Lebanon. It began operating in 1911 and was connected to the Syrian city, Homs, with a single track. It formed the terminus of the Orient Express line in the twenties, thirties and forties of the last century. Tripoli station was connected to the central station of Beirut (Mar Mikael) in 1945.

During World War I, the Ottomans, and for military reasons, damaged the Tripoli/Homs line. Ruined, the station was nationalized in 1920 at the time of the French mandate in Lebanon and Syria. In 1943, after independence, the station became the property of the Lebanese state.

In 1975, the station was abandoned and now contains a number of multipurpose buildings. These buildings were severely damaged during the civil war (1975–1991). A series of ancient multi-purpose wagons, two German G7 class locomotives made in 1895, and four German G8 locomotives, made in 1901 and 1906 remain on the site. The traces of war are visible on the vehicles.

Chouwen Lake - The Chouwen Lake is part of the famous Ibrahim River where the water gathers and appears as a lake, it's also part of the Jabal Moussa Biosphere reserve