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Engraving of a portrait of Fakhr al-Din by Giovanni Mariti, 1787
Fakhr al-Din Ma'n (
Arabic: فَخْر ٱلدِّين مَعْن,
romanized: Fakhr al-Dīn Maʿn;
c. 1572 – March or April 1635), commonly known as Fakhr al-Din II or Fakhreddine II (
Arabic: فخر الدين الثاني,
romanized: Fakhr al-Dīn al-Thānī), was the paramount
Druzeemir of
Mount Lebanon from the
Ma'n dynasty, an
Ottomangovernor of
Sidon-Beirut and
Safed, and the strongman over much of the
Levant from the 1620s to 1633. For uniting modern
Lebanon's constituent parts and communities, especially the Druze and the
Maronites, under a single authority for the first time in history, he is generally regarded as the country's founder. Although he ruled in the name of the Ottomans, he acted with considerable autonomy and developed close ties with
European powers in defiance of the
Ottoman imperial government.
Fakhr al-Din succeeded his father as the emir of the
Chouf mountains in 1591. He was appointed over the
sanjaks (districts) of Sidon-Beirut in 1593 and Safed in 1602. Despite joining the rebellion of
Ali Janbulad in 1606, Fakhr al-Din remained in his post and the Ottomans recognized his takeover of the
Keserwan mountains from his rival
Yusuf Sayfa. Seven years later, an imperial campaign was launched against him for allying with
Tuscany and
garrisoning the strategic fortresses of
Shaqif Arnun and
Subayba. He escaped and became an exile in Tuscany and
Sicily. Upon his return in 1618, he resumed control of his former domains and within three years took over northern Mount Lebanon, which was predominantly Maronite. After Fakhr al-Din routed the governor of
Damascus at the
Battle of Anjar in 1623, he extended his control to the
Beqaa Valley, the stronghold of his rivals, the
Harfush dynasty. Fakhr al-Din proceeded to capture fortresses across central Syria, gained practical control of
Tripoli and its
eyalet, and acquired
tax farms as far north as
Latakia. Although he frequently attained government favor by timely forwarding of tax revenue, bribing officials, and using opportunities of mutual interest to eliminate local rivals, his outsized power and autonomy were considered a rebellion by the imperial government. A near-contemporary historian remarked that "the only thing left for him to do was to claim the
Sultanate". He surrendered to the Ottomans during a siege of his Chouf hideout in 1633 and was executed in
Constantinople two years later. In 1697
Fakhr al-Din's grandnephew was awarded a tax farm spanning southern Mount Lebanon. It was gradually expanded by the Ma'ns' marital relatives, the
Shihabs, in 1711, and was a precursor to the Lebanese Republic.
According to the historian
Kamal Salibi, Fakhr al-Din "combined military skill and eminent qualities of leadership with a keen business acumen and unusual powers of observation". During a period when the empire was in a
long economic crisis, Fakhr al-Din's territories thrived, and
Sidon in particular attained political significance for the first time in its modern history. He protected, promoted, and helped modernize commercial agriculture in his domains, inaugurating the lucrative
silk trade of Mount Lebanon. By opening his port towns for European commerce, he facilitated the most significant European political and economic penetration of the Levantine coast since the 13th century. Fakhr al-Din's wealth, derived mainly from his tax farms, but also from extortion and counterfeiting, enabled him to invest in the fortifications and infrastructure needed to foster stability, order, and economic growth. His building works included
palatial government houses in Sidon,
Beirut and his Chouf stronghold of
Deir al-Qamar,
caravanserais,
bathhouses, mills, and bridges, some of which remain extant. Tax farming financed his army of sekban mercenaries, which after 1623 mostly replaced the local peasant levies on which he previously depended.
Christians prospered and played key roles under his rule, with his main enduring legacy being the symbiotic relationship he set in motion between Maronites and Druze, which proved foundational for the creation of a Lebanese entity. (Full article...)
... that Lebanese
LGBT rights activist Sandra Melhem, one of the foremost promoters of drag culture in Beirut, was given an award for her humanitarian relief work after the
2020 Beirut explosion?
This is a
Good article, an article that meets a core set of editorial standards.
Mulhim ibn Yunus Ma'n was the paramount
Druzeemir of
Mount Lebanon and head of the
Ma'n dynasty after succeeding his uncle
Fakhr al-Din II in 1633. The
Ottomans executed Fakhr al-Din, Mulhim's father Yunus, and his brothers and cousins during and after a massive expedition to end their control over large parts of the
Levant. After Mulhim defeated his principal Druze rival,
Ali Alam al-Din, in 1641, the Ottomans granted him
tax farms previously held by his uncle and father Yunus in southern Mount Lebanon, namely for the subdistricts of the
Chouf, Gharb,
Matn and Jurd. In 1657 he was appointed
governor and tax farmer of
Safed. He held onto the tax farms of southern Mount Lebanon until his death in 1658, after falling ill attempting to collect taxes in Safed.
Mulhim and his subordinates, including the Maronite
Khazen family of
Keserwan, reestablished the core of Fakhr al-Din's former territory. Like his uncle, he maintained good ties with the
Maronite Church. He remained on good terms with the authorities throughout most of his career. The tax farms he held were largely inherited by his sons Qurqumaz and
Ahmad, the latter retaining them until his death in 1697. Ahmad was the last Ma'nid emir and afterward the dynasty's tax farms and paramountcy over the Druze passed to their
Sunni Muslim marital relatives, the
Shihab dynasty. (Full article...)
Image 10Sidewalk Cafes are a trademark of the BCD (from Culture of Lebanon)
Image 11Csontváry Kosztka, Tivadar - Pilgrimage to the Cedars of Lebanon (from Culture of Lebanon)
Image 12Map showing power balance in Lebanon, 1983: Green – controlled by Syria, purple – controlled by Christian groups, yellow – controlled by Israel, blue – controlled by the United Nations (from History of Lebanon)
Image 17Map showing power balance in Lebanon, 1976: Dark Green – controlled by Syria; Purple – controlled by
Maronite groups; Light Green – controlled by
Palestinian militias (from History of Lebanon)
Image 22Flag as drawn and approved by the members of the Lebanese parliament during the declaration of independence in 1943 (from History of Lebanon)
Image 23Portrait of Fakhreddine while he was in Tuscany, stating "Faccardino grand emir dei Drusi" translated as "Fakhreddine: great emir of the Druze" (from History of Lebanon)
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