Akkar al-Atika ( ar, عكار العتيقه, ʿAkkar al-ʿAtiqa; also spelled Akkar al-Atiqa) is a town and municipality located in the

Akkar Governorate french: Gouvernorat de l'Akkar , settlement_type = Governorate , image_skyline = Berkayl.jpg , image_caption = Berkayel, Akkar Governorate , image_flag = , image_seal = , image_shield ...

in northern

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. It is about north of

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. Akkar al-Atika contains the 11th-century fortress of

Gibelacar Gibelacar, also known by its original Arabic name Hisn Ibn Akkar or its modern Arabic name Qal'at Akkar, is a fortress in the village of Akkar al-Atiqa in the Akkar Governorate in northern Lebanon. The fortress dates back to the Fatimid era in the ...

(Hisn Ibn Akkar in Arabic), which was utilized by the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

and became the headquarters of the

Sayfa Yusuf Sayfa Pasha ( ar, يوسف سيفا باشا, Yūsuf Sayfā Pāsha; – 22 July 1625) was a chieftain and ''multazim'' (tax farmer) in the Tripoli region who frequently served as the Ottoman ''beylerbey'' (provincial governor) of Tripol ...

clan, whose members were chieftains and Ottoman governors of Tripoli and its districts in from the late 16th until the mid-17th centuries. The village had a estimated population of 17,000 living in about 3,550 houses in 2011. Its inhabitants are

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagree ...

s. The average elevation of Akkar al-Atika is above sea level and the village has a total land area of 2,838

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

s. Most of the village's labor force, who form about a third of the population, mainly work in the

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

or education sector with about 10% deriving their main income from permanent or seasonal agriculture. Nonetheless, agriculture constitutes as a supplementary income for much of the population. The relatively large role it plays in the village stems from its abundance of cultivable land; most of the village's households own at least a tract of agricultural land or work in it. The principal crops grown apples, walnuts, peaches, persimmon, olives and tomatoes and the main agricultural products are apple cider and vinegar, fruit jams, chickens, milk and cheeses. Much of Akkar al-Atika's agricultural output is sold in the markets of Tripoli and the governorate capital of Halba. Akkar al-Atika has abundant forest lands, though over half of its forests were destroyed between 2000 and 2010 due to fires, woodcutting and conversion of the lands for agricultural use.

Notable residents

Ahmad Ali El Zein Ahmad Ali El Zein (born 1956) is a Lebanese novelist, documentary film maker and television journalist. He is best known for his trilogy of novels, ''The Edge of Oblivion'' (2007), ''Suhbat al-Tayer'' (2010) and ''Barid al-Ghouroub'' (2014). He l ...

, novelist, filmmaker and journalist

References

{{Akkar District Populated places in Akkar District Sunni Muslim communities in Lebanon