Shemlan ( ar, شملان), (also spelled Chemlane, Chimlane, Shimlan) is a village in the Aley District of the

Mount Lebanon Governorate french: Gouvernorat du Mont-Liban , native_name_lang = , image_map = Administrative divisions of Lebanon 2017-08 (Numbered).png , map_caption = The governorates of Lebanon, including Mount Lebanon (in pink, label ...

in Lebanon, located about 25 km from Beirut.

History

Shemlan is first mentioned in chronicles as early as the 12th century. Under Ottoman rule, Shemlan and surrounding villages were controlled first by the Maan family and then by the

Shihab dynasty The Shihab dynasty (alternatively spelled Chehab; ar, الشهابيون, ALA-LC: ''al-Shihābiyūn'') was an Arab family whose members served as the paramount tax farmers and local chiefs of Mount Lebanon from the early 18th to mid-19th centu ...

. Power struggles led to the departure of some rival Druze, and their replacement by Christians from the North, which in 1828 prompted the establishment of a Maronite Christian monastery, now the village church. In 1838,

Eli Smith Eli Smith (born September 13, 1801, in Northford, Connecticut, to Eli and Polly (Whitney) Smith, and died January 11, 1857, in Beirut, Lebanon) was an American Protestant missionary and scholar. He graduated from Yale College in 1821 and from Andov ...

noted the place, called ''Shumlan'', located in ''El-Ghurb el-Fokany'', upper ''el-Ghurb''. For more than a century, Shemlan consisted of five extended families: the Maronite Christian Jabbours, Hittis, Tabibs, and Farjallahs, plus the

Druze The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...

Moukaddems, once lords and chief land-owners. Due to its strategic location overlooking

Beirut International Airport 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 of ...

and the diverse political make-up of the area, Shemlan became a fierce battleground during the

1958 civil war The 1958 Lebanon crisis (also known as the Lebanese Civil War of 1958) was a political crisis in Lebanon caused by political and religious tensions in the country that included a United States military intervention. The intervention lasted for aro ...

and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Most inhabitants fled during the 1975 – 1990 civil war, many never to return. In 1948, the British Government opened the

Middle East Centre for Arab Studies The Middle East Centre for Arab Studies (MECAS) was an Arabic language college created by the British Army during World War II in Jerusalem, and relocated afterwards as a civilian institution to Lebanon near Beirut where it functioned between 1947� ...

(MECAS) in Shemlan. This school gained a reputation as being a "spy school" because of allegations, made by Lebanese politician Kamal Jumblatt, that many of its graduates worked for the C.I.A. or Britain's

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

. However, the only proven case of a spy studying at MECAS was that of British/Soviet double agent George Blake, who was escorted from MECAS and formally arrested at Heathrow airport.

Notable citizens

Philip Khuri Hitti (1886-1978), a renowned Lebanese American author and professor on the Middle East, was Shemlan's most famous resident.

References

Bibliography

External links

Shimlan
- official municipality website (English)

Localiban {{Aley District Populated places in Aley District Maronite Christian communities in Lebanon