Zgharta a brief history
In the beginning there was Ehden…
The people of Ehden lived up in the mountains facing hard winter times. All they dreamed about was having a parcel of land in the Lower Lands so they can spend 4 or 5 months a year away from snow and cold winds.
It is written that in the year 1515, a minister of the Ottoman Sultan Salim called Sanan Bacha was heading to Egypt carrying money for the Ottoman army in war with the Egyptians of king Toman Bey. The minister was coming from Damascus, crossing the Bekaa valley to the shores of Tripoli. He passed by Ehden on the night of 24 december 1515 and due to the heavy fall of snow he was forced to stay in Ehden for 5 days, during which he was over welcomed by the people of Ehden who in return made him aware of their dream.
After nearly 4 months, the people of Ehden received a note on April 9, 1516 that minister Sanan convinced the Sultan to reward them for their hospitality and to give them what they always wanted: a piece of land in Lower-Lebanon.
After over viewing the lands to the east of the town of Tripoli, the bishop of Ehden and Sheikh Iskandar chose a small ruined village on a hill with a tower in its middle and surrounded by two rivers.
A view of Zgharta from the South East in the 19th century by W.H.Bartlett
In 1517, this small ruined farm was officially given to the people of Ehden so they can spend winter times away from hard conditions. They called it Zgharta. Through the years the “Zghortiotes” worked hardly, they added more lands and in 1885 they bought the village of Ardate. And near the end of the 19th century Zgharta was among the few towns in Lebanon to have their own schools and municipality.
Related material
The history of the Maronites, between the Mamluk domination (1252 A.D.) and the Ottoman rule (1516 A.D.) is relative to one of their most critical periods
Under Mamluk domination, which extended from the second half of the XIII century until the beginning of the XVI century, the Maronites became the target of all kinds of adversity. Maronite regions were completely devastated and a good number of them migrated to Cyprus where the Crusaders were still in control.
Before the advent of Ottoman reign, however, and after a period of retreat, recuperation and reflection, the Maronites succeeded in regenerating their energies. This led them into an epoch of spiritual and cultural development, in which they quickly advanced on all levels: in demographic growth, in scientific and technical evolution and in economic and social progress.
Consequently, having attained a high degree of maturity, the Maronites were able to contribute greatly, not only to the formation of their own community, but also to the identity of Lebanon and its consolidation as a state. Thus was born what was called the "Maronite Nation," a nation founded on the principles of knowledge and action, on liberty and justice, on authenticity and openness, on spiritual life and respect for others.
In fact, by the time of the Ottoman occupation of Lebanon in 1516, the Maronites were ready for a new era of renewal. The difference between this period and the preceding centuries was great. It can be considered the age of renaissance of the Maronite Nation and ushered in its rapid development.
From then on, the Maronites were able to move about more freely and became more open in their relations. They effectively began to acquire the true characteristics of the Maronite Nation in the XVI and XVIII centuries and were functioning as a well-organized society headed toward realizing its aims of excellence and prosperity.
This People-Nation was an organized entity even in its most detailed geographic moves and extensions. It had its permanent places of residence, most of the time fortified by nature, where it could savor its religious and national life, in full freedom and tranquility and without constraints or humiliation . This People had its mobile emissaries, who moved everywhere in search of subsistence and work, but who always remembered the villages of their origin, where the large number of their brothers resided and where they could return during times of challenge or misery.
The majority of the Maronite people inhabited towns and villages in Mount Lebanon, dominating Tripoli and Beirut and facing the West. Specifically, this means the regions of Ehden-Al-Zawiya, Jubbat Bsharri-Bilad Al-Batroun, and Jubbat Al-Mnaïtra-Bilad Jbeil to Nahr Ibrahim. These contiguous or neighboring regions formed a strategic triangle, which guaranteed the security of the Maronites and constituted the principal center of their religious and national lives.
The Patriarch Michel Rizzi (1567-1581) recorded that "the Maronites of Lebanon inhabit approximately 200 villages and towns." It is evident that the Maronites avoided establishing small villages and preferred to live in dense concentrations to escape the raids and be able to more easily defend themselves. There are actual evidence of these compact and adjoining clusters as in Zghorta, Bsharri, Hadcheet, Beka'-Kafra, Tannourine, 'Akoura and others.
Maronite Research Institute (MARI)
Zgharta
Zghorta est une très ancienne localité… Sous les empereurs byzantins, elle forme un des treizes sieges épiscopauxrelevant de la métropole de Tyr.
A l'aube du XVIème siècle, nous y trouvons encore un fortin ruiné et une pauvre église servant de cathédrale à un évêque maronite, Mgr. Gabriel el-Hadnani: pales restes, sans doute, des temps passes.
A cette époque, Zghorta est un hameau à ramparts crenels; sur le tertre se dresse le fortin contre lequel est adossée une petite église fort aimée et dédiée à Notre-Dame.
… Pendant l'été, il est impossible de trouver un logement à Zghorta. Portes et fenêtres sont closes, le village est désert; à peine quelques chiens et deux ou trios gardiens silencieux. C'est que, pendant l'été, Zghorta se transporte sur les hauts plateaux du Liban, à Ehden.
… Sept à huit personnes seulement étaient à Zghorta quand nous arrivames. Comme toujours après avoir declare que nos pères et mères, nos frères et soeurs, nos oncles et le reste se portaient bien et saluaient l'assistance, mon compagnon parla de Karam, le héros de 1860, la gloire du Liban, puis après avoir sacrifié au Dieu, on passa à la Sainte Vierge.
- Que Dieu brule ma maison! Mais en voilà un qui aimait Saideh, s'écria un petit vieux déjà vouté, assis le baton entre les jambs, revetu de l'ancien costume libanais et qui avait fait le coup de feu avec le héros. Cheikh Karam brulait dans son Coeur Mariam la Vierge; il avait toujours le chapelet à la main et ses bénédications en bouche; il faisait réciter les litanies à ses soldats. Un jour il s'écarte pour lire un Ave Maria, et un boulet frappe juste l'endroit qu'il venait de quitter. C'était un Saint.
- Il y a bien longtemps de cela? demandai-je au vieillard.
- Plus de quarante ans, dit-il.
Puis fixant, reveur, la montagne mourante et la silhouette du village silencieux:
- Aujourd'hui, ajoute-t-il, on n'aime plus Saideh.
- Allah! Protesta l'auditoire.
Le petit vieux frappe du baton.
- Parfaitement, et vous autres, les jeunes, qu'est ce que vous faites pour Saideh? Vous ne songez qu'à aller en Amérique, à jouer du Aoud, à boire l'araq blanche près des sources. Plus de coups de fusil pour Mariam, plus d'illuminations, plus d'acclamations dans l'église; on ne vient plus dormer à ses pieds, apporter de l'huile et des colliers.
- Pas besoin de tout ce fracas, brave home!
- Pas besoin? Qu'est-ce que donc une messe sans cloches, des noces sans coups de fusil? Pas de bruit, pas d'amour. Oui, c'est triste; aujourd'hui on ne cherche qu'à batir des maisons à tuiles rouges, qu'à acheter des pantaloons frangi, qu'à faire des routes. Tenez! demain vous aurez une route pour monter à Ehden; c'est à faire pitié. Moi je n'ose plus aller là-haut avec les autres; au printemps on dirait des funérailles, tant le voyage se fait silencieusement. De mon temps, c'était une autre chanson.
- Oui?
- Quel plaisir cette montée à Ehden, vers Paques! Un beau matin, Zghorta fermait ses fenêtres, ses portes, mettait dehors, vaches, chèvres, moutons, chargeait les mullets, les anes, et puis en avant! Nous, les jeunes, nous prenions nos Keffiehs de soie jaune, nos armes et montions à cheval pour ouvrir la marche. Pas de route alors. Mais les sabots de nos chevaux faisaient des éticelles sur les chemins pierreux. Derrière nous, on entonnait un cantique à otre-Dame de Zghorta pour lui dire adieu et lui recommender la garde du village; sur notre passage on sortait des maisons, les femmes nous saluaient du zalaghit. Arrivés sur les pentes de Aito, là-haut dans le ciel, entre deux pics formant croissant montait en fer de lance, une crête que nous nous empressions de nommer: la crête de Hosn ou habite la Vierge. Alors nous tirions des coups de fusil et faisons des signes et, d'en bas, les femmes criaient: Ya Saidat-el Hosn! Ya Saidat-el Hosn! Notre-Dame de Hosn est en effet, la lance, la sentinelle, la reine d'Ehden. Puis c'était à qui d'entre les cavaliers arriverait le premier… Dieu du ciel, quelle journée. Aujourd'hui rien; ils on tune route, ils ne voient plus Saideh.
Le petit vieux se leva, très ému, nous salua, puis ayant pris ses babouches à la main, il traversa la rivière et disparut dans la nuit, comme une fugitive apparition du Liban d'autrefois.
Un jeune home haussa l'épaule et dit sans rire:
- Bah! Abou Tannous a mis, ce soir, un peu trop de poudre dans son fusil.
Joseph Goudard 1908
Some dates in the history of Zgharta
- march 1557: too much snow and high cold winds caused too much damages in the crops
- 1 march 1677: the locusts invaded the fields of Zgharta and caused a disaster.
- 15 september 1669: around one hundred people died in Zgharta because of severe illness
- 1 april 1733: visit of the French poet A. de Lamartine. He stayed 12 days in Zgharta and Ehde
- 9 january 1838: The Emir Bashir nominated Rev. Gerges Yammine Al-Ehdeni as a judge in Mount Lebanon
- 22 february 1848: death of seventy children due to smallpox
- 2 january 1850: The English traveler David Urkheart visited Zgharta
- 21 january 1866: Zgharta was occupied by the Ottoman troups of Amin Bacha
- march 1876: Smallpox caused death of too many children
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