Barja (, also known as Barja al-Chouf) is a town and municipality in the

Chouf District Chouf (also spelled Shouf, Shuf or Chuf; ) is a historic region of Lebanon, as well as an administrative district in the governorate ( muhafazat) of Mount Lebanon. Geography Located south-east of Beirut, the region comprises a narrow coastal stri ...

of the

Mount Lebanon Governorate Mount Lebanon Governorate () is one of the nine governorates of Lebanon, of which it is the most populous. Its capital is Baabda. Other notable towns and cities include Aley, Bikfaya, and Beit Mery. This governorate is named after the mount ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. Barja is situated near the Mediterranean coast, 34 kilometers south of

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

and at the midway point between the latter and

Sidon Sidon ( ) or better known as Saida ( ; ) is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast in the South Governorate, Lebanon, South Governorate, of which it is the capital. Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre, t ...

. The town's total land area consists of 729 hectares and its highest point above sea level is documented at 310 meters. Barja had 12,888 registered voters in 2010, and eleven schools with a total of 2,788 students in 2006. Its inhabitants are predominantly

Sunni Muslims Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Musli ...

History

Caves and monuments

Close to the northern entrance of the Barja, a few dozens of caves and burial cemeteries can be seen carved out inside of rocks hills, which dates back to the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

period. The urban expansion has destroyed a lot of it but some paintings and engravings and remains of a population that lived in this region can still be found from time to time, such as

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

Persians Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

and Byzantines. When the French Renan mission visited

in 1863, it described Barja as the “buried city - Necropole”. Residents of Barja has also seen this expedition taking back to the French consulate in Beirut a monument bearing a Greek inscription. “Khorstos Al-Sharif Salam, he left prematurely, lived 27 years, died in 228. In the modern age, that area is called by “Qasr bu Hanin", attributed to the name of the landowner. The castle of Al-Nawawais, next to a college building, which overlooks the valley of a town named "Siblin", is wrongfully called “Ajran El-Dibs”, but in fact, it is Nawawais, which means sarcophaguses, originally made for Phoenician priests and other of pagan peoples.

Ottoman era

In 1838,

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

noted it as ''Burja'', a village located in "Aklim el Kharnub, North of et-Tuffah, next the coast".

Twentieth century

During the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990), hundreds of young men and women emigrated from Barja to various countries such as Australia, Brazil, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, contributing to the

Lebanese diaspora Lebanese diaspora refers to Lebanese migrants and their descendants who emigrated from Lebanon and now reside in other countries. There are more people of Lebanese origin (15,4 million) living outside Lebanon than within the country (6 mill ...

Contemporary period

The town has houses that demonstrate traditional architecture. Since the turn of the millennium, Barja has experienced westernization. As public transportation and mass transit become more abundant, locals are commuting to the capital city

in search for job opportunities.

Climate

Barja has mild Mediterranean climate during summer and winter seasons, as average temperatures vary between 11 - 27 °C. Much of the town was destroyed during a devastating earthquake that shook the Chouf District in 1956. However, over the past 50 years the remains of the earthquake have been gradually concealed beneath a layer of building development.

Demographics

In 2014,

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

made up 97.95% and

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

made up 1.75% of registered voters in Barja. 95.72% of the voters were

. The Christian population is mostly

Maronite Catholics The Maronite Church (; ) is an Eastern Catholic ''sui iuris'' particular church in full communion with the pope and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. The head of the Maronite ...

.https://lub-anan.com/المحافظات/جبل-لبنان/الشوف/برجا/المذاهب/

Notable people

Khalil Bader Khalil Abdel Salam Bader (; born 27 July 1999) is a Lebanese footballer who plays as a winger for Kuwait Premier League club Al-Yarmouk and the Lebanon national team. Club career Nejmeh Bader was loaned out to Chabab Ghazieh by Nejmeh f ...

(born 1999), footballer

References

Bibliography

Exeternal links

Barja (archive.org)
Localiban {{Chouf District Populated places in Chouf District Sunni Muslim communities in Lebanon