Jaj (, also spelled ''Jaje'') is a mountainous village in the Byblos District of Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate,

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 ...

. It is 68 kilometers north 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 ...

. Jaj has an average elevation of 1,220 meters above sea level and a total land area of 1,174

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

s. Its inhabitants are predominantly Maronite Catholics. Jaj is known for its cedar trees high in the mountains.

History

Human habitation in Jaj can be traced back to

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

n times. They made good use of its cedar forest and built their ships from its woods. In the middle ages, the village is said to have been settled by

crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

and had a famous tower the villagers called "Tower of Crusaders" that was originally built by the Romans. In Ottoman times, the village was religiously diverse from early on. Ottoman tax registers of 1519 indicate Jaj had a population of 28 Christian and 21 Shia Muslim households. In

Maronite Maronites (; ) are a Syriac Christianity, Syriac Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant (particularly Lebanon) whose members belong to the Maronite Church. The largest concentration has traditionally re ...

literature, Jaj was the headquarters of the

Sunni Muslim 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 ...

sheikhs of the

Byblos Byblos ( ; ), also known as Jebeil, Jbeil or Jubayl (, Lebanese Arabic, locally ), is an ancient city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. The area is believed to have been first settled between 8800 and 7000BC and continuously inhabited ...

region during the early Ottoman era, and that the

Shia Muslim Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...

Hamade sheikhs Ali Dib, Ahmad Abu Za'zua and Sirhan succeeded them in 1600 by killing them on behalf of the Sayfa clan of Tripoli. According to Lebanese historian Issa Alexander Maalouf, the Geagea family of Bsharri, to which politician

Samir Geagea Samir Farid Geagea (, , also spelled Samir Ja'ja' ; born 25 October 1952) is a Lebanese politician and former militia commander who has been the leader of the Lebanese Forces Lebanese Forces, political party and Lebanese Forces (militia ...

belongs, originated from the village of Jaj. The family was originally called Ma'eit and became known as "Geagea", which means "to control the donkeys" in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

because a forefather of the family used to care for the donkeys of the local Maronite patriarch Youhanna al-Jaji (1404–1455) of Jaj. On 1 September 2020, French President

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...

visited Jaj and planted a cedar tree to mark the centennial of

Greater Lebanon The State of Greater Lebanon (; ), informally known as French Lebanon, was a state declared on 1 September 1920, which became the Lebanese Republic (; ) in May 1926, and is the predecessor of modern Lebanon. The state was declared on 1 Septembe ...

References

Populated places in Byblos District Maronite Christian communities in Lebanon {{Lebanon-geo-stub