La Quarantaine, which is colloquially referred to as Karantina () and sometimes spelled Quarantina, is a predominantly low-income, mixed-use residential, commercial, and semi-industrial neighborhood in northeastern

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 ...

. The neighborhood lies east of the

Port of Beirut The Port of Beirut () is the main port in Lebanon on the eastern part of the Saint George Bay on Beirut's northern Mediterranean coast, west of the Beirut River. It is one of the largest and busiest ports on the Eastern Mediterranean. On 4 Augu ...

, which also encircles it from the north, west of the

Beirut River The Beirut River (, ''Nahr Bayrūt'') is a river in Lebanon separating the city of Beirut from its eastern suburbs, primarily Bourj Hammoud and Sin el Fil. The river flows mostly east to west from snow drains and springs on the western slopes ...

and north of the

Charles Helou Charles Helou (25 September 1913 – 7 January 2001) was a Lebanese politician who served as the 4th president of Lebanon from 1964 to 1970. Early life and education Born in Beirut on 25 September 1913, Helou was the scion of a powerful Maron ...

highway and the

Achrafieh Achrafieh () is an upper-class area in eastern Beirut, Lebanon. In strictly administrative terms, the name refers to a sector (''secteur'') centred on Sassine Square, the highest point in the city, as well as a broader quarter (''quartier''). In p ...

district of Beirut. The neighborhood gets its name from the French term, ''La Quarantaine'', because it was the location where a

lazaretto A lazaretto ( ), sometimes lazaret or lazarette ( ), is a quarantine station for maritime travelers. Lazarets can be ships permanently at anchor, isolated islands, or mainland buildings. In some lazarets, postal items were also disinfected, usu ...

for travellers was built at the request of Ibrahim Pasha, the son of

Muhammad Ali Pasha Mehmed Ali Pasha may refer to: * Muhammad Ali of Egypt (1769–1849), considered the founder of modern Egypt * Çerkes Mehmed Pasha (died 1625), Ottoman statesman and grand vizier * Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha (1815–1871), Ottoman statesman and gra ...

, the Governor of Egypt, who controlled Syria and Beirut in 1831. The lazaretto was to be managed by a committee made up of the Austrian, Danish, French, Greek, and Spanish consuls. In 1951, 1,300

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

refugees were settled in the area. By the mid-1970s, the neighborhood had become a

favela Favela () is an umbrella name for several types of impoverished neighborhoods in Brazil. The term, which means slum or ghetto, was first used in the Slum of Providência in the center of Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th century, which was b ...

of 27,000 people – primarily Palestinians,

Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...

Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

, and

Shia Muslims 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 ...

. It was also a base for PLO paramilitary groups who engaged in battle during the Lebanese Civil War marking the area as a military target by opposing factions, particularly Lebanese Christians based in the nearby Ashrifieh neighborhoods. In January 1976, at the height of the first phase of the Lebanese Civil War, the Karantina district was deemed a danger for the residents of East Beirut and following multiple attacks by Christian militias with the purpose of clearing out the PLO elements, the population was expelled and militants were neutralized in heavy fighting, followed by the

Karantina massacre The Karantina massacre (; ) took place on January 18, 1976, early in the Lebanese Civil War. Karantina, La Quarantine, known in Arabic as Karantina, was a Islam in Lebanon, Muslim-inhabited district in mostly Christianity in Lebanon, Christian ...

by the right-wing

Lebanese Front The Lebanese Front was a coalition of mainly right-wing Lebanese Nationalist parties formed in 1976 by majority Christian groups during the Lebanese Civil War. It was intended to act as a reaction force to the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) ...

, leaving around 1,500 people dead. Industries in La Quarantaine used to be centered on the production of glass, furniture, tile and bricks, leather products, but many of these industries were replaced with the production of metal-based, cereal silos, tanneries and artisanal industries. The area is one of the most polluted parts of the city due to its vicinity to the port as well as the presence of the city

slaughterhouse In livestock agriculture and the meat industry, a slaughterhouse, also called an abattoir (), is a facility where livestock animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a mea ...

(which is now closed) and a RAMCO (formerly Sukleen) waste disposal and treatment center. The southern part of the neighborhood adjacent to the highway is home to various commercial establishments, such as the Forum de Beyrouth, the multipurpose events center that hosted Beirut Rock Festival in 2009.

B 018 B 018, also pronounced in French B Zero Dix-Huit, is a nightclub that was established in 1994 in Beirut, Lebanon. History In the 1980s while Lebanon was still amidst war, Naji Gebran believed in music as therapy to ease the stress of the war. He ...

, the renowned nightclub is also located in the area, as well as others such as KED and Grand Factory. An increasing number of art galleries have opened or relocated to the neighborhood such as Joy Mardini's Art Factum Gallery, located in a former steel factory, which opened in 2011.

Environmental issues

See Sea dumping in Karantina.

In fiction

*''The Cyclist: A Novel'' by Viken Berberian, Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers (2002), recipient of the

Centre national du livre The Centre national du livre (CNL) is a French établissement public à caractère administratif. The CNL is placed under the administrative supervision of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication (, ). Its vocation and mission is to s ...

award (2010).

References

{{coord, 33, 54, N, 35, 32, E, display=title, region:LB_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Armenian communities in Lebanon Neighbourhoods of Beirut

Environmental issues

In fiction

See Also

References