Keserwan District (, transliteration: ''Qaḍā' Kisrawān'') is a district (''

qadaa A kaza (, "judgment" or "jurisdiction") was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. It is also discussed in English under the names district, subdistrict, and juridical district. Kazas continued to be used by some of the empire's succe ...

'') in

Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate Keserwan-Jbeil () is the most recently created governorate of Lebanon. It consists of the districts of Jbeil and Keserwan. Keserwan-Jbeil covers an area of and is bounded by the North Governorate to the north, the Baalbek-Hermel Governorate to ...

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 ...

, to the northeast of Lebanon's capital

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 capital,

Jounieh Jounieh (, or ''Juniya'', ) is a coastal city in Keserwan District, about north of Beirut, Lebanon. Since 2017, it has been the capital of Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate. Jounieh is known for its seaside resorts and bustling nightlife, as well as it ...

, is overwhelmingly

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 ...

Christian. The area is home to the

Jabal Moussa Biosphere Reserve Jabal Moussa Biosphere Reserve () is a nature reserve located in the Keserwan District of Lebanon, on the shoulders of the western slopes of Mount Lebanon overlooking the Mediterranean Sea to the West. It covers an area of 6500 hectares, at an alt ...

Etymology

According to the medieval historian Gabriel ibn al-Qilai, the name “Kesrwan” derives from the Maronite muqadam Kisra of Baskinta. During the time of the Crusades, Keserwan was the northern frontier of the

Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as the Crusader Kingdom, was one of the Crusader states established in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade. It lasted for almost two hundred years, from the accession of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1 ...

Demographics

According to registered voters in 2014:

Electoral constituency

The district is part of the Keserwan-Byblos electoral district, with the district of Keserwan being allocated 5 Maronite seats (and the overall constituency having 7 Maronites and 1 Shi'ia).

Cities, towns, and villages

Aazra Azra ou el-Azr (; also spelled or simply ''Azra'') is a municipality located in the Keserwan District of the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate in Lebanon. The municipality, which consists of the villages of Azra and el-Azr, is about north of Beirut ...

* Adma *

Adonis In Greek mythology, Adonis (; ) was the mortal lover of the goddesses Aphrodite and Persephone. He was considered to be the ideal of male beauty in classical antiquity. The myth goes that Adonis was gored by a wild boar during a hunting trip ...

* Ain-bzil *

Ain El Delbeh Ain (, ; ) is a French department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where it nei ...

Ain el-Rihaneh Ain el-Rihaneh (; also spelled ''Ayn al-Rihanah'' or ''Aain er-Rihane'') is a town and municipality located in the Keserwan District of the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. The town is about north of Beirut. It has an average elevation of 3 ...

Aintoura Aintoura (; Syriac: ܥܝܢܛܘܪܐ) is a town and municipality in the Keserwan District of the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate, Lebanon. It is located 18 kilometers north of Beirut. The average elevation of Aintoura is 230 meters above the sea level a ...

Ajaltoun Ajaltoun () is a town and municipality in the Keserwan District of the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate in Lebanon. It is located 24 km (15 miles) north of Beirut. Ajaltoun's average elevation is 850 meters (2800') above sea level and its total lan ...

* Akaybeh * Aramoun *

Ashqout Ashqout (; also spelled ''Ashkout'', ''Achqout'', ''`Ashqut'') is a town and municipality in the Keserwan District of the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. It is located 31 kilometers north of Beirut. Ashqout's average elevation is 1,000 meter ...

* Attine * Azra & Ozor * Ballouneh *

Batha Batha may refer to: * Batha Region, one of the regions of Chad * Batha Prefecture, a former division of Chad * Batha, Lebanon, one of the villages in Keserwan District in Lebanon * Batha, an alternate term for garrigue, or Mediterranean scrubland * ...

* Bekaata Ashqout * Bekaata Kenaan * Bezhel *Bezhel & Mradyeh * Bkerké *

Bouar Bouar is a market town in the western Central African Republic, lying on the main road from Bangui (437 km) to the frontier with Cameroon (210 km). The city is the capital of Nana-Mambéré prefecture, has a population of 40,353, while t ...

Bqaatouta Bqaatouta () is a village located on the upper mountains of Keserwan District, Lebanon, at an average altitude of 1,300 metres aboved sea level. Its population is around 1,650 persons (Maronites). It is 45 kilometres from Beirut Beirut ( ; ...

(Bkaatouta) *

Bzoummar Bzoummar (; also spelled ''Bzommar'' or ''Bzemmar'') is a village in the Keserwan District of the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate in Lebanon. It is northeast of Beirut, and has an elevation ranging between above sea level. Bzoummar's inhabitants are ...

* Chahtoul * Chnaniir *Dafne * Daher Sarba * Daraoun * Daraya * Dlebta * Faitroun *

Faqra Faqra is a ski resort on the outskirts of the Kfardebian village in the Keserwan District in Mount Lebanon, from Beirut and from Jounieh. The resort is located at an altitude ranging from 1500 m to 2000 m at the foot of Mount Sann ...

* Faraya * Fatqa * Ghadir * Ghbaleh * Ghidras * Ghineh * Ghosta *

Harissa Harissa (, from Maghrebi Arabic) is a hot chili pepper paste, native to the Maghreb. The main ingredients are roasting#Vegetables, roasted chili pepper, red peppers, Baklouti peppers (), spices and herbs such as garlic paste, caraway seeds, c ...

* Harharaya * Hiyata *

Hosein Hosein may refer to: People with the surname * Akeal Hosein (born 1993), Trinidadian cricketer * Christine Newallo-Hosein, Trinidad and Tobago politician * Harvey Hosein (born 1996), English former professional cricketer * Imran N. Hosein (b ...

* Hrajel * Jdaidet Ghazir *

Jdeideh Jdeidy ( translit. al-Judaydat), also Jdayde, Jdaideh and Jdeidet el-Matn, is a coastal municipality and the administrative capital of the Matn District in the Mount Lebanon Governorate. Jdeideh has an area of approximately 6 km2. It is loc ...

Jeita The is a Japanese trade organization for the electronics and IT industries. It was formed in 2000 from two earlier organizations, the Electronic Industries Association of Japan and the Japan Electronic Industries Development Association. History ...

* Jouret Bedran * Jouret Mhad * Jouret el-Termos * Jwar El Hous *

Kaslik Kaslik () is a town in the Keserwan District of the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate in Lebanon. The town is home to a variety of 18th-century limestone houses, and a number of historic churches. However, the area was also subject to the rampant deve ...

* Kattine *

Kfardebian Kfardebian (; also spelled ''Kfar Dibiane'' and also known as Moucha'a Keserwan) is a municipality in the Keserwan District of the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate in Lebanon. It is located 45 kilometers north of Beirut. Its average elevation is 1,22 ...

* Kfaryassine * Kfour * Kleiat * Maarab * Maaysra * Mayrouba * Nammoura * Okaibe * Raachine * Rayfoun * Safra *

Sahel Alma Sahel Alma () is a village located in the Keserwan District of the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate in Lebanon, it constitutes along with three other villages (Sarba, Haret Sakher and Ghadir) the area known as Jounieh. Sahel Alma is situated between the ...

* Sarba * Sehaileh * Tabarja *

Wata El Jawz WATA (1450 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Local News Talk Information format. Licensed to Boone, North Carolina, United States. The station is currently owned by Curtis Media Group of Raleigh, North Carolina and features predominantly l ...

* Yahchouch * Zaaytre * Zeytoun *

Zouk Mikael Zouk Mikael (, also spelled Zuq Mikha'il or Zouk Mkayel) is a town and municipality in the Keserwan District of the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate in Lebanon. Its inhabitants are predominantly Melkite and Maronite Catholics. The town is well known for ...

Zouk Mosbeh Zouk Mosbeh (Arabic: زوق مصبح) is a town and municipality in the Keserwan District of the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate in Lebanon. It is located 12 kilometers north of Beirut. Zouk Mosbeh's average elevation is 170 meters above sea level an ...

Notable families

Assaf dynasty The Assaf dynasty (also called Banu Assaf) were a Sunni Muslim and ethnic Turkmen dynasty of chieftains based in the Keserwan region of Mount Lebanon in the 14th–16th centuries. They came to the area in 1306 after being assigned by the Bahri ...

Sultan Selim I assigned the Assafs as his chief agents in the region between Beirut and Tripoli, confirming their control of Keserwan, and awarding them tax farms in the ''nawahi'' of Byblos and Beirut. While Emir Assaf had lived in Aintoura in the winter and elsewhere along the

Nahr al-Kalb The Nahr al-Kalb (, meaning ''Dog River'') is a river in Lebanon. It runs for from a spring in Jeita near the Jeita Grotto to the Mediterranean Sea. Historical significance The Nahr al-Kalb is the ancient Lycus River. The river mouth is reno ...

ridge prior to the Ottoman conquest, in 1517, he moved his headquarters to Ghazir. *

Khazen family Khazen (also El-Khazen, Al-Khazen, Khazin or De Khazen; ) is a prominent Arab Levantine family and clan based in Keserwan District, Lebanon, Damascus, Syria, Nablus, Palestine, as well as other districts around the Levant, predominantly in the Gali ...

Sfeir Sfeir () is a Maronite Christian clan surname from Lebanon, which appears with the highest density in the mountainous Keserwan District. As a result of the Lebanese diaspora, the name has flourished in North and South America, Western Europe, Austr ...

The clan legend is that a Crusader King, most likely

Godfrey of Bouillon Godfrey of Bouillon (; ; ; ; 1060 – 18 July 1100) was a preeminent leader of the First Crusade, and the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1099 to 1100. Although initially reluctant to take the title of king, he agreed to rule as pri ...

, granted to the Sfeir clan a portion of what is today the Keserwan District of Mount Lebanon, which was the northern frontier of the

, as a reward for their loyalty to his reign and bravery in battle.

Gallery

File:Our Lady of Lebanon church, Harissa, Jounieh, Lebanon.jpg, Our Lady of Lebanon church, Keserwan District File:Harissa Cathedral From Bat'ha.jpg, Cathedral of Our Lady of Lebanon, Harissa

Bibliography

* * * Antoine Khoury Harb,
The Maronites: History and Constants
' (

ASIN Asin Thottumkal (born 26 October 1985), known mononyomusly as Asin, is an Indian former actress who appeared predominantly in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu language, Telugu films. Asin is a recipient of List of awards and nominations ...

B000B0F6NU) * Matti Moosa,
The Maronites in History
' () * Richard Van Leeuwen,
Notables and Clergy in Mount Lebanon: The Khāzin Sheikhs and the Maronite Church (1736-1840)
' () * Farid el-Khazen,
The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon, 1967-1976
' () * * * * * *
Catholic-Hierarchy
'
The sword of the Maronite Prince

Origins of the "Prince of Maronite" Title

National Geographic Magazine DNA sample from Khazen member

An Interview with Cheikh Malek el-Khazen

References

{{coord, 33, 58, 11, N, 35, 36, 56, E, type:adm2nd_source:itwiki, display=title Districts of Lebanon Maronites Kingdom of Jerusalem Lebanese noble families