Taraya () is a village in the

Baalbek District Baalbek District () is an administrative district in the Baalbek-Hermel Governorate of the Republic of Lebanon, having the city Baalbek as its capital. It is by far the largest district in the country comprising a total of . Major towns of the d ...

of the

Baalbek-Hermel Governorate Baalbek-Hermel () is a governorate of Lebanon and is the largest by area in the country. It comprises the districts of Baalbek and Hermel, which in turn are subdivided into a total of 74 municipalities. The capital is at Baalbek. The 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 has an area of and is at an elevation of .

History

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 Taraya's population as being predominantly

Metawileh Lebanese Shia Muslims (), communally and historically known as ''matāwila'' (, plural of ''mutawālin''; pronounced as ''metouéle'' in Lebanese Arabic), are Lebanese people who are adherents of Shia Islam in Lebanon, which plays a major role ...

.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p
144
/ref>

References

Bibliography

* Populated places in Baalbek District Shia Muslim communities in Lebanon {{lebanon-geo-stub