The Origins of the Druze People and Religion

...in the year 1840, which reached its peak in the civil war of 1860. The Sublime Porte The central government of the Ottoman Empire, based in Constantinople. in Constantinople Modern-day Istanbul. was largely responsible for this unrest. The Sultan, realizing that the only way to bring the semi-independent people of Lebanon under his direct control was to plant the seeds of conflict among the people themselves, introduced a policy in the mountains that had been long tested and found successful in other Ottoman provinces—the policy of "divide and rule." The civil war of 1860 cost the Christians approximately ten thousand lives in Damascus, Zahlé, Deir al-Qamar, Hasbaya, and other towns of Lebanon. The European powers then decided to intervene and authorized a body of French troops, under General Beaufort d'Hautpoul, to land in Beirut. His commemorative inscription can still be seen on the historic rocks at the mouth of the Dog River Nahr al-Kalb, a site where many conquering armies throughout history have left monuments.. Following the recommendations of the European powers, the Ottoman government granted Lebanon local autonomy the right to self-govern, guaranteed by the powers and placed under a Christian governor. This self-rule was maintained until the Great War World War I (1914–1918)..

Besides Wādī-al-Taym, the southern part of Western Lebanon, and the Hauran, the Druze today occupy a few villages in al-Jabal al-A'la,¹ Mount Carmel in Palestine, and Safed. Their districts in southern Lebanon are al-Matn and al-Shuf, and their primary villages are: Aley, Baysur, al-Shuwayfat, Abeih, Baakline, and al-Mukhtarah. In all of Syria and Palestine, they number approximately 117,000.

1 In the area near Aleppo.