Lebanon

Lebanon stamps, available worldwide at Io Collezionista. Lebanon is one of the first six states to join the Arab League, the international political organisation whose members also include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq and Syria. The area remained under the control of the Ottoman Empire for about four centuries (1516-1918) and was then entrusted to France under a League of Nations mandate until 1943, the year it gained independence. The country's name comes from that of the mountain range of the same name, which runs for about 160km and reaches heights of 2500 metres. It is probably the snow that settles on the highest peaks that the Phoenician root of the name refers to: lbn can be rendered as white.