Jaj — Mediated Wiki

{{Other uses}} {{Infobox settlement | name = Jaj | other_name = Jaje | native_name = جاج | native_name_lang = ar  | settlement_type = | image_skyline = | image_caption = | image_flag = | image_seal = | image_shield = | nickname = | pushpin_map = Lebanon | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_map_caption = Location in Lebanon | coordinates = {{coord|34|9|53|N|35|48|19|E|region:LB|display=inline,title}} | coor_pinpoint = | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = Lebanon | subdivision_type1 = Governorate | subdivision_name1 = Keserwan-Jbeil | subdivision_type2 = District | subdivision_name2 = Byblos | subdivision_type3 = | subdivision_name3 = | established_title = | established_date = | founder = | seat_type = | seat = | government_footnotes = | leader_party = | leader_title = | leader_name = | unit_pref = Metric   | area_footnotes = | area_urban_footnotes =  | area_rural_footnotes =  | area_metro_footnotes =  | area_magnitude =  | area_note = | area_water_percent = | area_rank = | area_blank1_title = | area_blank2_title =  | area_total_km2 = 11.74 | area_land_km2 = | area_water_km2 = | area_urban_km2 = | area_rural_km2 = | area_metro_km2 = | area_blank1_km2 = | area_blank2_km2 =  | area_total_ha = | area_land_ha = | area_water_ha = | area_urban_ha = | area_rural_ha = | area_metro_ha = | area_blank1_ha = | area_blank2_ha = | length_km = | width_km = | dimensions_footnotes = | elevation_footnotes = | elevation_m = 1,220 | population_as_of = | population_footnotes = | population_total = | population_density_km2 = | population_note = | population_demonym = | timezone1 = | utc_offset1 = | timezone1_DST = | utc_offset1_DST = | postal_code_type = | postal_code = | area_code_type = | area_code = | iso_code = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Jaj''' ({{langx|ar|جاج|Jāj}}, also spelled ''Jaje'') is a mountainous village in the Byblos District of Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate, Lebanon. It is 68 kilometers north of Beirut. Jaj has an average elevation of 1,220 meters above sea level and a total land area of 1,174 hectares.<ref name="localiban">{{cite web|title=Jaj|url=http://www.localiban.org/article4387.html|website=Localiban|publisher=Localiban|accessdate=2016-02-09|date=2008-01-17}}</ref> Its inhabitants are predominantly Maronite Catholics.<ref>{{cite web|title=Elections municipales et ikhtiariah au Mont-Liban |url=http://www.localiban.org/IMG/pdf/Elections_municipales_libanaises_2010_-_Mont-Liban.pdf |website=Localiban |publisher=Localiban |accessdate=2016-02-12 |page=19 |date=2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150724081015/http://www.localiban.org/IMG/pdf/Elections_municipales_libanaises_2010_-_Mont-Liban.pdf |archivedate=2015-07-24 }}</ref> Jaj is known for its cedar trees high in the mountains.

==History== Human habitation in Jaj can be traced back to Phoenician times. They made good use of its cedar forest and built their ships from its woods.

The village was formally established as a settlement by the Maronite El Semrani clan, resisting Islamic conquests in the Levant.

In the middle ages, the village is said to have been settled by crusaders and had a famous tower the villagers called "Tower of Crusaders" that was originally built by the Romans. In Ottoman times, the village was religiously diverse from early on. {{citation needed|reason=concrete historical claims need data to back them up|date=January 2024}}

Ottoman tax registers of 1519 indicate Jaj had a population of 28 Christian and 21 Shia Muslim households.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bakhit |first1=Muhammad Adnan |title=The Ottoman province of Damascus in the sixteenth century |date=1982 |publisher=Librairie du Liban |isbn=9780866853224 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YQt1AAAAMAAJ }}</ref>

In Maronite literature, Jaj was the headquarters of the Sunni Muslim sheikhs of the Byblos region during the early Ottoman era, and that the Shia Muslim Hamade sheikhs Ali Dib, Ahmad Abu Za'zua and Sirhan succeeded them in 1600 by killing them on behalf of the Sayfa clan of Tripoli.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Winter|first1=Stefan|title=The Shiites of Lebanon under Ottoman Rule, 1516–1788|date=2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=70 and 73|isbn=9781139486811|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KGeuAeFFJCEC&q=Jaj+Lebanon+Maronite&pg=PA73}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=الخوري |first1=كريستيان أنطوان |title=جاج: من القرن السادس عشر إلى القرن العشرين : دراسة في التاريخ الاقتصادي والاجتماعي |year=2000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v3ltAAAAMAAJ}}</ref>

According to Lebanese historian Issa Alexander Maalouf, the Geagea family of Bsharri, to which politician Samir Geagea belongs, originated from the village of Jaj. The family was originally called Ma'eit and became known as "Geagea", which means "to control the donkeys" in Arabic because a forefather of the family used to care for the donkeys of the local Maronite patriarch Youhanna al-Jaji (1404–1455) of Jaj.<ref>{{cite web|title=Lebanon Families: Geagea families: the majority are Maronites from Bcharri and the minority are Shia'a and Sunni|url=http://www.information-international.com/index.php/the-monthly/articles/765-lebanon-families-geagea-families-the-majority-are-maronites-from-bcharri-and-the-minority-are-shiaa-and-sunni-|website=Information International|accessdate=2016-02-09}}</ref>

On 1 September 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron visited Jaj and planted a cedar tree to mark the centennial of Greater Lebanon.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/macron-to-mark-lebanons-centenary-as-nation-teeters-on-brink |title=French president Macron to mark Lebanon's centenary as nation teeters on brink |website=The Straits Times |date=1 September 2020 }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Populated places in Byblos District Category:Maronite Christian communities in Lebanon