Lebanon (pronounced /ˈlɛbənɒn/ (Speaker Icon.svg listen) or /ˈlɛbənən/; Arabic: لُبْنَان Lubnān; French: Liban), officially the Republic of Lebanon[note 1] (Arabic: اَلْجُمْهُورِيَّة اَللُّبْنَانِيَّة al-Jumhūrīyah al-Lubnānīyah; French: République libanaise), is a country in Western Asia, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east, and Israel to the south. Lebanon's location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland has dictated its rich, sometimes violent history, and shaped its unique cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity.
