BEIRUT, bwrrot or Ith-rMt', or BEYRUT (anciently, Berytus, Gk. linper6s, Berytos, the city of wells, from Heb., At% beer, big, well). Capital of the vilayet of the same name in Syria, Asiatic Turkey. and the chief seaport of Syria (Map: Turkey in Asia, F 6). It is situ ated on the western coast. on the slopes of the Has Beirut and Saint Dimitri, about 90 miles by rail northwest of Damascus. It consists of the old town, which is ill-built and unattractive, and a number of suburbs, with fine streets and houses and many features of a modern city. The climate is moderate and healthful, and with its good water-supply Beirut is regarded as one of the most healthful places of Asiatic Turkey. In its numerous business houses, European schools, and churches. Beirut shows the effect of European influences, while its Oriental character istics are becoming less perceptible. There are 23 mosques and 38 Christian churches of differ ent denominations, the chief mosque being a former church built by the Crusaders. Beirut has numerous educational institutions, main tained chiefly by missions, among which the French are the most influential, their language being almost exclusively that of the Christian population. The city contains also the Syrian Protestant College (American).
The industrial and commercial growth of Bei rut has been more rapid than that of any other city of Asiatic Turkey. Silk and eotton fabrics,
as well as gold and silver articles, are the chief tnannfaetures. The region around Beirut yields large quantities of silk, cotton, and tobacco for export, while the ehief imports are foodstuffs and articles of apparel. The total value of the imports aggregates about $7,000,000 annually, as against $3,600.000 of exports. The harbor of Beirut is deficient both in size and in depth, and heavier vessels are compelled to anchor out side. Regular steam communication is main tained with Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, and a few other European countries, while the coastwise transportation is effected chiefly by Turkish sailing vessels. Beirut is the seat of a pasha, a Greek bishop, a Alaronite archbishop, and a Papal delegate. The United States has a consular representative. The population is esti mated at 120,000, of which only about 30 per cent. is 'Mohammedan. The number of Euro peans is about -1300.
Beirut, mentioned in Egyptian inscriptions as early as the Fifteenth Century B.C., is the Bero thai of the Bible and the Bervtus of the classical writers. Under the Roman emperors it was the seat of a celebrated school of law. It was be sieged and captured by Baldwin I., King of Jerusalem, in 1110. In 1840 it was bombarded and taken by the English fleet, under Sir C Napier.