Editing Beirut (section)

====Vilayet of Beirut====
In 1888, Beirut was made capital of a [[Wilayah|vilayet]] (governorate) in Syria,<ref>[http://www.macalester.edu/courses/geog61/jmhamilton/modern.html Modern Beirut] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180915181848/https://www.macalester.edu/courses/geog61/jmhamilton/modern.html |date=15 September 2018 }}, Macalester College</ref> including the [[sanjak]]s (prefectures) Latakia, Tripoli, Beirut, Acre and Bekaa.<ref name=LebanonLinks>{{cite web |url=http://www.lebanonlinks.com/country/beirut_history_beyrouth.html |title=History of Beirut |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106234850/http://www.lebanonlinks.com/country/beirut_history_beyrouth.html |archive-date=6 January 2009 |work=Lebanon Links}}</ref> By this time, Beirut had grown into a cosmopolitan city and had close links with [[Europe]] and the United States. It also became a centre of [[missionary]] activity that spawned educational institutions such as the [[American University of Beirut]]. Provided with water from a British company and gas from a French one, silk exports to Europe came to dominate the local economy. After French engineers established a modern harbour in 1894 and a rail link across Lebanon to [[Damascus]] and [[Aleppo]] in 1907, much of the trade was carried by French ships to [[Marseille]]. French influence in the area soon exceeded that of any other European power. Though French infrastructure investments in the region were supportive, the local merchant elites were able to independently maintain economic power even after the end of the First World War.<ref name="Schayegh 2017">{{cite book |last1=Schayegh |first1=Cyrus |title=The Middle East and the Making of the Modern World |date=2017 |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=165}}</ref> In contrast, although Beirut was not the only city to receive French attention in this time, it was able to leverage its critical position to its advantage over others (e.g. Damascus).<ref name="Schayegh 2017" /> The 1911 ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' reported a population consisting of 36,000 Muslims, 77,000 Christians, 2,500 Jews, 400 Druze and 4,100 foreigners.<ref name=EB1911>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Beirut|volume=3|page=658|first1=Charles William|last1=Wilson|first2=David George|last2=Hogarth}}</ref> At the start of the 20th century, [[Salim Ali Salam]] was one of the most prominent figures in Beirut, holding numerous public positions including deputy from Beirut to the Ottoman parliament and President of the Municipality of Beirut. Given his modern way of life, the emergence of Salim Ali Salam as a public figure constituted a transformation in terms of the social development of the city.
{{Wide image|بيروت_القرن_١٩_أسود_أبيض.jpg|800px|An aerial [[panorama|panoramic]] view of Beirut in the last third of the 19th century}}In his 2003 book entitled ''Beirut and its Seven Families'', Yussef Bin Ahmad Bin Ali Al Husseini says:

{{blockquote|The seven families of Beirut are the families who bonded among each other and made the famous historical agreement with the governor of the Syrian Coast in 1351 to protect and defend the city of Beirut and its shores, and chase the invaders and stop their progress towards it.}}