Tyre, in Lebanon, is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, having been continuously inhabited for over 4,700 years. Situated in the Levant on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, Tyre became the leading city of the Phoenician civilization in 969 BC with the reign of the Tyrian king Hiram I, the city of Tyre alongside its Phoenician homeland are also credited with numerous innovations in shipbuilding, navigation, industry, agriculture, and government. The Phoenician Tyrians' international trade network was based on its two ports[1] and is believed to have fostered the economic, political, and cultural foundations of Classical Western civilization.
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During the early Middle Ages, the city experienced a long period of decline. Its population suffered during the 6th century from the political chaos that ensued when the Eastern Roman empire was torn apart by wars. The decline was compounded by numerous earthquakes that destroyed the city. Tyre then enjoyed a period of prosperity under the Muslims and then the crusaders. In 1291 AD the Mamluks seized the city from the Crusaders. The resulting mass depopulation event started a period of decline for the city that lasted until roughly 1750 AD. Local ruler sheikh Nasif al-Nassar initiated a number of construction projects, which drove a short-lived revival of the city. The city experienced another boom in the 19th century with the start of several new commercial and building projects. Numerous wars in the region beset the city until the independence of the French Mandate of Lebanon in 1943.
- ^ the "Sidonian port" to the north, still partly existing today, and the "Egyptian port" to the south which has perhaps been discovered very recently (Goiran, J-P, et al., 2023, "Evolution of Sea Level at Tyre During Antiquity", BAAL 21, with a new hypothesis about the local relative sea level rise and a major discovery of the Phoenician breakwater of the southern, so-called "Egyptian", harbour [1])