Levantines

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Levantines

small ethnic groups that make up part of the Syrian and Lebanese population; descendants of European colonists (mainly Italian and French) who settled in the coastal regions of Syria and Lebanon at the beginning of the Crusades (late 11th and early 12th centuries) and mingled with the local inhabitants. Most Levantines speak Arabic. Their religion is primarily Maronite or Catholic; a small number of Levantines are Muslims.

References in periodicals archive ?

Mayor Kamil Okyay Sindir of Bornova town of the Aegean province of Izmir said that the municipality would restore one of the Levantine mansions in their town.

Sindir said tradesmen who were exporting cotton, grapes and figs from the Aegean Region and importing various products via Silk Road, were settled in Bornova town and built the Levantine mansions.

The mayor said most of the Levantine mansions did not need any restoration for their owners were living in them, so the municipality would restore uninhabitable ones.

Great Levantine mansions of Izmir refer to about fifty stately residences, dating principally from the 19th century and of which a significant number remain intact to this day, by being restored and continuing to be used and visited.