ABSTRACT
After a long period of stagnation, Syria during the nineteenth century arose to a cultural and social renaissance. One important field of development was education. An article published in Beirut in 1883 sheds important light on this. External impulses were important, but much of the development effort was indigenous. There were significant differences in the level of education between towns and the countryside, between regions, and between religious sects. Mount Lebanon is traditionally regarded as having been an advanced region with regard to i.a. education. This article shows that Lebanon's leadership was perhaps not so clear as is sometimes claimed.