Jason Goodwin

No man’s land

The shores of the eastern Mediterranean, from the eastern Aegean to the delta of the Nile, constitute a region known as the Levant, from the French for the sunrise.

The shores of the eastern Mediterranean, from the eastern Aegean to the delta of the Nile, constitute a region known as the Levant, from the French for the sunrise. The French were first into Smyrna, opposite the island of Chios, which became a boom town in Ottoman times, trading figs and raisins from the hinterland. Far from Constantinople, it was a cheap and relaxed place to do business, encouraged by the Ottoman grants of consular jurisdiction and free trade. European consuls lived like princes in Smyrna, the merchants like lords. Tension between Muslims and Christians, between the many communities of Jews, Greeks, Armenians and Franks who settled there, were generally kept in check, both by the local authorities and by the consuls’ own naval might.

The Levantine world later expanded to Beirut and Alexandria, the two other cities whose histories are explored in a new book which marks Philip Mansel’s impressive return to the eastern Mediterranean.

The Levant was characterised by conciliation and negotiation, placing the conveniences of trade over the principles of politics. Relying first on an Italianate lingua franca, the Levant became increasingly French-accented.

Settled by Greeks from the conservative islands of the Aegean, as by Damascene Christians, the Levant could be an escape from the restrictions of race or religion. Its cities became windows on to the West, where churches and synagogues rose beside mosques. There were cafés and music, hats, newspapers and books, race courses, mixed councils (still running Beirut) and a plethora of schools.

Almost everyone was an immigrant, and like all immigrants they took education very seriously. Mansel says that Victoria College, the Eton of the Middle East, is the only British institution Alexandrines remember with affection; it gave expatriate Britons an education, but also generations of Arabs, Jews and Greeks.

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