Page "Druze" Paragraph 23

With the advent of the Ottoman Turks and the conquest of Syria by Sultan Selim I in 1516, the Ma ' ans were acknowledged by the new rulers as the feudal lords of southern Lebanon.

Druze villages spread and prospered in that region, which under Ma ' an leadership so flourished that it acquired the generic term of Jabal Bayt-Ma ' an ( the mountain of the Ma ' an family ) or Jabal al-Druze.

The latter title has since been usurped by the Hawran region, which since the middle of the 19th century has proven a haven of refuge to Druze emigrants from Lebanon and has become the headquarters of Druze power.