Fakhr-al-Din II

Fakhr al-Din ibn Qurqumaz ibn Yunus Ma'n, also known as Fakhr al-Din II, was an emir of the Druze and for most of his career a governor and tax farmer of the Sidon-Beirut and Safed sanjaks, which spanned southern Mount Lebanon, the Galilee and the port towns of Sidon, Beirut and Acre. At the height of his power his territory extended north to the Tripoli Eyalet, including northern Mount Lebanon, Homs and Latakia, and east to the Beqaa Valley and northern Transjordan. For uniting the constituent parts of modern Lebanon, namely the Druze and Maronite Christian mountain districts, the adjacent coast, and the Beqaa Valley for the first time in history under a singular authority, he is regarded by the Lebanese people as the founder of the country.