In The Levant
When the United Kingdom took over the southern portion of Ottoman Syria in the aftermath of the First World War, some of the new rulers adapted the term "Levantine" pejoratively to refer to inhabitants of mixed Arab and European descent and to Europeans (usually French, Italian or Greek) who had assimilated and adopted local dress and customs. Today, many of Lebanon's Roman Catholics are of at least partial French descent, and the use of French is widespread in Lebanon.
Read more about this topic: Levantines (Latin Christians)
Famous quotes containing the word levant:
“Strip away the phony tinsel of Hollywood and you find the real tinsel underneath.”
—Oscar Levant (1906–1972)