Fakhr al-Din II

Fakhr al-Din Ma'n, commonly known as Fakhr al-Din II or Fakhreddine II, was the paramount Druze emir of Mount Lebanon from the Ma'n dynasty, an Ottoman governor of Sidon-Beirut and Safed, and the strongman over much of the Levant from the 1620s to 1633. For uniting modern Lebanon's constituent parts and communities, especially the Druze and the Maronites, under a single authority for the first time in history, he is generally regarded as the country's founder. Although he ruled in the name of the Ottomans, he acted with considerable autonomy and developed close ties with European powers in defiance of the Ottoman imperial government.

6 August 1572

Born on the same birth day (6 August): Catherine Hicks • Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor • Ella Raines • Frank Nicklin • François Fénelon • Hans Moser (actor) • Jason Crump • John Graves (author) • Jon Postel • Leslie Odom Jr. • Luis Vizcaíno • Mary Ann Sieghart • Michael Deeley • Mickaël Delage • Paul Hellyer • Renate Götschl • Robert Mitchum • Roch La Salle • Ron Jones (television director) • Stéphane Peterhansel • Vince Wells • Virginia Foster Durr