History of Kesab

The region of Kesab was part of the ancient civilization that spread from the Syrian coasts up to the Orontes River, six millennia ago. During the Seleucid period the Kesab region was at the centre of the triad comprised Antioch, Seleucia and Laodicea. The Laodicea-Seleucia coastal road passed by the Karadouran bay whereas the Laodicea-Antioch road passed through the Duzaghaj valley. The Mount Casius at those times, was believed to have been the sanctuary of Zeus. During the reign of the ruler of the short-lived Armenian Empire Tigranes The Great, in the 1st century BC, and later the Roman era, the Syrian coast flourished greatly and had a positive affect on the development of the Kesab region.

There are no written sources about the primitive history of the Kesab region, but the first record of the name of Kesab was mentioned in a historical document dating back to the Crusaders period when Duke Belmont I granted the region of "Kasbisi" to the family of Peter the Hermit. 

Kasbisi, Cassembella or Cassabella are the names from which "Kesab" was derived.

Being located on the borders of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, the region of Kesab was gradually developing by its Armenian migrants. A research conducted on the peculiarities of the Kesab Armenian dialect and the dialects of the Armenians in the region of Alexandretta and Suweidiyeh, shows that the Armenians of Kesab and the surrounding villages are the remainders of migrants who came from the region of Antioch. The migration of the Armenians to the region increased in the 14th and the 15th centuries, during the Mamluk and the Ottoman periods, in an attempt to avoid persecutions, trying to find much more safer mountainous regions such as Kesab and Musa Dagh. The first Armenian refugees settled in the area now called Esguran. After a period they moved uphill and settled in the area now called the town of Kesab, turning it to a centre of the whole region and the destination of new refugees.

During the 1850s Kesab turned into a mission field with the arrival of Evangelical and Catholic missionaries rising anger among the Armenians of the region who were following the Armenian Apostolic Church. In the beginning of the 20th century, the population of Kesab region was around 6000 (all Armenians), with more than 20 schools, as a result of denominational and political divisions.

The first disaster in Kesab happened in April 1909. This calamity costed the Armenians 161 deaths and a massive material loss. After the event, Catholicos Sahag I Khabaian visited Kesab.