Immediately prior to the introduction of Arabic, the people residing in Lebanon—both those who would become Muslim and the vast majority who would remain Christian, along with the tiny Jewish minority—spoke Aramaic,[37] or more precisely, a Western Aramaic language.[31] However, since at least the 15th century, the majority of people of all faiths living in what is now Lebanon have been Arabic-speaking,[38][39] or more specifically, speakers of Lebanese Arabic, although as late as the 17th century, travellers in Lebanon still reported on several Aramaic-speaking villages[40] where the language was the community’s vernacular not merely liturgical.