Arab Argentines

Arab Argentine

Notable Arab Argentines: Carlos Menem · Felipe Sapag
Regions with significant populations
Throughout Argentina
Languages
Predominantly Spanish, minority speak Arabic
Religion
Predominantly Christian with Muslim minority
Related ethnic groups
Other Arabs, Arab American, Lebanese Canadian, Lebanese Australian, Spanish Argentine

An Arab Argentine is a Argentina citizen or resident alien whose ancestry traces back to any of various waves of immigrants, largely of Arab cultural and linguistic heritage and/or identity, originating from one or more of the twenty-two countries which comprise the Arab World.

Although a highly diverse group of Argentines — in ancestral origins, religion and historic identities — Arab Argentines hold a heritage that shares common linguistic, cultural, and political traditions.

The majority of the 3.5 million Arab Argentines are from either Lebanese or Syrian background. There is also a small Palestinian community in Argentina.

History

Queen of the Arab Collectivity in the Fiesta Nacional del Inmigrante in Oberá, Misiones.

In the 19th century, the first Arabs settled in Argentina. Most Arabs who came during this time period were Sirio-Libanese Arabs (During that time, Syria and Lebanon were one territory). From 1891 to 1920, 367,348 people enter Argentina. When they were first processed in the ports of Argentina, they were classified as Turks because what is modern day Lebanon and Syria was a territory of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. The causes for Arabs to leave their homeland were an accelarated increase in demographics in Lebanon, the persecution of Christians by the Ottoman Turks, and a war in Tripoli on 1911. The Arab immigrants settle in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Salta, Jujuy, La Rioja, San Juan, Mendoza, Santiago del Estero, Misiones, Chaco, and the Patagonia. A large percentage on Arabs settled in the Cuyo region (which is made up of the provinces of San Juan, San Luis, Mendoza, and La Rioja).

Prominent Argentinians of Arab descent

• Carlos Menem
• Omar Asad
• Claudio Husaín
• Antonio Mohamed
• Yamila Díaz
• Omar Hasan
• Elías Sapag
• Felipe Sapag
• Luz Sapag
• Vicente Saadi
• Zulemita Menem
• Zulema Yoma

See also

• Arab diaspora
• Arabs in Bulgaria
• Sierra Leonean-Lebanese
• Ecuadorian of Lebanese origin
• Lebanese Americans
• Lebanese Canadian
• Lebanese Australian
• Lebanese Brazilian
• Lebanese British
• Arab Mexican
• Arab Brazilian
• Arab Peruvian
• Palestinian Chilean
• Islam in Argentina