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Arab diaspora

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Arab Diaspora
العرب المغتربين
Palestinian Refugees leaving of their Villages by 1948
Total population
approx. 30 to 50 million[1]
Regions with significant populations
 Brazil15.0 million
 France5.0 million
 Iran1.0 million
 United States1.4 million
 Mexico1.1 million
 United Kingdom1.0 million
 Germany0,9 million
 Chile0.8 million
 Argentina0.7 million[2]
 Turkey0.5 million
 Australia0.4 million
 Canada0.3 million
Languages
Arabic, French, Spanish, English among others
Religion
Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Druze among others
Related ethnic groups
Egyptian diaspora  · Iraqi diaspora  · Lebanese diaspora  · Palestinian diaspora

Arab diaspora refers to the numbers of Arab immigrants, and their descendants, who voluntarily or as refugees emigrated from their native countries and now reside in non-Arab nations, primarily in Latin America and Europe, as well as North America, parts of Asia, the Caribbean, and West Africa.

Overview

Large numbers of Arabs migrated to West Africa, particularly in the Ivory Coast (home to over 100,000 Lebanese),[3] Senegal (roughly 30,000 Lebanese),[4] Sierra Leone (roughly 10,000 Lebanese today; about 30,000 prior to the outbreak of civil war in 1991), Liberia, and Nigeria.[5] Since the end of the civil war in 2002, Lebanese traders have become re-established in Sierra Leone.

Arab traders have long operated in Southeast Asia, trading in spices, timber and textiles. But an important trading minority in the region that goes largely unrecognised comprises the local descendants of Arabs. Most of the prominent Indonesians, Malaysians and Singaporeans of Arab descent have their origins in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula, especially the coastal Hadhramaut region of Yemen and Oman. They are the Hadramis. As many as 4 million Indonesians are of Hadrami descent and today there are almost 10,000 Hadramis in Singapore.[6][7]

The Americas have long been a destination for Arab migration, with Arabs arriving in some countries at least as early as the nineteenth century, but even as early as 1492 with several Moors among Christopher Columbus' crew . The largest concentration of Arabs outside the Middle East is in Brazil, which has over 12 million Brazilians of Arab ancestry. Of these 12 million Brazilian Arabs, over 9 million are of Lebanese ancestry, making Brazil's population of Lebanese three times greater than that of Lebanon. Most other Brazilians of Arab descent are mainly Syrian. There are also large Arab communities in Mexico (about 400,000 Mexicans of Lebanese descent), Argentina, Colombia, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago, Ecuador, and Venezuela.[8] Palestinians cluster in Chile and Central America, particularly El Salvador and Honduras (between 150,000 and 200,000).[9] The 450,000-500,000 strong Palestinian community in Chile[10][11] is the fourth largest in the world after those in Israel, Lebanon and Jordan. Arab Haitians (in which a large number live in the capital) are more often than not, concentrated in financial areas where the majority of them establish businesses. In the United States there are around 3.5 million people of Arab ancestry. Most Arabs of the Americas are of either Lebanese, Syrian, or Palestinian ancestry and are mostly Christian, with sizeable minorities of Jews and Muslims, as well. [12].

The Lebanese diaspora, while historically trade-related, has more recently been linked to the Lebanese Civil War and the 2006 Lebanon War. In October 2006, shortly after the war between Hezbollah and Israel had concluded, the Edinburgh Middle East Report ran an article covering the brain drain from Lebanon's universities.[13] Increasing numbers of Lebanese students are travelling abroad to further their education in safer environments.

As of June 21, 2007, the U.N. High Commissioner on Refugees estimated that over 2.2 million Iraqis had been displaced to neighboring countries, with up to 100,000 Iraqis fleeing to Syria and Jordan each month.[14][15][16] As a result of growing international pressure, on June 1, 2007 the Bush administration said it was ready to admit 7,000 Iraqi refugees who had helped the coalition since the invasion. According to Washington based Refugees International the U.S. has admitted fewer than 800 Iraqi refugees since the invasion, Sweden had accepted 18,000 and Australia had resettled almost 6,000.[17]

In France, the Benelux countries, Spain, Germany and much of the rest of Europe, the Arab communities are of North African origin, particularly Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, and are mostly Muslim with a minority of Jews and Christians. In Marseille, Arabs make up 25% of the total population. About 80,000 Iraqis live in Sweden, forming the country’s second largest immigrant group.[18] An estimated 1,000,000 Arabs live in the United Kingdom representing 1.7% of the country's population, the vast majority of these originate from the Middle East (250,000 Iraqis live in the UK) and Egypt (some 150,000).

There is also a medium sized Arab community in Australia (home to roughly 400,000 Arabs, mostly Lebanese), where Arabic is the fourth most widely spoken second-language. The number of Muslim and Christian Arab Australians are roughly equal with a slight upper hand to Christians. See Australian population: ethnic origins.[1]

Challenges

There are no exact figures of how many Arabs live in diaspora (expatriates). There are many challenges facing Arabs in diaspora, especially in the post 9/11 world:

First: Suspicion of Arabs and Muslims has increased dramatically. Racism towards Arabs has reached new heights.

Second: Another delicate issue for the Diaspora Arabs is the relationship with motherlands and/or fatherlands. These challenges depend on which generation of Arab immigrants we are talking about. Usually, the first generation are caught between a love for the motherland that on one hand increased by leaps and bounds following immigration and fueled mainly by nostalgia and a certain degree of “culture shock,” and resentment stemming from feeling driven out by unfavorable circumstances.

Third: After an initial period of “shock,” the first generation Arab immigrants may start the slow process of acculturation/assimilation.

Notable persons

Prominent members of the Arab diaspora include;

See also

References

  1. ^ Arabic Language - ninemsn Encarta
  2. ^ http://www.konda.com.tr/html/dosyalar/ttya_tr.pdf
  3. ^ Ivory Coast - The Levantine Community
  4. ^ Lebanese Immigrants Boost West African Commerce, By Naomi Schwarz, voanews.com, July 10, 2007
  5. ^ Lebanese man shot dead in Nigeria, BBC News
  6. ^ Hadramis in Singapore, by Ameen Ali Talib
  7. ^ The world's successful diasporas, World Business
  8. ^ Arabs Making Their Mark in Latin America
  9. ^ The Arabs of Honduras
  10. ^ http://www.blog-v.com/arabesenchile/
  11. ^ http://laventana.casa.cult.cu/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=514
  12. ^ The Arab American Institute
  13. ^ Lebanon's Brain Drain by Tim May. Edinburgh Middle East Report Online. Winter 2006.
  14. ^ Iraq refugees chased from home, struggle to cope
  15. ^ U.S., West seen skirting Iraqi refugee crisis
  16. ^ "U.N.: 100,000 Iraq refugees flee monthly". Alexander G. Higgins, Boston Globe, November 3, 2006.
  17. ^ US in Iraq for 'another 50 years', The Australian, June 2, 2007
  18. ^ Sweden urges EU to take in Iraqis
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