Lebanese Colombian

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Lebanese Colombian
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Total population

700,000 approx.[1]

1.56% of the Colombian population[2] (2009)
Regions with significant populations
Barranquilla, Cartagena, Santa Marta, Bucaramanga, Medellin, Maicao, Bogotá, Cali.
Languages
Spanish, Arabic.
Religion
Mostly Christian and some Muslims
Related ethnic groups
Other Lebanese diaspora, Lebanese Argentine, Lebanese Brazilian, Lebanese American, Lebanese Canadian, Lebanese Australian, Lebanese people in Spain

Lebanese Colombians are Colombians of Lebanese descent. Most of the Lebanese community's forebears immigrated to Colombia from the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for economic, political and religious reasons.[3] When they were first processed in the ports of Colombia, they were classified as Turks because what is modern day Lebanon was a territory of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. It is estimated that Colombia has a population of 700,000 of Lebanese descent.[1]

Many Lebanese settled in the Caribbean region of Colombia, particularly in the cities of Santa Marta, Lorica, Fundación, Aracataca, Ayapel, Calamar, Ciénaga, Cereté, Montería and Barranquilla, near the basin of the Magdalena River. The Lebanese subsequently expanded to other cities and by 1945 there were Lebanese living in Ocaña, Cúcuta, Barrancabermeja, Ibagué, Girardot, Honda, Tunja, Villavicencio, Pereira, Soatá, Neiva, Cali, Buga, Chaparral and Chinácota. The four major hubs of Lebanese population were present in Barranquilla, Cartagena, Bucaramanga, Bogotá, Medellin and Cali. The number of immigrants entering the country vary from 5,000 to 10,000 in 1945. Some of these immigrants were Christian-Lebanese and others were adept to Islam.[3]

In the 1940s, another wave of Lebanese immigrants came to Colombia, settling in the town of Maicao in northern Colombia. These immigrants were mostly Muslims and were attracted by the thriving commerce of the town which was benefiting from the neighboring Venezuelan oil bonanza and the usual contraband of goods that flowed through the Guajira Peninsula.[4]

Notable people[edit]

Please see List of Lebanese people in Colombia

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Randa Achmawi (21 July 2009). "Colombia awakens to the Arab world". Brazi-Arab News Agency. Retrieved 22 September 2015. 
  2. ^ "PROYECCIONES DE POBLACIÓN, 2006-2020" [Population Projections, 2006-2020] (PDF) (in Spanish). DANE National Statistical Service, Columbia. September 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 November 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2015. 
  3. ^ a b Louise Fawcett De Posada; Eduardo Posada-Carbó (1992). "En la tierra de las oportunidades: Los sirio-libaneses en Colombia" [In the land of opportunity: The Syrian-Lebanese in Colombia]. Cultural and Bibliographical Bulletin (in Spanish) XXIX (29). Archived from the original on 25 October 2006. Retrieved 30 August 2007. 
  4. ^ (Spanish) webislam.com: La comunidad musulmana de Maicao (Colombia) webislam.com Accessed 30 August 2007.