Lebanese Colombians
 Lebanon  Colombia
كولومبي لبناني (in Arabic)
Libaneses en Colombia (in Spanish)
Total population
700,000[1]-1.5 million[2]-3.2 million[3]
Regions with significant populations
Barranquilla · Cartagena · Bucaramanga · Bogotá · Cali · Maicao · Santa Marta · Montería · Sincelejo.
Languages
Spanish · Arabic · French
Religion
Mostly Roman Catholic
Related ethnic groups
Other Arab Colombians

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.[4] The first Lebanese moved to Colombia in the late nineteenth century.[5] There was another wave in the early twentieth century. It is estimated that over 10,000 Lebanese immigrated to Colombia from 1900 to 1930.[6]

Many Lebanese settled in the Caribbean region of Colombia, particularly in the cities of Cartagena, Santa Marta, Lorica, San Andrés (island), 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 six major hubs of Lebanese population were present in Barranquilla, Cartagena, Bucaramanga, Bogotá 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.[4]

The vast majority of Lebanese Colombians are Catholics, however, 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.[7]

Notable people

Please see List of Lebanese people in Colombia

See also

References

  1. ↑ Colombia awakens to the Arab world. Brazil-Arab New Agency, 21 July 2009. Retrieved 15 Juny 2020.
  2. ↑ Joze Pelayo (2021). "Long live the Arabs !: Underreported stories of the Arabs of the Americas". Atlantic Council. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  3. ↑ S.A.S, Editorial La República. "Colombia y Medio Oriente". Diario La República (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-09-05.
  4. 1 2 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.
  5. ↑ S.A.S, Editorial La República. "Colombia y Medio Oriente". Diario La República (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-09-05.
  6. ↑ "En Busca Del Paraíso" [In Search of Paradise] (in Spanish). Semana.com. 17 October 1994. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  7. ↑ Diego Andrés Rosselli Cock (15 December 2005). "La comunidad musulmana de Maicao (Colombia)" [The Muslim Community of Maicao (Colombia)] (in Spanish). webislam.com. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
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