Arab diaspora

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Arab Diaspora
العرب المغتربون
Total population
According to the International Organization for Migration, there are 13 million Arab migrants, of whom 5.8 million reside in Arab countries.
Regions with significant populations
 Brazil 10,000,000[1]
 France 4,000,000[2]
 United States 3,500,000
 Argentina 3,500,000
 Italy 1,500,000
 Venezuela 1,600,000[3]
 Mexico 1,100,000 [4]
 Colombia 700,000 - 1,000,000 [5][6]
 Chile 800,000
 United Kingdom 500,000 [7]
 Germany 500,000
 Canada 350,000 [8]
 Honduras 275,000 [9]
 Japan 265,000 [10]
Languages
Arabic, French, Italian, Spanish, English, Portuguese, Hebrew, Japanese among others
Religion
Predominantly Christianity in the Americas, Islam in Europe , but also Druze and irreligion, among others
Related ethnic groups
Lebanese diaspora  · Iraqi diaspora  · Egyptian diaspora  · Yemeni diaspora  · Palestinian diaspora  · Syrian diaspora  · Moroccan diaspora

Arab diaspora refers to descendants of the Arab immigrants who, voluntarily or as refugees, emigrated from their native lands in non-Arab countries, primarily in East Africa, South America, Europe, North America, and parts of South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and West Africa.

Overview

According to the International Organization for Migration, there are 13 million,[11] of which 5.8 million reside in Arab countries. Arab expatriates contribute to the circulation of financial and human capital in the region and thus significantly promote regional development. In 2009 Arab countries received a total of 35.1 billion USD in remittance in-flows and remittances sent to Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon from other Arab countries are 40 to 190 per cent higher than trade revenues between these and other Arab countries.[12]

Large numbers of Arabs migrated to West Africa, particularly Côte d'Ivoire (home to over 100,000 Lebanese),[13] Senegal (roughly 30,000 Lebanese),[14] Sierra Leone (roughly 10,000 Lebanese today; about 30,000 prior to the outbreak of civil war in 1991), Liberia, and Nigeria.[15] Since the end of the civil war in 2002, Lebanese traders have become re-established in Sierra Leone.[16]

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 four million Indonesians are of Hadrami descent, and today there are almost 10,000 Hadramis in Singapore.[17][18]

According to Saudi Aramco World, the largest concentration of Arabs outside the Arab World is in Brazil, which has 9 million Brazilians of Arab ancestry.[19] Of these 9 million Arabs, seven million are of Lebanese ancestry,[20][21][22] making Brazil's population of Lebanese greater than that of Lebanon itself. Most other Brazilians of Arab descent are mainly Syrian. Other large Arab communities includes Argentina, Venezuela,[23] Colombia, Mexico (about 400,000 Mexicans of Lebanese descent) and Chile. Palestinians cluster in Chile and Central America, particularly El Salvador, and Honduras (between 150,000 and 200,000).[24] The 500,000 strong Palestinian community in Chile[25][26] is the fourth largest in the world after those in Israel, Lebanon, and Jordan. Arab Haitians (a large number of whom 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 Lebanese, Syrian, or Palestinian ancestry. The Lebanese minority in America are mostly Christian, but with sizable Muslim and Jewish groups.[27]

The Lebanese diaspora, while historically trade-related, has been linked more recently to the Lebanese Civil War, and the 2006 Lebanon War. In October 2006, shortly after the 2006 Second Lebanon War had concluded, the Edinburgh Middle East Report ran an article covering the brain drain from Lebanon's universities.[28] 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.[29][30][31] 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.[32]

As of 2012, at least 127,860 Iraqis live in Sweden.[33] As of 2004, France is home to an estimated 5 to 6 million of people both Arabic and Berber speaking from North Africa.[34][35] 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 Christian majority. See Australian population: ethnic origins.[36]

Notable persons

Prominent members of the Arab diaspora include;

Business
Fashion, beauty
Film, television
Literature / theatre
Media and intellectuals
Music
  • Adel Tawil (Egyptian / Tunisin origin), German singer, songwriter and producer
  • Ali B (Moroccan origin), Dutch rapper
  • Bushido (Tunisian origin), German rapper
  • DJ Khaled (Palestinian origin), American DJ
  • Eric Saade (Palestinian Lebanese origin), Swedish singer
  • Fady Maalouf (Lebanese origin), German singer
  • Fredwreck (Palestinian origin), American record producer
  • La Fouine (Moroccan origin), French rapper
  • Ibrahim Maalouf (Lebanese origin), French saxophonist
  • Kareem Salama (Egyptian origin), American country singer
  • Karl Wolf (Lebanese origin), Canadian pop star
  • Maher Zain (Lebanese origin), Swedish singer
  • Malika Ayane (Moroccan origin), Italian singer
  • Massari (Lebanese origin), Canadian singer
  • Natasja Saad (Sudanese origin), Danish rapper and reggae singer.
  • Rami Yacoub (Palestinian origin), Swedish record producer
  • RedOne, (Moroccan origin), Swedish record producer
  • Salem Al Fakir (Syrian origin), Swedish singer
  • Sarbel (Lebanese origin), Greek singer
  • Shakira (Lebanese origin), Colombian singer
  • Tarak Ben Ammar (Tunisian origin), international movie producer and distributor
Politics
Sciences
Sports
  • Nazem Kadri (Lebanese origin), is a Canadian ice hockey player
  • Migidio Bourifa (Moroccan origin), is an Italian long-distance runner
  • Justin Abdelkader (Jordanian origin), an American ice hockey player
  • Brandon Saad (Syrian origin), an American ice hockey player
  • Mário Zagallo (Lebanese origin), Brazilian football coach and former player
  • Naseem Hamed (Yemeni origin), also known as Prince Naseem, English professional boxer

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ http://www.economist.com/node/13377324
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ http://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/MAM-1541384 "There's around 300,000 to 500,000 arabs in Colombia"
  6. ↑ http://www2.anba.com.br/noticia_diplomacia.kmf?cod=8701931 Currently in Colombia we have approximately 700,000 people of Lebanese origin, who are descendents of the 30,000 immigrants who came from Lebanon to settle in Colombia in the late 19th century.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lebanese Immigrants Boost West African Commerce, By Naomi Schwarz, voanews.com, July 10, 2007
  15. ↑ Lebanese man shot dead in Nigeria, BBC News
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ The world's successful diasporas, World Business
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ [1]
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Habeeb Salloum, "Arabs Making Their Mark in Latin America: Generations of Immigrants in Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico", Al Jadid, Vol. 6, no. 30 (Winter 2000).
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lebanon's Brain Drain by Tim May. Edinburgh Middle East Report Online. Winter 2006.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ "U.N.: 100,000 Iraq refugees flee monthly". Alexander G. Higgins, Boston Globe, November 3, 2006.
  32. ↑ US in Iraq for 'another 50 years', The Australian, June 2, 2007.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ The Arab World
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Notes

External links

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