Lebanese Colombians

Lebanese Colombians

Total population
800,000 to 3,200,000 approx. 1.6% to 6.2% of the Colombian population (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
Lebanese Argentines · Lebanese Brazilians · Lebanese Americans · Lebanese Canadians · Lebanese Australians · Lebanese Spaniards

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. 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. Lebanese immigration to Colombia has been one of the most important in migrations in South American. The first Lebanese came to the country in the late nineteenth century. There was another wave in the early twentieth century. It is estimated that over 10,000 Lebanese immigrated to Colombia from 1900 to 1930.

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.

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.

Lebanese Colombians in Maicao

Notable people

Please see List of Lebanese people in Colombia

See also

• Islam in Colombia
• Lebanese diaspora
• Race and ethnicity in Colombia
• White Colombians