Colombians
Colombians ( es, Colombianos) are people identified with the country of Colombia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Colombians, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the sour ...
of Lebanese descent. Most of the Lebanese community's forebears immigrated to Colombia from the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for economic, political and religious reasons. The first Lebanese moved to Colombia 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
The Caribbean region of Colombia or Caribbean coast region is in the north of Colombia and is mainly composed of 8 departments located contiguous to the Caribbean.Cartagena,
Santa Marta
Santa Marta (), officially Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta ("Touristic, Cultural and Historic District of Santa Marta"), is a city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalen ...
San Andrés (island)
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, sobriquet =
, image_name = San Andres Island Montage.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, image_caption = Top to bottom, left to right: A ...
,
Fundación
Fundación is a town and municipality of the Colombian Department of Magdalena. Its people are known as Fundanenses. The primary economic activity is livestock-raising, for production of both meat and milk. Other crops are: corn, yuca, or ...
,
Aracataca
Aracataca (colloquially sometimes referred to as "''Cataca''") is a municipality located in the Department of Magdalena, in Colombia's Caribbean Region. Aracataca is a river town founded in 1885. The town stands beside the river of the same name ...
,
Ayapel
Ayapel is a town and municipality located in the Córdoba Department Córdoba most commonly refers to:
* Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain
* Córdoba, Argentina, 2nd largest city in ...
Cereté
Cereté is a town and municipality located in the Córdoba Department, northern Colombia.
Name origin
Cereté comes from the two indigenous words meaning Chere (fish) and te (shelter).
History
Cereté is one of the oldest administrative divi ...
,
Montería
Montería () is a municipality and city located in northern Colombia and is the capital of the Department of Córdoba. The city is located away from the Caribbean sea, by the Sinú River. The city and region are known for their distinct cultur ...
and
Barranquilla
Barranquilla () is the capital district of Atlántico Department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean Coast region; as of 2018 it had a population of 1,206,319, making it Col ...
, near the basin of the
Magdalena River
The Magdalena River ( es, Río Magdalena, ; less commonly ) is the main river of Colombia, flowing northward about through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much o ...
. The Lebanese subsequently expanded to other cities and by 1945 there were Lebanese living in Ocaña,
Cúcuta
Cúcuta (), officially San José de Cúcuta, is a Colombian municipality, capital of the department of Norte de Santander and nucleus of the Metropolitan Area of Cúcuta. The city is located in the homonymous valley, at the foot of the Eastern ...
,
Barrancabermeja
Barrancabermeja is a city in Colombia, located on the shore of the Magdalena River, in the western part of the department of Santander. It is home to the largest oil refinery in the country, under direct management of ECOPETROL. Barrancabermeja ...
,
Ibagué
Ibagué () (referred to as San Bonifacio de Ibagué del Valle de las Lanzas during the Spanish period) is the capital of Tolima, one of the 32 departments that make up the Republic of Colombia. The city is located in the center of the country, ...
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...
,
Tunja
Tunja () is a city on the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, in the region known as the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, 130 km northeast of Bogotá. In 2018 it had a population of 172,548 inhabitants. It is the capital of Boyacá department ...
,
Villavicencio
Villavicencio () is a city and municipality in Colombia. Capital of Meta Department, it was founded on April 6, 1840. The city had an urban population of approximately 531,275 inhabitants in 2018.https://www.dane.gov.co/files/varios/informaci ...
Soatá
Soatá is a town and municipality in Boyacá Department, Colombia. Soatá is located on the western slopes of the Cordillera Oriental mountain range, at the northeast end of the Department of Boyacá. It is the capital of the Northern Boyacá P ...
,
Neiva
Neiva () is the capital of the Department of Huila. It is located in the valley of the Magdalena River in south central Colombia with a population of about 357,392 inhabitants. It is one of the most important cities in southern Colombia, mainly ...
,
Cali
Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...
Chaparral
Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean ...
and
Chinácota
Chinácota is a small town and municipality located in the Department of Norte de Santander in Colombia, South America. This department is located in the north-eastern region of the country, near the border with Venezuela
Venezuela (; ...
. 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
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...
.
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
Maicao (Wayuu: ) is a city and municipality in the Department of La Guajira, northern Republic of Colombia. It is located 76 km from Riohacha, the capital of the department and is the second largest urban center near the border with Venezuela ...
in northern Colombia. These immigrants were mostly
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
s and were attracted by the thriving commerce of the town which was benefiting from the neighboring
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in t ...
n oil bonanza and the usual contraband of goods that flowed through the
Guajira Peninsula
The Guajira Peninsula ( es, Península de La Guajira, links=no, also spelled ''Goajira'', mainly in colonial period texts, guc, Hikükariby) is a peninsula in northern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela in the Caribbean. It is the northernm ...
Arab diaspora
Arab diaspora (also known as MENA diaspora, as a short version for the Middle East and North Africa diaspora) refers to descendants of the Arab emigrants who, voluntarily or as refugees, emigrated from their native lands to non-Arab countries, p ...
*
Lebanese diaspora
Lebanese diaspora refers to Lebanese migrants and their descendants who emigrated from Lebanon and now reside in other countries. There are more Lebanese living outside Lebanon (over 4 million), than within the country (4 million citizens). T ...
White Colombians
White Colombians are the Colombian descendants of European and Middle Eastern people. According to the 2018 Census, 87.58% of Colombians do not identify with any ethnic group, thus being either White or Mestizo (mixed European and Amerindian an ...