Arab Venezuelans ( ar, عرب فنزويلا; es, Árabe-Venezolano) refers to

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 th ...

n citizens of

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

origin or descent. There are around 1,600,000 Venezuelans of Arab origin, mainly from

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and Palestine. Most Arab Venezuelans are of

Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...

descent with their number between 400,000 and 1 million inhabitants, and Lebanese descent with their number between 341,000 and 500,000.

Migration history

Arab immigration to Venezuela started as early as the 19th and 20th centuries. They came mostly from the Ottoman provinces of

, and Palestine, and are present in significant numbers in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in th ...

. Immigration of Arabs in Venezuela has influenced Venezuelan culture, in particular Arabic food and music. In religion, the majority of Arab-Venezuelans are Christians who belong to the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...

and Eastern Rite Catholic Churches. There are few

Muslims 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 Abrah ...

. According to the Venezuelan Institute of Statistics, about one million Venezuelans have Syrian origins and more than 20,000 Venezuelans are registered in the Venezuelan Embassy in Damascus. Other sources stated that there is around 60,000 Syrian-Venezuelans living in Syria. More than 200,000 people from the

Sweida , timezone = EET , utc_offset = +2 , timezone_DST = EEST , utc_offset_DST = +3 , coordinates = , grid_position = 296/235 ...

area carry Venezuelan citizenship and most are members of Syria's Druze sect, who immigrated to Venezuela in the past century.

Notable people

Tarek El Aissami Tareck Zaidan El Aissami Maddah (; ar, طارق زيدان العيسمي مداح; born 12 November 1974) is a Venezuelan politician serving as Minister of Industries and National Production since 14 June 2018, and as Minister of Petroleum sin ...

, Venezuelan Vice President, former Minister for the Interior and Justice *

Tarek Saab Tarek William Saab Halabi (, ar, طارق وليام صعب حلبي; born 10 September 1962) is a Venezuelan politician, lawyer and poet. He is a leader of the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) party founded by Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela, ...

, politician, lawyer, and poet *

Mariam Habach Mariam Habach Santucci (born 26 January 1996) is a Venezuelan model and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss Venezuela 2015. She also won Señorita Centro Occidental 2016, she also represented Venezuela at Miss Universe 2016. Personal life ...

, Beauty Queen,

Miss Venezuela 2015 Miss Venezuela 2015 was the 62nd edition of the Miss Venezuela pageant held on October 8, 2015 at the Estudio 1 de Venevision in Caracas, Venezuela, after weeks of events. Outgoing titleholder Mariana Jiménez of Guárico crowned Mariam Habac ...

* Abdel el Zabayar, politician

References

External links

Al Jadid: Arabs making their mark in Latin America
{{Ethnic groups in Venezuela Ethnic groups in Venezuela Demographics of Venezuela Arab groups Arab diaspora in South America

Migration history

Notable people

See also

References

External links