Lebanese Argentines

Lebanese Argentine refers to Argentine citizens of Lebanese descent or Lebanon-born people who reside in Argentina. Many of the Lebanese Argentines are descendants of immigrants, largely of Arab[2] cultural and linguistic heritage and/or identity, originating from what is now Lebanon.

Lebanese Argentines

Total population
1,500,000[1]
Regions with significant populations
Throughout Argentina
Languages
Rioplatense Spanish, Arabic (Lebanese Arabic)
Religion
Maronite Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Melkite, with Shia Islam, Sunni Islam and Judaism minorities
Related ethnic groups
Lebanese people, Arab Argentines, Lebanese Americans, Lebanese Brazilians, Lebanese Canadians, Lebanese Australians, Argentine Jews, Spanish Argentines, Lebanese Spaniards

Although a highly diverse group of Argentines — in ancestral origins, religion and historic identities — Lebanese Argentines hold a heritage that shares common linguistic, cultural and political traditions. They are closed related to the Syrian community and together are known as the sirio-libaneses (Syrian-Lebanese).

The majority of the 1,500,000 Lebanese Argentines are Christians, with Muslims and Jews being a small minority in comparison to them. The interethnic marriage in the Lebanese community, regardless of religious affiliation, is very high; most community members have only one parent who has Arab ethnicity. As a result of this, the Lebanese community in Argentina shows marked language shift away from Arabic. Only a few speak any Arabic and such knowledge is often limited to a few basic words. Instead the majority, especially those of younger generations, speak Spanish as a first language.

History

In the 19th century, the first Lebanese settled in Argentina. From 1891 to 1920, 367,348 people of Arabic heritage immigrated into Argentina. When they were first processed in the ports of Argentina, they were classified as Turks because what is modern day Lebanon was a territory of the Turkish Ottoman Empire.[2] The causes for Lebanese to leave their homeland were an accelerated increase in demographics in Lebanon, the persecution by the Ottoman Turks, and the Italo-Turkish War. The Lebanese immigrants settle in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Salta, Tucumán, La Rioja, San Juan, Mendoza, Santiago del Estero, Misiones, Chaco, and the Patagonia. A large percentage of Lebanese settled in the Cuyo region (which is made up of the provinces of San Juan, San Luis, Mendoza, and La Rioja)

Some prominent ancestral places of origin of Lebanese Argentinians include: Aley, Amioun, Amsheet, Baalbek, Batroun, Beirut, Iaal, Jounieh, Mish Mish, Toula, Tripoli, Zahlé, Zgharta.

See also

• Argentina–Lebanon relations
• List of Lebanese people in Argentina
• Islamic Organization of Latin America

References

1. Argentinian President's visit to the Lebanese Parliament. the Lebanese Parliament. lp.gov.lb
2. Recopilaron casi 200 años de los sirio libaneses en Argentina Archived 2014-09-08 at the Wayback Machine