Lebanese Argentine

Lebanese Argentine

Notable Lebanese Argentines: Juan Luis Manzur · Felipe Sapag Julio Asad · Mohamed Alí Seineldín Carlos Balá · Elías Sapag Alfredo Avelín · Antonio Alegre Jorge Sapag · Sergio Agüero
Total population
1.5 million
Regions with significant populations
Throughout Argentina
Languages
Rioplatense Spanish, Arabic and Arabic dialects.
Religion
Catholicism with Shia Islam, Sunni Islam and Judaism minorities
Related ethnic groups
Other Lebanese people, Arab Argentine, Lebanese American, Lebanese Brazilian, Lebanese Canadian, Lebanese Australian, Spanish Argentine

An Lebanese Argentine is an Argentine citizen or resident alien whose ancestry traces back to any of various waves of immigrants, largely of Arab cultural and linguistic heritage and/or identity, originating from what is now Lebanon.

Although a highly diverse group of Argentines — in ancestral origins, religion and historic identities — Arab Argentines hold a heritage that shares common linguistic, cultural, and political traditions.

The majority of the 1.5 million Lebanese Argentines are Christians, the Muslims 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. 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, Jujuy, 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).

See also

• List of Lebanese people in Argentina
• Argentinian people
• Immigration to Argentina
• Lebanese diaspora
• Lebanese Americans
• Lebanese Canadian
• Lebanese Australian
• Lebanese Brazilian
• Lebanese British
• Ecuadorian of Lebanese origin
• Arab Argentine
• Arab Mexican
• Islam in Argentina
• Latin American Muslims
• Islamic Organization of Latin America