Syrian Colombians
 Syria  Colombia

سوريون كولومبيون (in Arabic) Sirios en Colombia (in Spanish)
Total population
700,000[1]-1.5 million[2]
Regions with significant populations
Barranquilla · Cartagena · Maicao · Montería · Santa Marta · Sincelejo.
Languages
Spanish · Arabic · French
Religion
Mostly Roman Catholic and Muslim
Related ethnic groups
Other Arab Colombians

Syrian Colombians are Colombians of Syrian descent. Most of the ancestors of the Syrian community emigrated to Colombia from the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for economic, political and religious reasons. The first Syrian moved to Colombia in the late nineteenth century. The great wave of Syrian migration began around 1880. This was perhaps the highest peak during the first three decades from 1880 and counting with a great decrease in the migratory flow after 1930. The Syrians as well as the Lebanese and the Palestinians Since then they continued with their establishment in the north of Colombia, mainly the Bolivar savannah, corresponding today to the departments of Córdoba and Sucre. Córdoba being the largest recipient of Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian migration in the entire region, it is estimated that between 50,000 and 100,000,^[3] which makes the Syrians, only behind the Lebanese, as the second largest group of immigrants in Colombia since independence.^[4][5][6]

Notable people

Please see List of Syrian people in Colombia

• Fuad Char - Politician and businessman from Córdoba
• Alejandro Char - Atlantic politician and three-time Mayor of Barranquilla
• Pablo Sabbag - Atlantic soccer player
• Soad Louis Lakah - Writer and poet from Córdoba
• Julio Manzur - Politician and agricultural engineer from Córdoba
• Edwin Besaile - Architect, politician and former Governor of Córdoba
• David Barguil - Politician and former congressman from Córdoba

See also

• Arab diaspora
• Race and ethnicity in Colombia
• White Colombians

References