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 immigrated 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,[3] Lebanese and Palestinian migration in the entire region, it is estimated that between 50,000 and 100,000,[4] which makes the Syrians, only behind the Lebanese, as the second largest group of immigrants in Colombia since independence.[5][6][7]