Challenging Journey, Triumphant Success

By the late nineteenth century, thousands of people from Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine were compelled to leave their homeland. Poverty, sectarian tensions, epidemics outbreaks and Ottoman repression drove many to emigrate. New upheavals, in the twentieth century, deepened this trend. Major regional and international conflicts, shifting colonial mandates, successive wars and civil strife all contributed to deteriorating conditions.

At first, the United States was the preferred destination. Arabic-language newspapers and geography books of the nineteenth century often described America as the land of opportunities, and early emigrants hoped to find work and stability there. But as migration increased, US authorities imposed strict health inspections and, eventually, restrictive immigration quotas. These barriers forced many Levantines to turn elsewhere, and travel agents began redirecting hopeful migrants south—toward Latin America.

The earliest pioneers paved the way. Habib Nashbi reached Argentina in 1870; that same year Hanna Khalil and Ilyas Morkos settled in Mexico, while the Salameh brothers established themselves in Ecuador. Just a few years later, in 1874, Bassil Hajjar arrived in Brazil. Their journeys marked the beginning of a movement that, within decades, would grow into a massive migration stream stretching across the continent.

Those who followed encountered difficult beginnings. They arrived in societies whose languages and customs were foreign, surviving at first as itinerant traders. Yet within a generation, many had established shops and small businesses: by 1907 São Paulo counted more than 300 “Arab shops,” and by 1916 Argentine records listed nearly 4,000.

As families reunited and the second generation came of age, migration shifted from temporary to permanent settlement. Commerce expanded into industry, with Levantine entrepreneurs opening textile factories in Lima, São Paulo, and Santiago. By the interwar years, many modest workshops had become thriving companies dominating the textile sector. With their rising fortunes, these once marginalized los turcos came to be recognized and respected as libaneses, palestinos, and sirios.

The children and grandchildren of these pioneers climbed the social ladder, entering universities, professional life, and even politics. While they increasingly married outside their original communities, they continued to honor their roots.

Exhibit Curator: Samar Mikati.
Acknowledgments: Many thanks go to Dalya Nouh for her support in content development.