Arab Argentines

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Arab Argentines

عرب الأرجنتين (Arabic) Árabe-argentinos (Spanish)
Arab-Argentines during the Day of the immigrants in Buenos Aires.
Total population
Unknown (by birth) + 3,500,000 (by ancestry)[1] 7.6% of Argentina's population • 2,000,000 Lebanese • 1,510,000 Syrians • 30,000 Palestinians[2]
Regions with significant populations
Predominantly in the Argentine Northwest, the Greater Buenos Aires and Córdoba
Languages
Spanish • Arabic
Religion
Major: Roman Catholicism · Other Christians Minor: Sunni Islam • Shia Islam • Druze
Related ethnic groups
Arabs · Arab Brazilians · Arab Americans · Arab Canadians · Arab Australians · Arab Spaniards · Arab Colombians

Arab Argentine refers to Argentine citizens or residents whose ancestry traces back to various waves of immigrants, largely of Arab ethnic, cultural and linguistic heritage and/or identity originating mainly from what is now Lebanon and Syria,^[3] but also some individuals from the twenty-two countries which comprise the Arab world such as Palestine, Egypt and Morocco. Arab Argentines are one of the largest Arab diaspora groups in the world.

Although a highly diverse group of Argentines — in ancestral origins, religion and historic identities — Arab Argentines hold a common identity in the Argentine consciousness, being universally known as "turcos" ("Turks"),^[4][5] like in the rest of Latin American countries.^[6][7]

The majority of the Arab Argentines are from either Lebanese or Syrian background with a smaller amount of Palestinian, Egyptian and Moroccan background.^[8] The interethnic marriage in the Arab 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 Arab 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, and have thoroughly assimilated in the local culture,^[9] Arab Argentines have been a regular presence and distinguished themselves in all walks of national life on a par with the rest of the country's melting pot population.