When talking about the emigration of the Lebanese abroad, attention is usually turned to North America (the United States and Canada) and to many Latin American countries and the economic, political and literary successes achieved by the descendants of the Phoenicians in those distant parts.
However, checking the details and history of the emigration of the Lebanese outside these countries calls for standing on other destinations from the globe, the kiss of thousands of them, since the mid -19th century, such as Africa, Australia, Europe, and the Arab Gulf countries that attracted them in later stages.
The wave of Lebanese immigration to Africa was affected by major historical events, such as the first and second world wars, Lebanon is subject to the French Mandate, and the Lebanese Civil War 1975-1990.
Initially, the Lebanese journey to Africa was shocked and fate, as their flights to America stopped on the shores of West Africa due to some factors and reasons that were not programmed at the time.
Some narratives say that the first Lebanese to enter Africa were on their way to America, but they were deceived by their final destination, as the carriers convinced them that the beaches of Senegal and Guinea were in America.
Some interpretations say that a large percentage of the Lebanese who dreamed of immigration at the time had no choice but to the countries of Africa due to the low cost of travel compared to the requirements of the trip to the American continent, in addition to the entry of many West African countries before 1923 that did not require a passport.
In that time period, some West African countries were a more appropriate destination for immigrants coming from poor environments, and they did not receive sufficient education, and did not enjoy technical skills or practical experiences.
All of these factors made the first wave of Lebanese in Africa to operate street vendors in the markets, streets and villages, before they occupied the retail trade in small stores, then the matter gradually developed into a commercial activity that is structured by monopolizing specific materials in this country or that, such as cocoa and coffee in Cote d’Ivoire, and wood in Gabon.
Sects and statistics
Most of the Lebanese immigrants towards Africa were initially from the Maronite before large numbers of Shiite Muslims coming from the south of the country flocking to, and the common denominator between many of them was to flee political and religious persecution and the miserable economic conditions.
Lebanese statistics indicate that 70% of Lebanese immigrants in Africa are Shiites who come from southern Lebanon, and that their numbers have increased remarkably between 1975-1990 (years of civil war).
Some sources specialized in documenting immigration and its statistics indicate that the first coming to Africa was from Lebanon to Senegal in 1860.
With the beginning of the 20th century, the number became hundreds, and then increased significantly, when Lebanon became under the assignment of France, which also colonizes the state of Senegal, and its ports are an important station for Paris.
The Lebanese migration to Africa accelerated during the French colonial era of Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal and Guinea, then the British colonial phase of Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Gambia.
One of the elements that caused the continued Lebanese migration to Africa is its family and sectarian character often, as the Takaful spirit required that efforts to help the family or sectarian relatives come to come to those countries.
There are no accurate numbers on the number of Lebanese in Africa, but estimates indicate that they are between 300 thousand and 500 thousand people, and most of them live in West and Central Africa in countries such as Cote d’Ivoire (about 100 thousand people), and Senegal (about 30 thousand people), and they are considered one of the largest communities in Nigeria, and their number is estimated between 30 to 100 thousand people, and in Gabon at more than 15 thousand people.
The rest of the Lebanese are spread in the thousands in Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Mali, Benin, Togo, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Congo Brazzaville, and other countries in the region.
Poor or rich?
The long history of the migration of the Lebanese to Africa raises many questions about the reality of their conditions, roles, and stereotypes that are popular with them, and these questions are generally related to poverty, wealth and commercial influence.
Perhaps what feeds questions and speculation about the “success” or “wealth” of the Lebanese is that the great shift in the form of Lebanese immigrants from street vendors, in the late 19th and beginning of the 20th century, to businessmen and wealthy people leading major economic groups in recent decades.
The pictures prevailing about the success of the Lebanese in Western Africa prompted the Anthropologist Marwa the young man to write research on Lebanese businessmen in those areas.
The Lebanese researcher markets estimates that about 10% of the members of that community can be considered economic or rich successful, and that between 70% and 80% of them can be considered from the middle class, and the rest can be classified as poor, compared to the rest of the Lebanese there.
Some of this category still practices the small retail trade in Senegal and Guinea, in sometimes fragile conditions and depend on financial and social assistance usually provided by associations or bodies under the religious cover of this or that sect.
The legal status is often characterized by a kind of paradox, as they are sometimes seen as contributing to the development of the countries in which they live and play important roles in strengthening their economy, but in some countries they are classified as the reason for the spread of bad economic practices such as monopoly, the black market, tax fraud, smuggling, drug smuggling, arms trade, diamonds and minerals The precious.
The contradictory photos of the Lebanese communities in Africa are linked to political and economic conditions in each country separately, but businessmen often have much admiration, especially in countries that are witnessing a kind of security and stability.
Economic weight
The Lebanese community in Côte d’Ivoire is the most present in terms of number, economic weight and statistics dating back to 2018 indicates that Lebanese immigrants run more than 3 thousand companies in the real estate, transport and industry sector, and distribution, and in total they represent about 8% of GDP.
It is striking that Nigeria has become in the past ten years an economic platform attractive to Lebanese entrepreneurs who seek to expand and diversify their investments.
According to the data of the French -Lebanese Chamber of Commerce in 2018, the contribution of the Lebanese businessmen in Liberia reaches about 50%, and in Ghana, it is estimated at about 25%.
Political effect
The activity of the extensive Lebanese in the sectors of trade, services, export, import, financial and real estate activities is an influential element in the economic field, which sometimes extends to political influence.
Unlike the Lebanese in Latin America who were immersed in political action, the activity of the community in Africa remained limited in relations with some ministers, or heads of state in a way that enhances their individual or collective interests.
On the social level, the Lebanese people were not fully integrated into the African societies in which they live, for cultural and family reasons, which made them live in their own technical and entertainment environments and networks.
However, with the passage of time, some obstacles to integration began to disappear between the Lebanese and the indigenous people, when the door was opened for the Lebanese in some countries to obtain citizenship.
In front of this situation, new generations of Lebanese began to appear that they are part of the land that received their ancestors more than a century, and at the same time the Lebanese association with their motherland remains very deep as is the case in the behavior of immigrants in most countries of the world.