Lebanese people in Côte d'Ivoire
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 100,000 - 120,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Abidjan | |
| Religion | |
| Islam (primarily Shia), Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Lebanese diaspora |
There is a large population of Lebanese people in Côte d'Ivoire, whose numbers are variously estimated in the tens or hundreds of thousands. They are the largest Lebanese diaspora community in West Africa.
There have been two major waves of migration from Lebanon to Côte d'Ivoire; the two groups, the durables (established families) and the nouveaux (newcomers), form separate communities. Though Lebanese migration to other countries of West Africa began as early as the 1890s, the colonial economy in Côte d'Ivoire did not develop until after World War I, and as such, no Lebanese community formed there until the 1920s. The journey took several weeks; migrants went by donkey from their home villages in southern Lebanon to Beirut, and from there took a ship to Marseille, where they would have to wait for one of the infrequent departures to West Africa. Some may have originally intended to head for the United States, but either found upon arrival in Marseille that they could not afford the fare and thus opted for a cheaper journey to West Africa, or were tricked into boarding ships for the wrong destination. Other early migrants did not come straight from Lebanon, but were instead drawn from among the children of earlier Lebanese migrants to Senegal. The community grew quickly due to the relative lack of entry formalities compared to other West African countries.
Beginning in the mid-1970s, a new wave of Lebanese émigrés began to arrive, fleeing the Lebanese Civil War. Their presence sparked government fears that they might bring with them the sectarian violence that had infected their homeland; however, no such violence actually erupted. By the late 1980s, reportedly 60,000 to 120,000 Lebanese and Syrians lived in Côte d'Ivoire, although some observers gave a figure as high as 300,000. Many of these later migrants came from the town of Zrarieh in southern Lebanon. With recent advances in transport and communications, a form of transnationalism has emerged among the community; people are constantly going back and forth between Lebanon and Côte d'Ivoire, and greeting and farewell parties for new arrivals and departures have become "significant ritualised events".
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Wikipedia