AHC: Latin American country predominately made up of Arab descendants

[Cuāuhtemōc]

It's no exaggeration that there's a yuge Arab diaspora in Latin America numbering in the millions. There's no greater success story amongst immigrant communities than them. With a POD in the 1820s, have an Latin American country(ies) attract enough Arab immigration that combined full or partial Arab descendants make a majority in said country, much like how Argentina is with Italians. Bonus points if you have the majority of this Arab immigration remaining non-Catholic (Muslim or Orthodox).

 

[AlternateEagle]

Like the YUGE you added there.

You would have to have a sort of immigration that would favor Arabs, so lets say in this case Lebanese people are sent to French Guiana to be workers. Potentially you could have the Spanish hiring and sending Morrocans to the Atacama desert to act as guides.

 

[Deleted member 67076]

The Dominican Republic could probably do this if it stabilizes under the rule of the National Party in from the 1850s onward, giving decades of stability and economic growth. This would help make the place a stable destination for migrants that would have otherwise gone to the rest of the Caribbean or Northern South America. Combined with the low population of the state, and how quickly the Arabs assimilated into important commercial elites that became indispensable to the state, its not difficult to imagine the single largest ethnic origin being Arab instead of Mulatto, even if just as few as 50,000 left.

The issue is of course, somehow getting the Arabs to come in greater numbers than the Spaniards, Cubans or French.

 

[Arkenfolm]

Weren't the majority of Arab emigrants non-Muslims? Arab emigration seemed to mainly occur amongst non-Muslim Lebanese, and of course there's plenty of them in Latin America.

You'd also need a country small enough but also attractive enough to immigrants to make them the majority. Also perhaps some skilled efforts in the Ottoman Empire/Egypt to promote immigration to the Latin American nation of choice. The aforementioned Dominican Republic is a good example, and maybe also a Central American country or perhaps Ecuador. Anything else would mean Brazil and/or Argentina locking down on immigration and thus altering migration patterns. Also, make sure the US takes a hard line against Arab immigrants--the US already didn't like Lebanese immigrants much, so more anti-immigration legislation earlier. I know the 19th century US wasn't really anti-Muslim by the modern sense of the word, but maybe some early "Muslim panic" could get immigration from the Ottoman Empire shut off like immigration was from China or else severely restricted, also affecting migration patterns.

But all Arabs will still probably be disproportionately Christian of some church or another. I think a lot therefore wouldn't be Catholic. But Assyrians/Syriacs are not Arabs, even by language (a unique Aramaic dialect to go along with some of the Latin American Italian and German dialects?), and Copts really only count as Arabs because they all speak Arabic since the Middle Ages or so. Since to get increased Arab immigration you need emigration from Egypt too in addition to just Lebanon and to a lesser extent Ottoman Syria, well, it could be difficult depending on how you define "Arab".

 

[Kyro92]

The easiest solution I can come up with is for Arab settlers flood one of the more underpopulated areas in Brazil, Argentina(Patagonia?) or Mexico, and then at a later date for that state to disintegrate due to civil war and/or invasion, with the Arab-dominated area becoming independent. Maybe Mexico defeats America in the war for Texas and California, kicks all the Anglo settlers out but has trouble convincing their own citizens to settle into the areas in large numbers. Have this coincide with intercommunal violence in Syria and a mass exodus of Arab Christians. The rest writes itself.

 

[Arkenfolm]

The easiest solution I can come up with is for Arab settlers flood one of the more underpopulated areas in Brazil, Argentina(Patagonia?) or Mexico, and then at a later date for that state to disintegrate due to civil war and/or invasion, with the Arab-dominated area becoming independent. Maybe Mexico defeats America in the war for Texas and California, kicks all the Anglo settlers out but has trouble convincing their own citizens to settle into the areas in large numbers. Have this coincide with intercommunal violence in Syria and a mass exodus of Arab Christians. The rest writes itself.

Not really easy. Argentina you could maybe have the Argentine Civil Wars go different and Argentina disintegrate and have Arabs fill enough of one of the successor states. But OTL Argentina and Patagonia is a horrible idea, since those settlers would be more likely to get murdered by the Mapuche. Same with the Mexican North, just substitute Comanche, Navajo, or Apache. And for Mexico, those lands will still end up being a US state, the Arab Christians would just become what the Mormons are in Utah (Arizona/Nevada are the only viable ones, or for that matter maybe even Utah--California had too many Anglos even pre-Mexican War). An interior Brazilian state is unviable, but maybe you could both draw enough Italian, German, etc. immigration away from Rio Grande do Sul and replace it with Arab immigration and then get a renewed Riograndense Republic during the turmoil following the end of the Brazilian monarchy.

 

[Green Painting]

Chile already has a sizable Syrian and Palestinian minority, we only need to expand it, culturally or population-wise.

 

[Wendell]

Would it be acceptable to do this with a POD before 1492?

 

[Arkenfolm]

Would it be acceptable to do this with a POD before 1492?

It wouldn't be Latin America then unless you have earlier Spanish/Portuguese colonisation.

 

[Lampiao]

Chile already has a sizable Syrian and Palestinian minority, we only need to expand it, culturally or population-wise.

As most Latin American countries. There are more Lebanese descendent people in Brazil than Lebanese people living in Lebanon.

It's almost impossible with a POD after independence, Criollo identity is clearly fixed by then. By the way, most Italian-Argentineans don't feel "hyphenated"; Do most White Americans feel like German-Americans?

 

[Masked Grizzly]

Would it be possible for a small "Nuevo Libano" state along such lines to form in Chile, given that significant populations of Arab descended Chileans are located next to each other in the Valparaiso, Coquimbo and Santiago Metropolitan regions?

 

[Arkenfolm]

As most Latin American countries. There are more Lebanese descendent people in Brazil than Lebanese people living in Lebanon.

It's almost impossible with a POD after independence, Criollo identity is clearly fixed by then. By the way, most Italian-Argentineans don't feel "hyphenated"; Do most White Americans feel like German-Americans?

Right, and there's more Irish and Scottish Americans than Irish or Scots in the British Isles. But come the Highland Games or German-American cultural celebrations (which occur in the most random places in the US), those people can feel hyphenated enough and think of themselves as different than ordinary Americans.

Would it be possible for a small "Nuevo Libano" state along such lines to form in Chile, given that significant populations of Arab descended Chileans are located next to each other in the Valparaiso, Coquimbo and Santiago Metropolitan regions?

Chile recruits Lebanese instead of Germans to settle the far south (directly threatened by the Mapuche, though), perhaps? The Santiago region of Chile already had significant amount of immigration. But you could also send the Lebanese or other Arabs to Punta Arenas and make Punta Arenas have a very Arab flavour. OTL Punta Arenas is one of the most Croatian cities in the world by ancestry.

 

[Masked Grizzly]

Chile recruits Lebanese instead of Germans to settle the far south (directly threatened by the Mapuche, though), perhaps? The Santiago region of Chile already had significant amount of immigration. But you could also send the Lebanese or other Arabs to Punta Arenas and make Punta Arenas have a very Arab flavour. OTL Punta Arenas is one of the most Croatian cities in the world by ancestry.

Could Lebanese and other Arab groups also form the majority in places such as the Los Ríos and Araucanía regions, leaving the southern parts beyond under Argentinian rule (or another group)?

 

[Happers]

I'll give you better, Islamic Iberia survives. Then you'll have Islam be the dominant religion in the New World.

Maybe...as long as there is still gold and food shortages.