Arab Haitians


Levantine Haitians '' are Haitians of full or partial Levantine ancestry, including Levant-born immigrants to Haiti.

History

The first Levantine immigrants to arrive in Haiti in the mid 19th century. During the time, Levantine business secnated by Italian immigrants. Many of Levantines migrated to the countryside where they peddled and were very informal economically speaking. World War I, which took place when Lebanon was part of the Germany-allied Ottoman Empire, triggered a Lebanese migration to the Americas, with Haiti receiving a large number of Lebanese immigrants. Haiti received a score of Palestinian refugees during the 1948 Nakba. The country was estimated to have about between 500,000 and 1 million residents of Levantine heritage.

Social relations

Levantine Haitians are commonly considered as part of the upper class within Haitian society, yet they maintain their own unique presence separate from the very influential and much larger mixed-race and white Haitian populace. For years, they were shunned by the elite mulatto Haitians because of amicable interaction with the poor masses, their willingness to do business with the masses and their inability to speak French. This relationship changed gradually over the years as their prominence grew in Haiti's business sector and consequently, a large percentage of them reside and do business in the capital of Port-au-Prince. Middle-class levantine Haitians often are the owners of many of the city's supermarkets.

Notable peoples