Why are there 15 million Arabs living in Brazil?

[Del Tachi]

According to Wikipedia, there are 15 - 21 million Arabs or people of Arab descent living in Brazil.  Latin America has the largest Arab population outside of the Arab world. 

Does anyone know why and when they got there?

[ملكة كرينجيتوك]

This page estimates the number of Lebanese/Syrian/Palestinian/Arab Brazilians is quite a bit lower than that. Most probably have partial ancestry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Brazilians#History

There were many causes for Arabs to leave their homelands in the Ottoman Empire; overpopulation in Lebanon, conscription in Lebanon and Syria, and religious persecution by the Ottoman Turks. Arab immigration to Brazil grew also after World War I and the rest of the 20th century, and concentrated in the states of São Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Goiás, and Rio de Janeiro.

[Meclazine for Israel]

There are 3-4 Million Japanese in Sao Paulo. They started as 250,000 purebloods exported there in the 1930's just in case Japan got nuked for being a bunch of dicks in the future.

Brazil is just a strange culture fest.

[Sol]

As you know most of Latin America received immigrants historically. I guess that's basically the long and short of it; the Immigration Act of 1924 meant that the U.S. wasn't too open for emigrants from the near east and so they went to Brazil and to other parts of Latin America. Apparently Venezuela has the most Druze of anywhere outside of the Levant.

[Del Tachi]

As you know most of Latin America received immigrants historically. I guess that's basically the long and short of it; the Immigration Act of 1924 meant that the U.S. wasn't too open for emigrants from the near east and so they went to Brazil and to other parts of Latin America. Apparently Venezuela has the most Druze of anywhere outside of the Levant.

I mean sure, but what were the push/pull factors that led so many Arab immigrants to settle in Latin America?  why would they go there instead of Europe?

[Damocles]

I mean sure, but what were the push/pull factors that led so many Arab immigrants to settle in Latin America?  why would they go there instead of Europe?

Geographic proximity isn't the only factor at play here. Latin America was a relatively permissive place to settle for prospective Arab emigrants, compared to either the US/Canada, or the European empires that controlled their homelands. Once you have a few hundred or so establish a community there, the marginal effort for more to come and live decreases substantially.

[buritobr]

There is a big community of syrian and lebanese immigrants im Brazil. Many important politicians have arab ancestry.
Examples: former president Michel Temer, former mayor of São Paulo and candidate for president in 2018 Fernando Haddad

[Хahar 🤔]

As you know most of Latin America received immigrants historically. I guess that's basically the long and short of it; the Immigration Act of 1924 meant that the U.S. wasn't too open for emigrants from the near east and so they went to Brazil and to other parts of Latin America. Apparently Venezuela has the most Druze of anywhere outside of the Levant.

I mean sure, but what were the push/pull factors that led so many Arab immigrants to settle in Latin America?  why would they go there instead of Europe?

Well, those Latin American countries received large-scale immigration from Europe also. The same economic opportunities that made the New World more appealing than Europe for those Europeans would certainly make the New World more appealing than Europe for most Arabs. (Considering that those who moved to the Americas avoided the direct impacts of the Second World War, it's easy to see why this would have been a good decision.) Europe being a desirable destination for emigrants is a fairly recent development.