Arabs and MiddleEasterns in DR

G

Guatiao

El Leon de los Cacicazgos
Mar 27, 2004
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Hi, im a fairly new member to DR1 and I was wondering if DR1 members know anything about Arabs and MiddleEasterners in the Dominican Republic. I have heard about early 1900s migrations from the MidEast and India to the Carribean, I was wondering if any migrations occurred to the Dominican Republic.
PS Is Nazir Attalah arab or does he have arab descent?
 
Hillbilly

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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Yes

In the mid 1890s there was an influx of immigrants from Lebanon and Palestine. There is a long and rich history of these "Arabs" or "Turcos" here in the Dominican Republic.

The list of last names such as Hach?, Yunen, Yapor, Acra, Chabebe, Lajud, Llin?s,Dumit, Attalah, Jorge, Zouain,Hazim, Dimas, Sued, Gobaira and dozens more I can't recall just now are very well known in commercial, medical and legal circles. Many had their names changed to more "Spanish sounding" names like P?rez, by the immigration officials who could not fathom what they were saying when they got off the boat.

In Santiago, they were called "Turcos" (Turks) because they travelled on documents from the Ottoman Empire that ruled Lebanon, Syria and Palestine.

End o f the lesson


HB
 
G

Guatiao

El Leon de los Cacicazgos
Mar 27, 2004
474
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More Info...

Where is the majority of these Arabs descent located? (Santiago, Santo Domingo,etc.), I haven't heard about this migration much, are there any books or other media on this topics.
 
J

Jersey Devil

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Jul 5, 2002
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Moca

There is un campo of Moca called Los Turcos Abajo,
part of Juan Lopez. I believe it was named for an Arabic family
that once lived there.


JD

PS : I will doublecheck this on Wednesday when I am back in Moca.
 
P

Porfio_Rubirosa

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Apr 26, 2002
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In Barahona, there is the "Lebano, Syrio, Palestino" social club. They did a wonderful job of converting an old mansion into their club.

Levantines are prominent in small retail businesses in the DR - almost everywhere in the country.

But this in not unique to the DR. This is the case throughout Latin America and Africa too. I belive you will find much on the web about the Lebanese/Syrian Christian diaspora.

If I were Lebanese, though, I don't think I'd like being called "Turko".
 
F

Forbeca

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Mar 5, 2003
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Even if you correct them, they won't pay attention. Term of endearment?

Porfio_Rubirosa said:
If I were Lebanese, though, I don't think I'd like being called "Turko".
Click to expand...


I can't remember being called anything else but La Turca. After awhile you respond to it automatically.
 
M

miguel

I didn't last long...
Jul 2, 2003
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One ?!

Porfio_Rubirosa said:
In Barahona, there is the "Lebano, Syrio, Palestino" social club. They did a wonderful job of converting an old mansion into their club.
Click to expand...
Does anybody knows of the Arabs Ladanis from Barahona?. I believe that they have parks and other things named after them.
 
T

Tordok

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Oct 6, 2003
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Hillbilly said:
In the mid 1890s there was an influx of immigrants from Lebanon and Palestine. There is a long and rich history of these "Arabs" or "Turcos" here in the Dominican Republic.

The list of last names such as Hach?, Yunen, Yapor, Acra, Chabebe, Lajud, Llin?s,Dumit, Attalah, Jorge, Zouain,Hazim, Dimas, Sued, Gobaira and dozens more I can't recall just now are very well known in commercial, medical and legal circles. Many had their names changed to more "Spanish sounding" names like P?rez, by the immigration officials who could not fathom what they were saying when they got off the boat.

In Santiago, they were called "Turcos" (Turks) because they travelled on documents from the Ottoman Empire that ruled Lebanon, Syria and Palestine.

End o f the lesson






HB
Click to expand...

It may be important to add to the profe's lesson that most, if not all, of these Arab families were/are Christian and not Moslem. It made their integration into local society a lot easier.

For non-Dominicans: "Turcos" is certainly a misnomer, and some Dominicans of Arab descent will let you get away with it if they know you and it is used as a term of endearment. Otherwise it is not polite to say "Hey! Turco, y qu?? ". Turcos, by the way, is what people call them in other parts of Latin America, including Colombia (see Garc?a-M?rquez books), Cuba, and places like Per?. What HB described about their Ottoman passports is the same version that I've heard before.

Lastly, I may be wrong but, unlike the others HB listed, the Hach? family may be of French origin rather than Arab. I know a couple of them from Santiago and to this day they speak French* at the table.

-Tordok

*many in the Lebanese upper echelons were educated in the language of Balzac and Moliere from the time of the French protectorate there, so that may explain this family's custom, but I am almost sure that they are of French descent and not Arabs.
 
NALs

NALs

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capodominicano said:
Where is the majority of these Arabs descent located? (Santiago, Santo Domingo,etc.), I haven't heard about this migration much, are there any books or other media on this topics.
Click to expand...

Most of the Middle Easterners settled first in San Pedro de Macoris during the "Dance of Millions" that was a time where ordinary people became millionares over night in the DR due to the sharp increase of the price of sugar over night it wet from 34 cents a pound to a whoping $22 dollars a pound!!! (I'm wishing for much of the Corn and Sugar Beets of the world to go bad for some reason, watch that Sugar price jump again! Aaah, I can dream can't I?)

Many other "Turkos" settled in Santo Domingo. From there, they spread 360 degrees, but most went to the other wealthy region, the Cibao, where Santiago is located. Like the Chinese (every major town has a chinese community in the DR) the Middle Easterners settled in the major towns. Many of these Middle Easterners became very good businessmen and today, many very wealthy Dominican families are decendents of these migrants. You can actually see some islamic features in the old architecture in some of the old buildings in San Pedro de Macoris.

Indians never really came in big numbers to the DR, most stayed in Trinidad and Tobago, another Caribbean country just north of Venezuela. But there were a few. In fact, there is an Indian restaurant in a side road on the northcoast. I can't remember the name and/or if its closer to Cabarete or Sosua, but its there. You can even eat that rice with sauce thing on a banana leaf like in India! By the way, if there are any Indians reading this and you ever dreamned of owning a high quality luxurious Indian restaurant, I would like to let you know that Santo Domingo could be that gold mine your looking for. This city has just about every type of cousine, but no Indian restaurant and if there is one, it's not very appealing. Indian food is very good and I will pay (along with my Dominican buddies) top dollars for it. Consider that!
 
M

MrMike

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Mar 2, 2003
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www.azconatechnologies.com
capodominicano said:
Where is the majority of these Arabs descent located? (Santiago, Santo Domingo,etc.), I haven't heard about this migration much, are there any books or other media on this topics.
Click to expand...

If you think you are going to find a middle-eastern neighborhood with restaurants and all that's not it. To find the middle eastern residents of the DR you need to follow the smell of money. They are largely part of the "high class elite" that AZB is always trying to date.
 
A

AZB

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Jan 2, 2002
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I had written a big post (reply) full of info on arabs in DR and in latin america. After writing it for 40 mins, my inverter discharged and pc shut off. I lost all the post in thin air. I was really upset. Now I have lost the train of thought.
P.S. we are having 14 hours of black out / day in santiago. Last night, it seemed the whole santiago was dark.
AZB
 
P

Pavan

Member
Jan 18, 2002
512
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Indian Restaurant

Too bad!!

The lone Indian from Santiago has left five years ago and now lives in Leon, Mexico.

The thought did cross my mind but I never got around to it.

The wanna be indian restaurant by the road in Costambar is long closed and the food there really sucked. My buddy AZB ate there once I think and then never went back. I ate there twice but because I was away from home for so long that I could eat arroz and habichuela if it came off an Indian dump yard.
I remember it was called Taj Mahal.
 
NALs

NALs

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I never said it was good food at that restaurant, just Indian food. Anyways, they should open a high class smart Indian food restaurant in SDQ. I think that would be a very good business venture.
 
B

Beatnut

New member
Jun 4, 2004
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in UNIBE theres tons of them, lmao. all of them are med students. most of them are pretty cool.


Hillbilly said:
In the mid 1890s there was an influx of immigrants from Lebanon and Palestine. There is a long and rich history of these "Arabs" or "Turcos" here in the Dominican Republic.

The list of last names such as Hach?, Yunen, Yapor, Acra, Chabebe, Lajud, Llin?s,Dumit, Attalah, Jorge, Zouain,Hazim, Dimas, Sued, Gobaira and dozens more I can't recall just now are very well known in commercial, medical and legal circles
Click to expand...

hach? got rich off trujillo though
 
C

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
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One of the prominent members of the Hache family is called Khalil, which is indisputably an Arab name.

Chiri
 
T

Tordok

Bronze
Oct 6, 2003
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Chirimoya said:
One of the prominent members of the Hache family is called Khalil, which is indisputably an Arab name.

Chiri
Click to expand...

Chiri, if you look up "Hach?" on Google you'll find the name in several genealogical sites for Acadians (French-Canadians) with that surname. In the French genealogy database/search site below, Hach? has plenty of matches in Normandy,France and eastern Canada. http://www.geneanet.org

Perhaps the dominican Hach?s are descendants of French settlers in the Middle East. I don't know. Khalil Hach? Malk?m is petromacorisano and both his parents were indeed Arabs. I am not sure that he is directly related to the ones from Santiago. He was personally employed by Trujillo to take care of his haciendas and horse stables. Became a polo player and self styled bon-vivant along with Ramfis Trujillo. He was not into politics, but as someone else mentione here, he was closely linked to the Trujillos local business empire.

BTW, speaking of Indian food above, and polo here; Jabar Singh was a sikh prince imported from India by Trujillo to be a polo teacher in the DR.
Mr. Singh was a splendid gentleman, married a Dominican lady, retired in La Romana, and their children are Indian-Dominican. Jabar Jr. is an excellent golfer and top golf person at one of the courses near Juan Dolio (Guavaberry?).

- Tordok
 
NALs

NALs

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Tordok said:
Chiri, if you look up "Hach?" on Google you'll find the name in several genealogical sites for Acadians (French-Canadians) with that surname. In the French genealogy database/search site below, Hach? has plenty of matches in Normandy,France and eastern Canada. http://www.geneanet.org

Perhaps the dominican Hach?s are descendants of French settlers in the Middle East. I don't know. Khalil Hach? Malk?m is petromacorisano and both his parents were indeed Arabs. I am not sure that he is directly related to the ones from Santiago. He was personally employed by Trujillo to take care of his haciendas and horse stables. Became a polo player and self styled bon-vivant along with Ramfis Trujillo. He was not into politics, but as someone else mentione here, he was closely linked to the Trujillos local business empire.

BTW, speaking of Indian food above, and polo here; Jabar Singh was a sikh prince imported from India by Trujillo to be a polo teacher in the DR.
Mr. Singh was a splendid gentleman, married a Dominican lady, retired in La Romana, and their children are Indian-Dominican. Jabar Jr. is an excellent golfer and top golf person at one of the courses near Juan Dolio (Guavaberry?).

- Tordok
Click to expand...

Maybe the Hache family were originally French when they migrated to the DR and probably some married some of the Arabs that also came to the DR and thus, you have a French surname with Arab people? It doesn't matter, you know what, they are Dominicans and like your typical Dominican, nobody really know who we are! We are a mix of things and physical appearances only tell part of the story, DNA says it all.

About the Sikh Prince, he was not "imported" by Trujillo, he was invited by Trujillo. Don't make this prestigious man (Jabar Singh) sound like a peace of property. But, was the guy that introduced Polo to the Dominican Republic. Interesting, I did not know that he decided to stay in the DR and retire in La Romana. It must be that Dominican spirit, even during Trujillos' days, Dominicans just know how to live. And the natural beauty of the island of course!
 
T

Tordok

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Oct 6, 2003
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Nal0whs said:
Maybe the Hache family were originally French when they migrated to the DR and probably some married some of the Arabs that also came to the DR and thus, you have a French surname with Arab people? It doesn't matter, you know what, they are Dominicans and like your typical Dominican, nobody really know who we are! We are a mix of things and physical appearances only tell part of the story, DNA says it all.
QUOTE]
About the Sikh Prince said:
nal,
1. re. Hach?: Your speculation is as good as mine. I agree that at the end of the day it is just trivia. It was just an observation precisely about how names and appearances can be deceiving at times. More so, in the context of the DR.
2. re. Singh: I guess I'm too used to pro sports lingo, where athletes are "imported" to play in another country, etc.. You have convinced me of my poor choice of words in this case. I agree that it doesn't sound right or do justice to old Mr. Singh. BTW I knew the man, and he was a top-notch human being who made many friends in his adopted country. Played very low handicap golf at los Cajuiles ("Teeth of the Dog" for tourists). He spoke Dominican Spanish with a most charming Indian accent and spoke English with a very elegant British manner. Everyone in LR who knew him has only very fond memories of this gentleman.

- Tordok
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