Arabs in Europe

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Arabs in Europe
العرب في اوروبا
Regions with significant populations
 
Arabs (Arab diaspora
)

Arabs in Europe are people of

Arab World. Most of the Arabs in Europe today are from the Maghreb
.

Demographics

In 2010 the estimate of the Arab population in Europe was approximately 6 million (the total number of the Arab population in Europe described beneath is 6,370,000 people), mostly concentrated in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Greece. The majority of migrants come from Morocco (2.2 million), Algeria (1.4 million), Tunisia (950,000), Lebanon (700,000), Palestine (700,000), Syria (350,000), Iraq (250,000), Egypt (220,000), Jordan (150,000), Yemen (150,000), Libya (100,000) and Sudan (100,000).[7][failed verification]

Most Arabs in Europe are followers of

Arab Christian community living in Europe. For example, most of the Lebanese
immigrants in Europe are Christians.

History

Pre-Islamic Era

Latin or Greek
.

The famous Arabian Palmyrene queen Zenobia led a famous revolt against the Roman Empire. After suffering an eventual defeat against the Romans, she spent the last few years of her living in the empire...

Arab occupation of Iberian Peninsula

The southern Italian city of Lucera was briefly, during the 13th century, made into an enclave for Arabs deported after the reconquest of Sicily. After they were then expelled from the city, their mosque was converted into Lucera Cathedral.

Arabs in Europe have a history beginning with the

Gulf of St. Tropez as a base for raids and colonisation.[8]

The Iberian Peninsula was mapped as "Al-Andalus" by the new Muslim invaders. The Arabs were an aristocratic elite who ruled over, a Muslim population (a mix of Berbers, Arabs and Iberian convert the made the vast majority of the population) in Al-Andalus and North Africa. All muslims in muslim Spain, regardless of ethnicity, were referred to as "Moors". Spain enjoyed a golden era of Islamic culture, accompanied by a golden age of Sephardic Jewish culture. This era spawned great polymaths and intellectuals such as

Albucasis. The Islamic rule in Spain also saw the birth of the Aljamiado alphabet, an Arabic alphabet for the Spanish language. In the 15th century, the Muslims were defeated by the Christian armies in a historical process called Reconquista
(meaning reconquest in Spanish and Portuguese), which led the Christian monarchs to regain control over the Iberian peninsula. Much of the architecture that was concocted from this era remains intact in Spain and functions as famous tourist destinations since the Catholic monarchs decided to use them rather than destroy them.

After the Moors lost control of Spain, King Philip II made treaties with them allowing them to practice their religion if they gave up their sovereignty, signing the Treaty of Granada in 1491. The Catholic monarchs however, abrogated the treaties and threatened to expel the Moors if they did not become Christians. The Moors did so, but continued speaking Arabic, and using Aljamiado alphabet for spoken Spanish. Some followed Islam in secret (Crypto-Islam). They were later referred to as Moriscos, Moors and their descendants who converted to Christianity rather than be expelled. Religious conversion was simply not enough for the Catholic monarchs. Phillip II implemented a policy to fully assimilate the Moriscos into the Christian Spanish population and eliminate Moorish and Arab culture from Spain. The Moriscos were forced to abandon their Arabic names and adopt a completely Hispanized heritage and give up their children to be educated by priests. Philip II also made speaking Arabic illegal in the kingdom, ordered all Arabic texts to be burned, and banned Moorish attire. After a failed revolt by Morisco leader Aben Humeya (or Ibn Umayyah) in 1568, the Christian monarchs expelled the Moriscos from Spain. Many of these Moriscos headed for North Africa, mainly in Morocco, where many of their descendants settled.

Modern migration

The post-

Libyan Civil War and Syrian civil war
. Many other Arabs emigrated to Europe because of political issues in their native countries. Arabs who studied in European universities and decided to stay are another source of migration.

After the 2011 events of the

European migrant crisis when thousands of Arab families escaped from Syria and Iraq.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ Crumley, Bruce (24 March 2009), "Should France Count Its Minority Population?", Time, retrieved 11 October 2014
  2. ^ "¿Cuántos musulmanes hay en España? — Islam Hoy - Noticias - Actualidad - Conocimiento - Cultura - Vídeos". Archived from the original on 2013-06-09. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  3. ^ "Anzahl der Ausländer in Deutschland nach Herkunftsland in den Jahren 2015 und 2016". statista (in German).
  4. ^ "Population; sex, age, generation and migration background, 1 January". Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek. 31 May 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  5. ^ Dati ISTAT 2016, counting only immigrants from the Arab world. "Cittadini stranieri in Italia – 2016". tuttitalia.it.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Anthony McRoy. "The British Arab". National Association of British Arabs. Archived from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  7. ^ Intra-Regional Labour Mobility in the Arab World, Facts and Figures (PDF), International Organization for Migration, 2010, retrieved 2010-07-21
  8. ^ Robert W. Lebling (September–October 2009). "The Saracens of St. Tropez". Saudi Aramco World. Archived from the original on 13 January 2010. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
  9. ^ Six Egyptian migrants drown on 20-metre swim from boat to Sicily beach
  10. ^ "Migrant crisis: Migration to Europe explained in seven charts". BBC News. 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2017-05-29.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arabs_in_Europe&oldid=1216591128"