Lebanese people in Ivory Coast

The Lebanese diaspora in Côte d'Ivoire is a community of people whose ancestors are Lebanese and emigrated to Côte d'Ivoire directly or indirectly. 80 or 90% Shiite depending on the sources[1], it is the largest Lebanese diaspora in Africa[2]. There is a large population of Lebanese people in Côte d'Ivoire, whose numbers are variously estimated in the tens or hundreds of thousands. They are the largest Lebanese diaspora community in West Africa. An estimated 2,5% of all people living in the Ivory Coast are from Lebanon. 80% of the Lebanese community in Ivory Coast lives in Abidjan (mostly north), where they represent over 10% of the total population. And 20% of them live in Bouaké. There have been two major waves of migration from Lebanon to Côte d'Ivoire; the two groups, the durables (established families) and the nouveaux (newcomers), form separate communities. Though Lebanese migration to other countries of West Africa began as early as the 1890s, the colonial economy in Côte d'Ivoire did not develop until after World War I, and as such, no Lebanese community formed there until the 1920s. The journey took several weeks; migrants went by donkey from their home villages in southern Lebanon to Beirut, and from there took a ship to Marseille, where they would have to wait for one of the infrequent departures to West Africa. Some may have originally intended to head for the United States, but either found upon arrival in Marseille that they could not afford the fare and thus opted for a cheaper journey to West Africa, or were tricked into boarding ships for the wrong destination. Other early migrants did not come straight from Lebanon, but were instead drawn from among the children of earlier Lebanese migrants to Senegal. The community grew quickly due to the relative lack of entry formalities compared to other West African countries. Beginning in the mid-1970s, a new wave of Lebanese émigrés began to arrive, fleeing the Lebanese Civil War.