ABSTRACT
This contribution surveys Arab and Jewish immigration to the northern (Caribbean) coast of Colombia. It deals with three migratory waves: Sephardic Jews, mainly from Curaçao and the Dutch Antilles, who arrived in Colombia in the latter half of the eighteenth century; Syro-Lebanese first from the Ottoman Empire, then Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, who arrived between 1880 and 1930; and Levantine and European Jews, who arrived in the 1930s and 1940s. Though their numbers were quite small, and their experience in many ways quite different, these immigrant communities were quick to settle and prosper in the relatively hospitable environment of the Colombian coast. Arabs and Jews soon rose to positions of prominence in diverse fields and made a significant contribution to coastal development.
