|
The Syro-Lebanese of Egypt ((アラビア語:شوام مصر), transliterated: ''Shawam Masr'') ((フランス語:Syro-Libanais d'Egypte)), also known as the Levantines of Egypt, or simply the Syrians of Egypt, are an ethnic minority group in Egypt. They are non-native Egyptians who have ancestry originating from the Levant, mostly what is now Syria and Lebanon. The majority of Egypt's historic Syro-Lebanese community is Christian (Melkite Greek Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Maronite Catholic), although some families were also Muslim (Shia/Sunni) and Jewish. Since antiquity, there has always been a Levantine presence in Egypt, however, they started becoming a distinctive minority in Egypt around the early 18th century. The vast majority of Syro-Lebanese migrants who arrived in Egypt during this time were well-educated and French-speaking. By the dawn of the 20th century, the Syro-Lebanese of Egypt were considered a powerful and cosmopolitan community that played an important role in both Egypt's economy and culture. They played a pioneering role in modernizing Egyptian society by, for example, establishing the newspaper and printing industry, as well as a modern banking system, bringing western and European influence to Egypt.〔(【引用サイトリンク】first=Suhair )〕 Due to the rise in nationalism along with the loss of economic freedoms during the 1950s, most of Egypt's Syro-Lebanese community left the country immigrating to the Americas, Europe, and Australia, as well as many returning to their native Lebanon (especially Beirut) and Syria. Notable descendants of Egypt's Syro-Lebanese community include the world-renowned Egyptian actor Omar Sharif (born Michel Chalhoub) and Egyptian film director Youssef Chahine. ==History== The relations between Egypt and the Levant go back to ancient times. However, the earliest instance of modern Levantine migration to Egypt happened after 1724, when a schism in the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch resulted in a separate branch of Levantine Christians attached to Rome known as the Melkite Greek Catholics. Once the Syrian and Lebanese Greek Orthodox community was split, a migratory flow resulted in which Melkite Greek Catholics began leaving cities such as Damascus, Aleppo, Zahle, and Sidon to move to Egypt. Regarding an early Maronite presence in Egypt dating from the 18th century, it is said that the Holy See of Rome appointed two Maronite priests to serve as advisers to the Franciscans who came from the Custody of the Holy Land to evangelize Egypt because "no one knows the land and mentality of the Copts like the Maronites". Later during the mid-1800s, due to the political conflict that existed in Lebanon and Syria between the Christian and Druze religious sects, many Syrian and Lebanese Christians, as well as Palestinian and Jordanian Christians to some extent, migrated to Egypt under the rule of Muhammad Ali Pasha. These Syro-Lebanese or Levantine Christians, known in Egyptian Arabic as the "Shawam", were either of Greek Orthodox or Catholic (Melkite or Maronite) extraction. The reason immigrants from Lebanon and Syria were considered one ethnic group was because during the mid-1800s, Lebanon was not yet an independent state and was still part of Ottoman Syria, or "Bilad al-Sham" in Arabic, hence the their label as "Shawam" or "Shami". Muhammad Ali Pasha endorsed various ethnic and religious groups, including Syro-Lebanese, Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Italians, and Maltese to settle in Egypt. From the building of the Suez Canal to the creation of modern Downtown Cairo, Egypt’s rulers went on a spending spree that attracted migrants from across the world. The Syro-Lebanese, who were French-speaking and well-educated (largely due to European and American missionaries), had a mindset in the British-run economy of Egypt at the time. As a result, they were especially able to flourish as an energetic and cosmopolitan community until the Nasser era of the mid-1900s. Most of the Syro-Lebanese were self-employed businessmen or craftsmen and had more of a "westernized" education than the Egyptian average. Robert Solé, a French author of Levantine-Egyptian descent, describes all of these aspects of the Syro-Lebanese community in Egypt in his book, "Birds of Passage", as well as in his other publications. The Syro-Lebanese established Melkite Greek-Catholic and Maronite Catholic churches throughout many areas of Egypt such as Cairo, Alexandria, Mansoura, Suez, Port Said, and Tanta. The Greek Orthodox Syro-Lebanese experienced conflict trying to establish their own churches under their native Antiochian denomination, and became under the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria, which was mainly run by an ethnic Greek clergy. In Egypt, many families of Syro-Lebanese origin became successful in Egypt's business sector along with the established Armenian and Greek communities. Many were involved in Egypt's booming cotton industry. The famous Egyptian newspaper, "Al-Ahram", was created by the Syro-Lebanese Takla family in Egypt. Syro-Lebanese families dominated the publishing industry, owning major printing houses like Dar al-Hilal (est. 1892), which gave them enormous influence on the country’s cultural life. Even Rose al-Youssef, the quintessential Egyptian cultural figure from the first half of the twentieth century, was originally Levantine. The (then) irreverent political and literary magazine she founded and named after herself continues to this day, albeit in state hands like Al-Ahram. Even the material culture of Cairo has been suffused by Syro-Lebanese influence. The most prolific architect in Central Cairo between the 1930s and 1960s was Antoine Selim Nahhas, who is seen as the first modernist architect in Egypt. Nahhas, who built among other important buildings the Beirut National Museum, established a wildly successful practice in Cairo, where he designed buildings for the rich and famous, often Levantine-Egyptians like himself, such as the actor Farid al-Atrash. Even though the number of Levantine-Egyptians still in Egypt is drastically low today, the Syro-Lebanese community retains its strength in some aspects of the cultural and entertainment industries. Cairo’s most famous restaurant entrepreneur, Nisha Sursock, comes from a prominent Beirut Greek Orthodox family. The Levantine community in Egypt counted more than 100,000 members at the turn of the 20th century: civil servants, hairdressers, cobblers, drivers, engineers, dentists, doctors, shopkeepers, painters. Their aggregate wealth was reckoned at one and a half billion francs, that is 10% of the Egyptian GDP. Those who had capital invested it in small businesses (oil, soaps, tobacco, patisserie). Others created more important companies trading or producing salt, sodium, textiles, perfume, wood, silk. This economic success led to the foundation of schools, clubs, and charities, generally linked to a place of worship which was most of the time a church. A minority returned to their home village but the majority remained “semi-detached”, settling for several generations in Egypt without for all that involving themselves fully in the host society.〔(【引用サイトリンク】first=Marwan Abi )〕 In Mansoura, the Levantines excelled equally as lawyers, cotton trade entrepreneurs, large real-estate owners, medical doctors and pharmacists, department store and restaurant and hotel owners, bankers, and financial agents. They were also renowned for their large estates, like the heirs of Comte Khalil de Saab and the Sussah family, Naguib Bek Sursuq, and the 'izba of George Daoud. They owned several international hotels. For instance, Khalil Bahari owned the Semiramis Hotel, which included the best restaurant in Mansoura. Dhaher al-Rayyes was the owner of the largest hotel in Mansoura, the Paris Hotel, while his brother, Bichara, owned the Claridge Hotel, and a third brother owned the Imperial Hotel. The Shawam of Mansoura occupied key positions as medical doctors, showing why nearly half of the doctors in Mansoura used to be foreigners. Levantines also notably became bank managers. Some Shawam earned the titles of Count, like Count Saab and Count Chedid. Others earned the titles of Pasha and Bek, while a few even earned the title of Emir (Prince), like the Lutfallah family. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Syro-Lebanese in Egypt」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|