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The Ottoman Emigration to America,1860–1914

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Kemal H. Karpat
Kemal H. Karpat
Affiliation:
Department of history University of wisconsin, Madison
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Extract

Population movements have always played a major role in the life of Islam and particularly the Middle East. During the nineteenth century, however, the transfer of vast numbers of people from one region to another profoundly altered the social, ethnic, and religious structure of the Ottoman state—that is, the Middle East and the Balkans. The footloose tribes of eastern Anatolia, Syria, Iraq, and the Arabian peninsula were spurred into motion on an unprecedented scale by economic and social events, and the Ottoman government was forced to undertake settlement measures that had widespread effects. The Ottoman-Russian wars, which began in 1806 and occurred at intervals throughout the century, displaced large groups of people, predominantly Muslims from the Crimea, the Caucasus, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean islands. Uprooted from their ancestral homelands, they eventually settled in Anatolia, Syria (inclusive of the territories of modern-day Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel as well as modern Syria), and northern Iraq. These migrations continued until the time of the First World War. In addition, after 1830 waves of immigrants came from Algeria—especially after Abdel Kader ended his resistance to the French—and from Tunisia as well. These people too settled in Syria at Damascus.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , May 1985 , pp. 175 - 209
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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References

NOTES

1 See Karpat, Kemal H., “The Status of Muslims under European Rule: The Eviction of the Circassians and Their Settlement in Syria,” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, No. 1 (1980).Google Scholar

2 Bardin, Pierre, Algeriens et tunisiens dans L'Empire ottoman de 1848 à 1914 (Paris, 1979). Bardin's work is based on French diplomatic reports.Google Scholar

3 Some of the main writings on the Syrian emigration are the following: “Migration from and to Syria, 1860–1914,” Chapter 6 in Issawi, Charles, The Economic History of the Middle East, 1800–1914 (Chicago. 1966) (A. Ruppin's article is reprinted and discussed in this chapter);Google ScholarSafa, Elie, L'Emigration Libanaise (Beirut, 1960);Google ScholarHimadeh, Said, The Economic Organization of Syria and Lebanon (Beirut, 1936);Google ScholarTu'meh, George, Al-mughtaribun al-arab fi Amerika al-shimaliyya (Damascus, n.d.);Google ScholarSaliba, Najib E., “Emigration from Syria,” in Abraham, Sameer Y. and Abraham, Nabeel, eds., Arabs in the New World (Detroit, 1983), pp. 31–40;Google Scholar and Hitti, Philip K., The Syrians in America (New York, 1924).Google Scholar Information can be found also in works dealing with Middle Easterners established in the United States: see Aswad, Barbara, ed., Arabic-Speaking Communities in American Cities (New York, 1974);Google ScholarMehdi, Beverly Turner, The Arabs in America, 1492–1977 (New York, 1978);Google ScholarElkholy, Abdo A., The Arab Moslems in the United States (New Haven, 1966);Google Scholar and Waugh, Earle H. et al. , eds., The Muslim Community in North America (Edmonton, Alta., 1983).Google Scholar

4 For details, see Karpat, Kemal H., Ottoman Population, 1830–1914: Social and Demographic Characteristics, University of Wisconsin Press, in press.Google Scholar

5 In fact, when a group of Germans persisted, for religious reasons, in taking in newcomers and enlarging their colonies at Acre and Haifa, they met with such hostility from the local population that the Porte found it necessary to assure Berlin and Vienna that the safety of these settlers would be guaranteed. See the Archives of the Turkish Foreign Ministry (hereafter AFM), fol. 36 (Siyasi [Political]), 1 February 1863.Google Scholar

6 I have discussed the occurrence of simultaneous economic development and migration in The Gecekondu: Rural Migration and Urbanization in Turkey (New York and London, 1976).Google Scholar

7 Some of these lists will appear in Karpat, Ottoman Population.Google Scholar

8 Abraham, Sameer Y. and Abraham, Nabeel, The Arab World and Arab-Americans (Detroit, 1981), p. 17; see also the enlarged version of this work, Arabs in the New World (cited in note 3), which has extensive bibliography.Google Scholar

9 See Reid, Donald M., “The Syrian Christians, the Rags-to-Riches Story and Free Enterprise,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 1 (1970): 358–66; a similar rags-to-riches story is provided by Leila Fawaz, “Refugees of a Civil War: The Case of Dimitri Debbas, 1860,” paper read at a meeting of the Middle East Studies Association, November 1980.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

10 Abdo A. Elkholy stresses the fact that early “Arab immigrants,” as he calls them, came from peasant stock in Syria and Lebanon and that the majority belonged to the lower socioeconomic classes; see “The Arab-Americans: Nationalism and Traditional Preservations,” in Agopian, E. C. and Paden, Ann, eds., The Arab Americans (Wilmette, Ill., 1969), p. 5.Google Scholar

11 The reports of attacks by nomads on settled people were often blown out of proportion and described by European diplomats seeking to embarrass the Ottoman government as being attacks directed specifically against Christians or as “uprisings” against the government. When the nomadic tribe of Beni-Sahr, accompanied by bands from the tribes of Lehib and Beni-Kilab, tried to steal cattle from villages around Acre, the Europeans described this as a full-fledged insurgency, although a single Ottoman battalion re-established order within a matter of days. See AFM, fol. 36 (Siyasi), report of the governor of Saida, 29 October 1863. Such occurrences were often cited by immigrants as the reason for their decision to leave the country, but these same immigrants stated also their desire to return as rich persons to their villages.Google Scholar

12 In 1860 Lord Dufferin, reporting to Sir H. Bulwer about the events in Mount Lebanon, wrote: “When I first came to this country I was under the impression of those natural sentiments of indignation [against] the atrocities perpetrated by the Druzes on the Christians…. To my surprise however I soon began to discover… that there were two sides to the story… I am now in a position to state, without fear of contradiction, that however criminal may have been the excesses to which the Druses were subsequently betrayed, the original provocation came from the Christians” [Great Britain, Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons, Accounts and Papers, vol. 68 (1861), p. 439, dispatch of 24 February 1861 from Beirut].Google Scholar

13 See for example, the New York Times, 9 December 1896 and 4 September 1899: A returning missionary, Edward Riggs. referring to the Muslim-Christian tensions in Mount Lebanon, did not hesitate to describe the Muslims as “non-speakable” Turks, causing a protest by the Ottoman legation in Washington. (I am indebted to Dr. G. M. Bannerman for some of the information on Syrian emigrants that he presented at a seminar on migration held at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1972.)Google Scholar

14 For some of these emotional and distorted appeals to Christian sympathies, see Rihbany, Abraham M., A Far Journey: An Autobiography (Boston, 1914);Google ScholarHaddad, George, Mt. Lebanon to Vermont (Rutland, Vt., 1916); Hitti, Syrians in America;Google Scholar and Rizk, Salom, Syrian Yankee (New York, 1943).Google Scholar

15 In the pashalik of St. Jean d'Acre (usually known simply as Acre) there were 16 Druze villages with an aggregate population of about 15,000 that were subject to military conscription; the villages were Gerha, Djulus, Abu-Snan, El-Meghar, Errami, Bidjin, Shefama, Djedd, Esfia, Eddaliye, Elebkeaa, Harfar Kefr, Essmeaa, Sedjiar, Yamah, and Kessa. On the other hand, the Druzes of Houran and Liban were not subject to conscription. Obviously such unequal treatment was a cause for resentment. See AFM. fol. 36 (Syria), dispatch of 13 December 1873.Google Scholar

16 AFM, fol. 346 (ldari [Administration]), letter of 5 March 1908.Google Scholar

17 Fifty-Three Years in Syria (London, 1910), Vol. 2, p. 589. Jessup reported also that 87 of the college's graduates were in Egypt.Google Scholar

18 Report of the Immigration Commission, vol. I (Washington, D.C., 1911), p. 100.Google Scholar

19 See L'émigration ottomane aux Etats-Unis,” a lengthy memorandum dated 14 October 1907, from the French ambassador in Istanbul to the Foreign Minister, Archives des Affaires Etrangéres, Correspondénce Politique, N.S., Turquie, Politique Intérieure, Macadonie XXXIII, vol. 54 (1907).Google Scholar

20 Report of the Immigration Commission, p. 97.Google Scholar

21 Hitti, Syrians in America, p. 58.Google Scholar

22 See Hutchinson, E. P., “Notes on Emigration Statistics of the United States,” American Statistical Association Journal 53, 284 (12 1958): 963 ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

23 At one point Prince Said Halim asked Emin Arslan Bey, Ottoman consul in Buenos Aires, for a list of towns and villages from which immigrants to Argentina had come; see AFM, fol. 346 (Idare), 13 March 1913. (The Ottoman archives contain no such list, however.)Google Scholar

24 AFM, fol. 346 (Idare), 27 April 1904 and 12 December 1907.Google Scholar

25 Ibid.. 16 February 1914.

26 AFM, fol. 473 (Idare), letter of 20 November 1892, signed by Mavroghenii, an Ottoman Greek.Google Scholar

27 AFM, fol. 36 (Idare), 29 January 1889.Google Scholar

28 Hitti and, especially, Elkholy provide some information on Muslim immigrants, as do the two works by the Abrahams; see notes 3, 8, and 10.Google Scholar

29 AFM, fol. 346 (Idare), 12 December 1907.Google Scholar

30 Ibid.. 4 April 1907 and 27 July 1909.

31 Economic Organization, p. 16.Google Scholar

32 Economic History of the Middle East, p. 271.Google Scholar

33 “Reports on the Conditions and Prospects of British Trade in Syria,” Great Britain, Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons, Accounts and Papers, vol. 87 (1911), pp. 7–11. Saliba also provides some figures that are useful; see “Emigration from Syria,” pp. 34–35.Google Scholar

34 lssawi, Economic History of the Middle East, p. 271.Google Scholar

35 See the correspondence between Yusuf Efendi, consul in Barcelona, and Turkhan Bey, Ottoman representative in Madrid, in AFM, fol. 346 (Idare), June 1889 to 14 11 1892.Google Scholar

36 Ibid., report of 23 October 1893.

37 AFM, fol. 177 (Idare), 14 February 1899 and 5 February 1902.Google Scholar

38 AFM, fol. 346 (Idare), 23 October 1893.Google Scholar

39 Ibid., 10 January 1913.

40 Ibid., 17 September 1913.

41 Ibid., dispatch of 10 January 1913.

42 “L'émigration ottomane aux Etats-Unis.”Google Scholar

43 Cited in lssawi, Economic History of the Middle East, p. 271.Google Scholar

44 Economic Organization, p. 20.Google Scholar

45 See AFM, fol. 346 (Idare), dispatches of 13 February 1901 and 21 February 1914. Fares stated that between 1881/82 and 1901 a total of 320,000 had left their homes and that in 1901 there were 220,000 Syrians living in foreign lands: in the U.S.A., 100,000; in Brazil, 60,000; and in other countries, 60,000. He also stated that about 100,000 Syrians had returned home. The high percentage given for returnees is consistent with other figures, including those of the Ottoman consul in Marseilles (cited in note 37), suggesting that the return rate was about one-third. Fares' figure for total emigration is obviously too low.Google Scholar See also Reid, Donald, Odyssey of Farah Antun (Chicago, 1975).Google Scholar

46 AFM, vol. 587 (Idare), 3 June 1889.Google Scholar

47 According to the New York Times of 15 September 1895 about 10,000 Syrians were residing in New York, 150,000 throughout the rest of the U.S.A.Google Scholar

48 Vol. 12, p. 59.Google Scholar

49 AFM, fol. 177 (Idare), communications of 1861 and, especially, 1862.Google Scholar

50 AFM, fol. 346 (Idare), 14 April 1888 and 29 January 1889.Google Scholar

51 Issue of 11 July 1890. In some cases even U.S. immigration officials called the Syrians “dirty,” “liars.” and “innately dishonest”; they were resentful also that some of the new arrivals claimed that “all other Lebanon Arabs are our brothers and cousins.” See the New York Times, 17 January 1888, 7 June 1894, and 21 July 1894.Google Scholar

52 The correspondence on this problem between Interior Minister Sefik and the Porte is to be found in the Basbakanlik Arşivi (hereafter BA), Yildiz collection, Perakende section, 9/B/ 1314 no. 961 of 14 December 1896 (2 Kanunevel 1312).Google Scholar

53 AFM, fol. 346 (Idare), 21 April 1895.Google Scholar

54 It was the position of the Ottoman government that once outside their own autonomous territories the Lebanese and Egyptians became subject to Ottoman law and thus were required to obtain Ottoman passports if they wished to travel abroad. The government found it necessary to articulate this position when a group of 25 Lebanese refused to accept the Ottoman passport on the grounds that Lebanon was autonomous;Google Scholaribid., Foreign Ministry communication of 18 April 1911.

55 The Ottoman consulate in Marseilles gave a list of individuals active as migration intermediaries; these included Alexander Saab, Selim Saab, Tanous Bechelani, Isaac (a Jew of Morocco), Joseph Chababe (a nephew of Isaac), Ibrahim Chababe, Selim Beyruti, Boutrous al-Hazin, Bemandos and his nephew, George Richa, Joseph Tehara, Nassim al-Trablussi, Suleyman Sahaf, Vincent Jamuzzi, etc.Google Scholar

56 See correspondence of 1895 in AFM fol. 346 (Idare).Google Scholar

57 See Karpat, “Status of Muslims under European Rule.”Google Scholar

58 lssawi, Economic History of the Middle East, p. 271.Google Scholar

59 AFM, fol. 346 (Idare), 21 February 1914.Google Scholar

60 BA, Yildiz, Perakende, 1326 no. 844.Google Scholar

61 The government was always keenly interested in the general welfare of its former subjects in the Americas. Those who were not economic successes and found themselves stranded for lack of funds were paid reparation expenses, although this policy was modified when it was discovered that some well-to-do returnees were abusing the government's good will by getting their passage home paid. As early as 1895, therefore, it was ordered that repatriation expenses of Syrians and Lebanese not be paid. The order was often ignored, however.Google Scholar

62 The Ottoman government, remaining apprehensive about the large numbers of emigrants, investigated the travel agencies and found that they sought to entice passengers by offering them especially comfortable conditions. A travel agency advertisement that gives an excellent picture of the facilities offered in this competition is preserved in the Ottoman archives and is reproduced as Appendix X.Google Scholar

63 Trask, Roger R., The United States Response to Turkish Nationalism and Reform, 1914–1939 (Minneapolis, 1971), p. 189.Google Scholar See also Gordon, Leland J., “The Turkish-American Controversy over Nationality,” American Journal of International Law 25 (10 1931).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

64 The Collected Papers of John Bassett Moore, vol. 5 (New Haven, 1944), p. 54.Google Scholar

65 Moore, John Bassett, A Digest of International Law, vol. 3 (Washington, D.C., 1906), p. 686.Google Scholar

66 BA. Yildiz, Perakende. 20 Za. 316 no. 1506, memorandum of the Foreign Ministry of 1 April 1899 (H. 20 Zilkade 1316, R. 20 Mart 1316); a variety of similar documents are included in the same folio.Google Scholar

67 Ibid., no. 633, letter of the Beyoğlu Mutasarrif of 14 August 1899 (H. 6 Rebiulevel 1316., R. 2 August 1315).

68 United States Response. p. 189. Oscar S. Straus, a former U.S. ambassador to the sultan's court, states that the 1874 treaty was sabotaged “by our leading missionaries under the instigation of prominent Armenians who had been naturalized in America and returned to Turkey…. It was a very discouraging situation, for many annoying cases constantly came up. some of a rather serious nature” (Under Four Administrations [Boston and New York, 1922], p. 92).Google Scholar

69 Moore, Digest of International Law, vol. 3, p. 706.Google Scholar

70 “L'émigration ottomane aux Etats-Unis.”Google Scholar

71 Many journals were published by the immigrant groups. Those in Brazil were publishing nine newspapers (another report said four) in 1901, while two were published in Argentina. See AFM, fol. 346 (Idare), letter of A. Fares of 13 February 1901.Google Scholar

72 Archives des Affaires Etrangéres, Correspondence Politique, N.S., Turquie, Politique Générale, IV, vol. 5 (1905, 1907. fol. 130 sq., “Note sur les Mohadjirs,” Annexe, Dispatch of 26 November 1907.Google Scholar