Lebanese Chileans

Lebanese Chileans, are immigrants to Chile from Lebanon. Most are Christian and they arrived in Chile in the mid-19th to early-20th centuries to escape from poverty. Ethnically Lebanese Chileans are often called "Turks", (Spanish: Turcos) a term believed to derive from the fact that they arrived from present day Lebanon, which at that time was occupied by the Ottoman Turkish Empire. Most arrived as members of the Eastern Orthodox church and the Maronite church, but became Roman Catholic. A minority are Muslim.