Syrian diaspora refers to the native Syrian people

Syrian people

The Syrian people are the inhabitants and citizens of Syria. Syrians are tied together by geography, linguistic heritage, religion, and similar Eastern Mediterranean ethnicities...

, living outside of Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

, as either immigrants or refugees. The Syrian diaspora constitute a mix of a wide range of ethnicities and religions, primarily Christians, even though in Syria itself the majority of nationals belong to the Sunni Arab community. There are approximately 15 million people of Syrian background, living in the diaspora, lately joined by the recent wave of Syrian refugees to Lebanon and Turkey.

Immigrants

According to the Syrian Ministry of Expatriates, the Syrian diaspora is estimated at over 18 million people who emigrated to North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 (including Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

), South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

 (Mainly Brazil

Syrian Brazilian

Syrian Brazilian is a Brazilian person of full, partial, or predominantly Syrian ancestry, or a Syrian-born person immigrant in Brazil....

, Chile

Syrian Chilean

Arab Chileans, are immigrants to Chile from the Arab world. Most are Christian and are the descendants of immigrants from the Ottoman Empire, from the lands that are now Occupied Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan...

, Venezuela and Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

), Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

. An estimated one million Syrians live in the USA, including those who are third or fourth generation Arab American

Arab American

An Arab American is a United States citizen or resident of Arab ethnic, cultural and linguistic heritage or identity, who identifies themselves as Arab. Arab Americans trace ancestry to any of the various waves of immigrants of the countries comprising the Arab World...

s of Syrian descent.

The majority of the Syrian diaspora happen to be Christians of the Eastern Orthodox Churches and Eastern Rite Churches, which is a local form of Roman Catholicism. They are majorly ethnic Assyrians, with significant Arab Christian component as well. Syrian Christianity goes back hundreds of years before the Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic Arab conquest of Syria in the 8th century AD.

The small but present Syrian (now known as Syrian Malabar Nasranis), community of Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, established several Indo-Malabar (Syrian) Orthodox Churchs, one is an autochtonomous Eastern Orthodox church in the Malabar Coast

Malabar Coast

The Malabar Coast is a long and narrow coastline on the south-western shore line of the mainland Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing mountain...

over a thousand years ago.