Most of the Lebanese community's forebears immigrated to Colombia from the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for economic, political and religious reasons.

[5] Many Lebanese settled in the Caribbean region of Colombia, particularly in the cities of Cartagena, Santa Marta, Lorica, San Andrés (island), Fundación, Aracataca, Ayapel, Calamar, Ciénaga, Cereté, Montería and Barranquilla, near the basin of the Magdalena River.

The Lebanese subsequently expanded to other cities and by 1945 there were Lebanese living in Ocaña, Cúcuta, Barrancabermeja, Ibagué, Girardot, Honda, Tunja, Villavicencio, Pereira, Soatá, Neiva, Cali, Buga, Chaparral and Chinácota.

The six major hubs of Lebanese population were present in Barranquilla, Cartagena, Bucaramanga, Bogotá, and Cali.

These immigrants were mostly Muslims and were attracted by the thriving commerce of the town which was benefiting from the neighboring Venezuelan oil bonanza and the usual contraband of goods that flowed through the Guajira Peninsula.