Afro-Syrians

Afro-Syrians are Syrian people of Black African heritage. They almost entirely live in Southwestern Daraa and the bordering Golan Heights with only a handful living in other parts of Syria and other parts of the world. Outside of Daraa, their existence is nearly unknown.

There are many different origins of Afro-Syrians, the most common ones are the Arab slave trade, African Muslims settling in Syria during the Islamic Golden Age,^[6] African refugees that received Syrian citizenship,^[7] Syrian refugees in Africa who mixed with the local Africans, Syrian refugees in Brazil who mixed with Afro-Brazilians,^[8] and interracial marriages between Syrians and black people. Sudan is listed as the most common place of ancestry for Afro-Syrians, with Sudan and Syria having connections since the spread of Islam and the rapidly-growing number of Syrian refugees in Sudan and Sudanese refugees in Syria.^[2] Most Afro-Syrians fell under ISIS rule during the Syrian Civil War.^[1] A community of Shia Afro-Syrians exists in Damascus.^[3] A lot of Afro-Palestinians also reside in refugee camps in Syria.^[3]

The existence of Afro-Syrians is very little known in Daraa, and basically unknown in other parts of Syria. Afro-Syrians are highly concentrated in southwestern Daraa. They are the smallest Afro-Arab group.^[9] On top of war and occupation, Afro-Syrians experience severe racism and discrimination, including not being given any representation at all. Their population is unknown and has never been recorded.^[10]

• Arabs
• Afro-Arabs
• Afro-Palestinians
• Afro-Jordanians
• Afro-Saudis
• Afro-Iraqis