middle easterners started coming to brazil in the late 19th century - the first immigrants were from syria and later came from lebanon, palestine and iraq.

when the newcomers first entered the brazilian ports, they were classified as turks, because lebanon and syria were territories of the turkish ottoman empire - two of the reasons arabs left their homeland were a population boom in lebanon and persecution by the ottoman turks.  

arab immigration to brazil grew in the 20th century, when a large majority of immigrants went to rio de janeiro - with so many middle eastern immigrants in rio de janeiro, it is easy to find good restaurants that cook arabic specialties like sfihas, tabbouleh, kibbeh, hummus, tahina and halwa.