The first Muslim settlers in Ecuador were primarily Arabs who emigrated from the Middle East during World War I and thereafter from former territories of the Ottoman Empire. They settled mostly in Quito, Ambato and Guayaquil with smaller communities in Manabí, Los Ríos, and Esmeraldas provinces. Levantine Christians and Muslims created a secular ethnic organization called Lecla in the 1940s and The Arab Club in the 1980s.
The first Muslim settlers in Ecuador were primarily Arabs who migrated from the Middle East during World War I and later from former Ottoman territories. They settled mainly in Quito, Ambato, and Guayaquil, with smaller communities in Manabí, Los Ríos, and Esmeraldas provinces. The Levantine Christians and Muslims formed a secular ethnic organization called Lecla in the 1940s and The Arab Club in the 1980s.