The formation of a diaspora (al-intishar) dates back to the population growth of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Emigration was mainly directed towards Brazil, where the descendants of the migrants at that time represented 10 million people. The second wave of emigration dates back to the 1960s and continued until the end of the 1980s.
Lebanon
I explain in another post of this blog, that the Lebanese culture regularly refers to France. Besides, wasn't Beirut used to be called the "Little Paris of the Middle East"?
The Wikipedia page on the Lebanese diaspora is the one that, among those on diasporas, displays the longest list of personalities who have distinguished themselves in their host country.