Indian diaspora in East Africa
Encyclopedia
The Indian diaspora in Africa refers to people of Indian origin
living in Africa. Most Indians in Africa arrived in the 19th century as British indentured labourers, many of them to work on the Kenya-Uganda railway
, while others had arrived earlier by sea as traders.
In the British Empire, the labourers, originally referred to as "coolies", were indentured labourers who lived under conditions often resembling slavery. The system, inaugurated in 1834 in Mauritius
, involved the use of licensed agents after slavery had been abolished in the British Empire. The agents imported indentured labour to replace the slaves. The labourers were however only slightly better off than the slaves had been. They were supposed to receive either minimal wages or some small form of payout (such as a small parcel of land, or the money for their return passage) upon completion of their indentures. Employers did not have the right to buy or sell indentured labourers as they did slaves.
Of the original 32,000 contracted laborers, after the end of indentured service about 6,700 stayed on to work as dukawallas,Shopkeepers: from the Swahili "duka" - meaning shop, and the Hindi "walla" - meaning person in charge of something artisans, traders, clerks, and, finally, lower-level administrators. Colonial personnel practices excluded them from the middle and senior ranks of the colonial government and from farming; instead they became a commercial middleman and professionals, including doctors and lawyers.
It was the dukawalla, not European settlers, who first moved into new colonial
areas. Even before the dukawallas, Indian traders had followed the Arab
trading routes inland on the coast of modern-day Kenya
and Tanzania
. Indians had a virtual lock on Zanzibar
's lucrative trade in the 19th century, working as the Sultan
's exclusive agents.
Between the building of the railways and the end of World War II
, the number of Indians in East Africa swelled to 320,000. By the 1940s, some colonial areas had already passed laws restricting the flow of immigrants, as did white-ruled Rhodesia
in 1924. But by then, the Indians had firmly established control of commercial trade — some 80 to 90 percent in Kenya and Uganda
was in the hands of Indians — plus some industrial activities. In 1948, all but 12 of Uganda's 195 cotton gin
neries were Indian run.
Many Parsis settled on Zanzibar to work as merchants and civil servants for the colonial government. They formed one of the largest Parsi communities outside of India, a community that survived until the Zanzibar Revolution
of 1964. Indians in Zanzibar founded the one locally-owned bank in all of East Africa
, Jetha Lila
, which closed after the Revolution when its customer base left.
, gave the nearly 75,000 Ugandans of Asian descent 90 days to pack their bags and leave the country
. These descendants of the dukanwallas and Indian coolies then comprised about 2 percent of the population. Their businesses were "Africanized" and given to Amin's cohorts, who plundered and ruined them. The country lost a valuable class of professionals, sliding into a chaos that would eventually claim up to 750,000 Ugandan lives.
Some 27,000 Ugandan Indians
moved to Britain, another 6,100 to Canada
, 1,100 to the United States, while the rest scattered to other Asian and European countries.
Today, however, many of these same ethnic Indians have returned. In 1992, under pressure from aid donors and Western governments, Ugandan President
Yoweri Museveni
simplified a then 10-year-old law letting Asians reacquire lost property.
While many black Ugandans have learned the art of business during the Indians' absence, Indians today still run many shops, hotels, and factories in Kampala
, the capital, as they do in Kenya and Tanzania. Sikh
and Hindu temple
s figure prominently in the urban East African urban landscape, as do Mosques, particularly those built by the large Ismaili
Muslim community, which immigrated from Gujarat. Some extended families — the backbone of the Indian ethnic group — are prospering under Uganda's new openness. Two families, the Mehta
s and Madhvanis, have built multimillion dollar empires in Uganda since the 1980s.
Still, the Indian communities remain concerned about their position in East Africa
. Continued fighting in western Uganda between hundreds of rebels and troops in June, 2000, and politically motivated ethnic violence in Mombasa
that claimed more than 40 lives in August, gave credence to these concerns.
for Indian) were first fictionalized for a Western mass audience in V. S. Naipaul
's "A Bend in the River
." The Trinidadian West Indies author's 1979 book remains the best-known literary work in English addressing the Indian experience in East and Central Africa
. Though recently "A Bend" enjoyed a resurgence of critical acclaim for its dead-on portrayal of post-colonial African life in the former Zaire
(renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo), the novel also lifted the curtain on an ethnic group who had become central to East Africa's life in the later half of the 20th century.
The experience is touched upon in the films Mississippi Masala
, Touch of Pink
and The Last King of Scotland
.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
living in Africa. Most Indians in Africa arrived in the 19th century as British indentured labourers, many of them to work on the Kenya-Uganda railway
Uganda Railway
The Uganda Railway is a railway system and former railway company linking the interiors of Uganda and Kenya with the Indian Ocean at Mombasa in Kenya.-Origins:...
, while others had arrived earlier by sea as traders.
Indian Ocean Islands
- Indians in MadagascarIndians in MadagascarIndians in Madagascar form a community of roughly 25,000 individuals according to the statistics of India's Ministry of External Affairs; other estimates of their population range from 15,000 to 30,000. Among them are 867 non-resident Indians, with the rest being locally-born descendants of early...
- Indo-MauritianIndo-MauritianIndo-Mauritians are people of Indian descent living on the island of Mauritius, where they represent a majority comprising 68% of the population according to the July 2007 statistics...
(BihariBihari MauritianBihari Mauritians are the descendants of Bihari migrants to Mauritius. A majority of Indo-Mauritians are Bihari, and a majority of Mauritians are Indo-Mauritian . Most Mauritian prime ministers have been Bihari...
) - Réunionnais of Indian origin (MalbarsMalbarsMalbars are an ethnic group of Tamil origin in Réunion, a French island in the Southwest Indian Ocean, estimated to number 180,000. There are no official figures because the French government does not collect census data on ethnic groups....
) - Indo-SeychelloisIndo-Seychellois-Origins:They were brought in as indentured labourers. The majority were Hindus from North India; Tamil and Telugus from South India and Muslims form the remainder of the population.-Demographic Factors:...
Mainland East Africa
- Indians in KenyaIndians in KenyaThere are currently over 100,000 Indians in Kenya, most living in the major urban areas of Nairobi and Mombasa with others living in rural areas. Most are Hindus and with some Muslims, often with their own businesses and places of worship...
- Indians in MozambiqueIndians in MozambiqueIndians in Mozambique form the sixth-largest Indian diaspora community in Africa, according to the statistics of India's Ministry of External Affairs. Roughly 40,000 people of Indian descent reside in Mozambique, as well as 870 Indian expatriates.-Origins:...
- Indians in TanzaniaIndians in TanzaniaThere are currently over 90,000 people of Indian origin in Tanzania. Many of them are traders and they control a sizeable portion of the Tanzanian economy. Indians have a long history in Tanzania starting with the arrival of Gujarati traders in the 19th century. They came to gradually control the...
- Indians in UgandaIndians in UgandaThere are currently over 12,000 people of Indian origin living in Uganda, but this is a far cry from their heyday. In the late 1890s, over 30,000 Indians, mostly Sikhs, were brought on 3 year contracts to build the Uganda Railway from Mombasa to Kisumu by 1901, and to Kampala by 1931. Some died,...
- Indians in ZambiaIndians in ZambiaThere is a small community of Indians in Zambia. Unlike the better-known Indian communities of East Africa, they were little-studied by historians until the 2000s.-Migration history:...
History
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
, involved the use of licensed agents after slavery had been abolished in the British Empire. The agents imported indentured labour to replace the slaves. The labourers were however only slightly better off than the slaves had been. They were supposed to receive either minimal wages or some small form of payout (such as a small parcel of land, or the money for their return passage) upon completion of their indentures. Employers did not have the right to buy or sell indentured labourers as they did slaves.
Of the original 32,000 contracted laborers, after the end of indentured service about 6,700 stayed on to work as dukawallas,Shopkeepers: from the Swahili "duka" - meaning shop, and the Hindi "walla" - meaning person in charge of something artisans, traders, clerks, and, finally, lower-level administrators. Colonial personnel practices excluded them from the middle and senior ranks of the colonial government and from farming; instead they became a commercial middleman and professionals, including doctors and lawyers.
It was the dukawalla, not European settlers, who first moved into new colonial
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
areas. Even before the dukawallas, Indian traders had followed the Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
trading routes inland on the coast of modern-day Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
and Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
. Indians had a virtual lock on Zanzibar
Zanzibar
Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...
's lucrative trade in the 19th century, working as the Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
's exclusive agents.
Between the building of the railways and the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the number of Indians in East Africa swelled to 320,000. By the 1940s, some colonial areas had already passed laws restricting the flow of immigrants, as did white-ruled Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
in 1924. But by then, the Indians had firmly established control of commercial trade — some 80 to 90 percent in Kenya and Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
was in the hands of Indians — plus some industrial activities. In 1948, all but 12 of Uganda's 195 cotton gin
Cotton gin
A cotton gin is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, a job formerly performed painstakingly by hand...
neries were Indian run.
Many Parsis settled on Zanzibar to work as merchants and civil servants for the colonial government. They formed one of the largest Parsi communities outside of India, a community that survived until the Zanzibar Revolution
Zanzibar Revolution
The Zanzibar Revolution by local African revolutionaries in 1964 overthrew the Sultan of Zanzibar and his mainly Arab government. An ethnically diverse state consisting of a number of islands off the east coast of Tanganyika, Zanzibar had been granted independence by Britain in 1963...
of 1964. Indians in Zanzibar founded the one locally-owned bank in all of East Africa
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
, Jetha Lila
Jetha Lila
Jetha Lila was a private bank established in Zanzibar that traced its origins to 1880. It was an anomaly in East Africa in that it was local in origin, all other banks being foreign with headquarters outside the region, primarily in the United Kingdom....
, which closed after the Revolution when its customer base left.
Expulsion from Uganda
In 1972, Idi AminIdi Amin
Idi Amin Dada was a military leader and President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin joined the British colonial regiment, the King's African Rifles in 1946. Eventually he held the rank of Major General in the post-colonial Ugandan Army and became its Commander before seizing power in the military...
, gave the nearly 75,000 Ugandans of Asian descent 90 days to pack their bags and leave the country
Expulsion of Asians in Uganda in 1972
On 4 August 1972, the then President of Uganda, Idi Amin, ordered the expulsion of his country's Indian minority, giving them 90 days to leave Uganda...
. These descendants of the dukanwallas and Indian coolies then comprised about 2 percent of the population. Their businesses were "Africanized" and given to Amin's cohorts, who plundered and ruined them. The country lost a valuable class of professionals, sliding into a chaos that would eventually claim up to 750,000 Ugandan lives.
Some 27,000 Ugandan Indians
Indians in Uganda
There are currently over 12,000 people of Indian origin living in Uganda, but this is a far cry from their heyday. In the late 1890s, over 30,000 Indians, mostly Sikhs, were brought on 3 year contracts to build the Uganda Railway from Mombasa to Kisumu by 1901, and to Kampala by 1931. Some died,...
moved to Britain, another 6,100 to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, 1,100 to the United States, while the rest scattered to other Asian and European countries.
Today, however, many of these same ethnic Indians have returned. In 1992, under pressure from aid donors and Western governments, Ugandan President
President of Uganda
-List of Presidents of Uganda:-Affiliations:-See also:*Uganda*Vice President of Uganda*Prime Minister of Uganda*Politics of Uganda*History of Uganda*Political parties of Uganda...
Yoweri Museveni
Yoweri Museveni
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is a Ugandan politician and statesman. He has been President of Uganda since 26 January 1986.Museveni was involved in the war that deposed Idi Amin Dada, ending his rule in 1979, and in the rebellion that subsequently led to the demise of the Milton Obote regime in 1985...
simplified a then 10-year-old law letting Asians reacquire lost property.
While many black Ugandans have learned the art of business during the Indians' absence, Indians today still run many shops, hotels, and factories in Kampala
Kampala
Kampala is the largest city and capital of Uganda. The city is divided into five boroughs that oversee local planning: Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division and Lubaga Division. The city is coterminous with Kampala District.-History: of Buganda, had chosen...
, the capital, as they do in Kenya and Tanzania. Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
and Hindu temple
Hindu temple
A Mandir, Devalayam, Devasthanam, or a Hindu temple is a place of worship for followers of Hinduism...
s figure prominently in the urban East African urban landscape, as do Mosques, particularly those built by the large Ismaili
Ismaili
' is a branch of Shia Islam. It is the second largest branch of Shia Islam, after the Twelvers...
Muslim community, which immigrated from Gujarat. Some extended families — the backbone of the Indian ethnic group — are prospering under Uganda's new openness. Two families, the Mehta
Mehta
Mehta is a Khatri Punjabi surname, some Gujratis are also called Mehta.[1]It means 'chief' or 'great' from Sanskrit mahita, which comes from mah- 'to praise or magnify'. In Gujarati it has also come to mean ‘teacher’ and ‘accountant’, probably because teachers and accountants were respectfully so...
s and Madhvanis, have built multimillion dollar empires in Uganda since the 1980s.
Still, the Indian communities remain concerned about their position in East Africa
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
. Continued fighting in western Uganda between hundreds of rebels and troops in June, 2000, and politically motivated ethnic violence in Mombasa
Mombasa
Mombasa is the second-largest city in Kenya. Lying next to the Indian Ocean, it has a major port and an international airport. The city also serves as the centre of the coastal tourism industry....
that claimed more than 40 lives in August, gave credence to these concerns.
Cultural depictions
The lives of the Mhindi (SwahiliSwahili language
Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...
for Indian) were first fictionalized for a Western mass audience in V. S. Naipaul
V. S. Naipaul
Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad "V. S." Naipaul, TC is a Nobel prize-winning Indo-Trinidadian-British writer who is known for his novels focusing on the legacy of the British Empire's colonialism...
's "A Bend in the River
A Bend in the River
A Bend in the River is a 1979 novel by Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul.In 1998, the Modern Library ranked A Bend in the River #83 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century...
." The Trinidadian West Indies author's 1979 book remains the best-known literary work in English addressing the Indian experience in East and Central Africa
Central Africa
Central Africa is a core region of the African continent which includes Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda....
. Though recently "A Bend" enjoyed a resurgence of critical acclaim for its dead-on portrayal of post-colonial African life in the former Zaire
Zaire
The Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".-Self-proclaimed Father of the Nation:In...
(renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo), the novel also lifted the curtain on an ethnic group who had become central to East Africa's life in the later half of the 20th century.
The experience is touched upon in the films Mississippi Masala
Mississippi Masala
Mississippi Masala is a romantic drama film directed by Mira Nair, based upon a screenplay by Sooni Taraporevala, starring Denzel Washington, Sarita Choudhury, and Roshan Seth. Set primarily in rural Mississippi, the film explores interracial romance between African Americans and Indian Americans...
, Touch of Pink
Touch of Pink
Touch of Pink is a 2004 film directed and written by Ian Iqbal Rashid. and takes its name from the Cary Grant film That Touch of Mink.-Synopsis:...
and The Last King of Scotland
The Last King of Scotland
The Last King of Scotland is an award-winning 1998 novel by journalist Giles Foden. Focusing on the rise of Ugandan President Idi Amin and his reign as dictator from 1971 to 1979, the novel is written as the memoir of a fictional Scottish doctor in Amin's employ. Giles Foden's novel received...
.
See also
- Asians in AfricaAsians in AfricaPeople from, or with roots from, Asia live throughout Africa. Some came in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as indentured labour or coolies...
- Coolies
- Non-resident Indian and Person of Indian OriginNon-resident Indian and Person of Indian OriginA Non-Resident Indian is an Indian citizen who has migrated to another country, a person of Indian origin who is born outside India, or a person of Indian origin who resides permanently outside India. Other terms with the same meaning are overseas Indian and expatriate Indian...
Further reading
- Dharam P. Ghai and Yash P. Ghai, "Asians in East Africa: Problems and Prospects", Journal of Modern African Studies, 3 (1965), pp. 35-51