View source for Gujarati people

{{Short description|Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group}}
{{pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2015}} 
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Gujaratis
| native_name      = 
| image            = [[File:Traditional Folk dance garba dress.jpg|250px]]
| caption          = Gujaratis in traditional [[Garba (dance)|garba]] attire
| population       = '''{{Circa|60 million}}'''<ref>{{cite journal|title=Narendra Modi between Hindutva and subnationalism: The Gujarati asmita of a Hindu Hriday Samrat|first1=Christophe|last1=Jaffrelot|date=2016-05-09|pages=196–217|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis Group]]|journal=India Review|volume=15|issue=2|doi=10.1080/14736489.2016.1165557|s2cid=156137272}}</ref>
| region1          = India
| pop1             = 55,492,554<ref name="1971-2001">{{Cite report|url=http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011Census/C-16_25062018_NEW.pdf|title=Census of India: Comparative speaker's strength of Scheduled Languages-1951, 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991, 2001 and 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627064326/http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011Census/C-16_25062018_NEW.pdf |archive-date=27 June 2018}}</ref>
| region2          = United States
| pop2            = 455,292<ref>{{cite web|last1= Dietrich|first1=Sandy|last2= Hernandez|first2=Erik|series=American Community Survey Reports|title=Language Use in the United States: 2019
|website=United States Census Bureau |date=August 2022|url=https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2022/acs/acs-50.html}}</ref>
| region3          = Canada
| pop3             = 209,410<ref name="gujarati2021"/>{{efn|name=population}}
| region4          = United Kingdom
| pop4             = 189,000<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/language/bulletins/languageenglandandwales/census2021 |title=Language, England and Wales: Census 2021
 |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2022 |website=Office for National Statistics |publisher= |access-date= |quote=}}
</ref>
| region5          = Australia
| pop5             = 81,334<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/cultural-diversity-census/2021/Cultural%20diversity%20data%20summary.xlsx|title=Census of Population and Housing: Cultural Diversity Data Summary|website=Australian Bureau of Statistics|access-date=}}</ref>
| region6          = New Zealand
| pop6             = 22,200<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stats.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/2018-Census-totals-by-topic/Download-data/2018-census-totals-by-topic-national-highlights.xlsx|title=New Zealand|website=Stats New Zealand|access-date=2021-12-30}}</ref>
| langs            = [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]]
| religions        = '''Majority''':<br/>[[File:Om.svg|15px]] [[Hinduism]]<br>'''Minority''':<br>{{hlist|[[File:Star and Crescent.svg|15px]] [[Islam]]|[[File:Jain Prateek Chihna.svg|12px]] [[Jainism]]|}}
| related          = {{hlist|[[Saurashtra people]]|[[Kutchi people]]|other [[Indo-Aryan peoples]]}}
}}
The '''Gujarati people''', or '''Gujaratis''', are an [[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan]] [[ethnolinguistic group]] native to the Indian state of [[Gujarat]]. They primarily speak [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]], an Indo-Aryan language. Gujaratis have [[Gujarati diaspora|diaspora]] across India as well in a large number of countries around the world.<ref>{{cite book|author1=M. K. Gandhi|title=Hind Swaraj: Indian Home Rule|date=2014|publisher=Sarva Seva Sangh Prakashan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=29hvBgAAQBAJ&q=swaraj,+gujaratis|access-date=11 December 2015|isbn=9789383982165}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Minahan|first1=James B.|title=Ethnic groups of South Asia and the Pacific : an encyclopedia|date=2012|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara, Calif.|isbn=978-1598846591|page=90|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=abNDLZQ6quYC&q=gujaratis,+indian+independence&pg=PA90|access-date=12 December 2015|quote=Anti-British sentiment led to a strong Gujarati participation in the Indian independence movement.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Yagnik|first1=Achyut|last2=Sheth|first2=Suchitra|title=The shaping of modern Gujarat : plurality, Hindutva, and beyond|date=2005|publisher=Penguin Books|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-0144000388|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wmKIiAPgnF0C&q=shaping+of+modern+gujarat|access-date=12 December 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Gujarati communities across the globe : memory, identity and continuity|date=2012|publisher=Trentham Books|others=Mawani, Sharmina., Mukadam, Anjoom A.|isbn=9781858565026|location=Stoke-on-Trent|oclc=779242654}}</ref>

==Geographical locations==
Despite significant migration primarily for economic reasons, most Gujaratis in India live in the state of [[Gujarat]] in Western India.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Singh|first1=A. Didar|last2=Rajan|first2=S. Irudaya|title=Politics of Migration: Indian Emigration in a Globalised World|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317412243|page=141|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VgbgCgAAQBAJ&q=GUJARATIS,+ECONOMIC+MIGRATIONS&pg=PA138|language=en|quote=Gujarat has a very strong history of migration. The ancient Gujaratis were known for their trading with other countries. The Mercantile caste of western India, including Gujarat, has participated in overseas trade for many centuries and, as new opportunities arose in different parts of the British Empire, they were among the first to emigrate... The Gujarati Diaspora community is well known for their legendary entrepreneurship.|date=6 November 2015}}</ref> Gujaratis also form a significant part of the populations in the neighbouring metropolis of [[Mumbai Metropolitan Region|Mumbai]] and [[union territory]] of [[Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu]], formerly [[Portuguese Empire|colonial possessions]] of [[Portugal]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bhargava|editor1=S.C. Bhatt |editor2=Gopal K.|title=Daman & Diu|date=2006|publisher=Kalpaz publ.|location=Delhi|isbn=978-81-7835-389-0|page=17|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3IWXh-6zDe8C&q=daman+and+diu,+portuguese&pg=PA18|access-date=4 February 2015}}</ref> There are very large Gujarati immigrant communities in other parts of India, most notably in [[Mumbai]],<ref>{{cite book|last1=Blank|first1=Jonah|title=Mullahs on the Mainframe: Islam and Modernity Among the Daudi Bohras|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-05677-7|page=47|quote=Modern-day Mumbai is the capital of the state of Maharashtra, but until the creation of this state in 1960 the city has always been as closely linked to Gujarati culture as it has been to Marathi culture. During most of the colonial period, Gujaratis held the preponderance of economic and political power.|date=15 March 2002}}</ref> [[Pune]], [[Delhi]], [[Kolkata]], [[Chennai]], [[Bangalore]]<ref>{{cite book|author1=Raymond Brady Williams|title=A New Face of Hinduism: The Swaminarayan Religion|publisher=Cambridge University Press 1984|isbn=978-0-521-25454-0|page=117|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AHI7AAAAIAAJ&q=Oman,+gujaratis&pg=PA170|access-date=4 February 2015|date=15 March 1984}}</ref> and other cities like [[Kochi]].<ref name="cc">{{cite web | url=http://www.countercurrents.org/shaji230607.htm | title=Rubber Boom Raises Hope Of Repatriates | publisher=Counter Currents | access-date=16 February 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/article191293.ece |title=Gujarat should learn from Kerala - The New Indian Express |access-date=16 February 2015 |archive-date=17 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160117035914/http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/article191293.ece |url-status=dead }}</ref> All throughout history.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Edward A. Alpers|title=Ivory and Slaves: Changing Pattern of International Trade in East Central Africa|date=1975|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-02689-6|page=88|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uKYYwVTyOm0C&q=virji+vora&pg=PA88|access-date=4 February 2015|quote=In the early 1660s, Surat merchants had 50 ships trading overseas, and the wealthiest of these, Virji Vora had an estate valued at perhaps 8 million rupees...}}</ref> Gujaratis have earned a reputation as merchants, industrialists and business [[entrepreneur]]s<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mehta|first1=Makrand|title=Indian merchants and entrepreneurs in historical perspective : with special reference to shroffs of Gujarat, 17th to 19th centuries|date=1991|publisher=Academic Foundation|location=Delhi|isbn=978-8171880171|pages=21, 27|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9lz3gNDMbWEC&q=gujarati+business,+ancient&pg=PA21|access-date=29 October 2015|quote=The Gujarat region situated in the western part of India is known for its business activities since ancient times. The region has been agriculturally fertile and it also contains a long sea-coast enabling the merchants to undertake overseas trade. Thevenot held the Gujarati merchants in high esteem. Commending them for their skills in the currency business he states that he saw some 15000 banians in Ispahan, the capital of Persia operating exclusively as money-lenders and sharafs. He compared them with the Jews of Turkey and pointed out that they had their own residential settlements at Basra and Ormuz where they had constructed their temples.}}</ref> and have therefore been at forefront of migrations all over the world, particularly to regions that were part of the [[British Empire]] such as [[Fiji]], [[Hong Kong]], [[British Malaya|Malaya]], [[Singapore]], [[East Africa]], and [[South Africa]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Kalpana Hiralal|title=Indian Family Businesses in Natal, 1870 – 1950|publisher=Natal Society Foundation 2010|url=http://www.natalia.org.za/Files/38/Natalia%2038%20pp27-37%20C.pdf|access-date=4 February 2015}}</ref> Diasporas and transnational networks in many of these countries date back to more than a century.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Poros|first1=Maritsa V.|title=Modern Migrations Gujarati Indian Networks in New York and London.|date=2010|publisher=Stanford University Press|location=Palo Alto|isbn=978-0804775830|page=10|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Twg4HqWJ65sC&q=gujaratis,+transnational+network&pg=PA16|quote=However, Gujaratis have been migrating as part of wide-ranging trade diasporas for centuries, long before capitalist development became concentrated in Europe and the United States.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author1=Vinay Lal|title=Diaspora Purana: The Indic Presence in World Culture|url=https://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/Diaspora/indic_presence.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031002225600/http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/Diaspora/indic_presence.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 October 2003|access-date=22 October 2015|quote=Most historians, even those who have sought to move away from the narratives furnished by the framework of colonial knowledge, are unable to begin their narrative of the Indian diaspora before the nineteenth century, but the Gujaratis had justly established a diasporic presence in the early part of the second millennium. So renowned had the Gujaratis become for their entrepreneurial spirit, commercial networks, and business acumen that a bill of credit issued by a Gujarati merchant would be honored as far as 5,000 miles away merely on the strength of the community's business reputation. They traversed the vast spaces of the Indian Ocean world with confidence, and a Gujarati pilot guided [[Vasco da Gama]]'s ship to India... Under Portuguese rule, the Indian Ocean trading system went into precipitous decline, and not until the nineteenth century did the Gujarati diaspora find a new lease of life. Gujarati traders migrated under the British dispensation in large numbers to Kenya, Tanganyika, South Africa, and Fiji, among other places, and Mohandas Gandhi, himself a Gujarati, has recorded that the early political proceedings of the Indian community in South Africa were conducted in the Gujarati language. In East Africa their presence was so prominent that banknotes in Kenya, before the country acquired independence, had inscriptions in Gujarati. Khojas, or Gujarati Ismailis, flourished and even occupied positions as teachers and educators in Muslim countries around the world.}}</ref> In recent decades, larger numbers of Gujaratis have migrated to [[English-speaking world|English-speaking countries]] such as the [[United States]] (especially [[New Jersey]]), [[United Kingdom]], [[Australia]], [[New Zealand]], and [[Canada]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Seeing Krishna in America The Hindu Bhakti Tradition of Vallabhacharya in India and Its Movement to the West.|date=2014|publisher=McFarland Publishing|isbn=9780786459735|pages=48, 49|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BWQMBAAAQBAJ&q=gujarati+migration,+america&pg=PA49|access-date=24 October 2015|quote=Among Gujaratis, emigration from India has a long history that has also affected Pushtimargiyas. As a seacoast mercantile population, the migration patterns of Gujaratis are ancient and may extend back over two millennia.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author1=Peggy Levitt|title=Towards an Understanding of Transnational Community Forms and Their Impact on Immigrant Incorporation|url=https://migration.ucdavis.edu/rs/more.php?id=47|website=research & seminars|access-date=25 October 2015|quote=In the Indian case, though organizational arrangements encourage U.S. and sending-country involvements, and the community displays high levels of economic and political integration, the goals of participation in home-country groups, the requirements of membership, and the insular social milieu in which participation occurs, reinforces homeland ties. Gujaratis may become the most transnational of groups because they assimilate selectively into the U.S. and maintain strong sending-country attachments}}</ref>

==History==
{{Main|History of Gujarat}}

[[File:Ludovico-di-Varthema-King-of-Khambat-16th-century-India.jpg|thumb|The king of Cambay (in present-day Gujarat) from "Figurae variae Asiae et Africae," a 16th-century Portuguese manuscript in the Casanatense Library in Rome (Codex Casanatense 1889)]]
In anthropological surveys conducted in India about 60% of the people claim that their community is a migrant to their state or region. In Gujarat that number is around 70%. In the state, 124 Hindu communities out of 186 claim a migrant past. For example, the [[Audichya Brahmins]] claim migration from present day Uttar Pradesh. With Muslims in Gujarat, 67 out of 86 communities claim a migrant past.<ref name="YājñikaSheth2005">{{cite book|author1=Acyuta Yājñika|author2=Suchitra Sheth|title=The Shaping of Modern Gujarat: Plurality, Hindutva, and Beyond|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wmKIiAPgnF0C&pg=PR9|year=2005|publisher=Penguin Books India|isbn=978-0-14-400038-8|pages=2–3}}</ref>

Early European travellers like [[Ludovico di Varthema]] (15th century) travelled to Gujarat and wrote on the people of Gujarat. He noted that [[Jainism in Gujarat|Jainism]] had a strong presence in Gujarat and opined that Gujaratis were deprived of their kingdom by Mughals because of their kind heartedness. His description of Gujaratis was:<ref>André Wink (1997) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=75FlxDhZWpwC&q=heathens&pg=PA434 Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: The Slavic Kings and the Islamic conquest]'', BRILL {{ISBN|90-04-10236-1}} pp.355–356</ref>

{{cquote|...a certain race which eats nothing that has blood, never kills any living things... and these people are neither moors nor heathens... if they were baptized, they would all be saved by the virtue of their works, for they never do to others what they would not do unto them.}}

In 1790 and 1791, an epidemic devastated numerous parts of Gujarat during which 100,000 Gujaratis were killed in [[Surat]] alone.<ref>{{cite book|page=193|title=Eighteenth-Century Gujarat: The Dynamics of Its Political Economy, 1750-1800|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=En_heITTXCoC&pg=PA193|author=Ghulam A. Nadri|isbn=978-9004172029|year=2009|publisher=BRILL }}</ref>

An outbreak of [[bubonic plague]] in 1812 has been claimed to have killed about half the Gujarati population.<ref name="PetersenChen2017">{{cite book|author1=Eskild Petersen|author2=Lin Hwei Chen|author3=Patricia Schlagenhauf-Lawlor|title=Infectious Diseases: A Geographic Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VPEjDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA8|date=14 February 2017|publisher=Wiley|isbn=978-1-119-08573-7|page=8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=July 1906 |title=The Indian Medical Gazette July 1906 |journal= |issue=The Indian Medical Gazette |s2cid=33053536 }}</ref>

===Gujarati mercantile history===
Ports on the western coast of India have been engaged in trade for millennia. During the medieval and early modern period, ports in Gujarat such as [[Diu, India|Diu]], [[Surat]], [[Mandavi]], [[Cambay]], and [[Porbandar]] became important. Gujarati merchants operating from these ports operated not only in the Indian Ocean in the west  but also in Southeast Asia. It is estimated that there were 1000 Gujarati merchants resident in [[Malacca]] in fifteenth century with a thousand others operating in the [[Bay of Bengal]] and [[Indonesian archipelago]]. Most of the Gujarati traders were Muslims but there were Hindu and Jains too despite religious prohibitions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McPherson |first=Kenneth |date=1988 |title=Maritime Passenger Traffic in the Indian Ocean Region Before the Nineteenth Century |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/41562611 |journal=The Great Circle |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=49–61 |jstor=41562611 |issn=0156-8698}}</ref> Gujarati merchants operating in Southeast Asia were primarily involved exporting India cotton to Southeast Asia in exchange for spices from the islands which were then exported to Persia. Surat was the principal port for this trade.<ref>Tracy, J. D. (1999). Asian Despotism? Mughal Government as Seen From the Dutch East India Company Factory in Surat. Journal of Early Modern History, 3(3), 256-280. {{doi|10.1163/157006599X00260}}</ref> Gujaratis played a big part in the Indian ocean trade. The Portuguese explorer [[Vasco de Gama]] noted presence of Muslim and Hindu navigators and merchants from Gujarat in [[Zanzibar]] and [[Pemba Island|Pemba]] and along the [[East Africa]] coast in towns such as [[Kilwa]], [[Bagamoyo]], [[Mombasa]] and [[Malindi]].<ref name="jstor.org">{{Cite journal |last=Mehta |first=Makrand |date=2001 |title=Gujarati Business Communities in East African Diaspora: Major Historical Trends |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4410637 |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=36 |issue=20 |pages=1738–1747 |jstor=4410637 |issn=0012-9976}}</ref> International trade by Gujarati merchants increased with the advent of the Gujarat Sultanate at the beginning of the 1400s. The trade involved gold, ivory and [[Slavery in India|slaves]] from Africa in exchange for cotton and glass beads from India.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Alpers |first=Edward A. |date=1976 |title=Gujarat and the Trade of East Africa, c. 1500-1800 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/217389 |journal=The International Journal of African Historical Studies |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=22–44 |doi=10.2307/217389 |jstor=217389 |issn=0361-7882|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The important Gujarati traders active in the Indian Ocean trade at different periods of history included Jains; Hindu Bhatias and Lohanas; Muslim Khojas, Memons, and Bohras; and the Parsee communities.<ref name="jstor.org"/> The Jains were active during the Solannki period trading with Arabian and Red sea ports. The Portuguese also preferred Jains to the Arab traders.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Maloni |first=Ruby |date=2003 |title=Straddling the Arabian Sea: Gujarati Trade with West Asia 17th and 18th Centuries |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44145498 |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=64 |pages=622–636 |jstor=44145498 |issn=2249-1937}}</ref>

==Social stratification==
Orthodox Gujarati society, which was [[mercantile]] by nature,<ref>{{cite web|title=Gujarat & India Same, Different But Same|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/gujarat-india-same-different-but-same/290783|website= outlookindia.com|date=5 February 2022 |quote=A historically mercantile culture, widespread influence of non violent Jainism, for the diluted casteism and an intrinsic irreverence makes society and polity in Gujarat different from other Indian states. Centre-right in their economic leaning, people here naturally gravitate towards leaner governments with high standards of governance... Absence of local rulers’ courts meant that trade-mercantile guilds ran affairs and administration. The kind of socio-cultural influence that pervaded the feudal kingdoms of Rajasthan etc was absent in Gujarat. The trade guilds were akin to the influential mercantile guilds of Belgium and the Netherlands, which contributed to making the Dutch world leaders in finance. In Gujarat, this cascaded into a strong entrepreneurial culture. As the English philosopher Bertrand Russell puts it, governments which consist of mercantilists tend to be more prudent in running the administration.}}</ref> was historically organised along [[ethno-religious]] lines and shaped into existence on the strength of its [[Mahajan]] ("[[guilds in India|guild]] assemblies"),<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jacobsen|first1=Knut A.|title=Routledge Handbook of Contemporary India|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317403586|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=--9WCgAAQBAJ&q=mahajan,+gujarati&pg=PA275|language=en|date=11 August 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Pearson|first1=Michael Naylor|title=Merchants and Rulers in Gujarat: The Response to the Portuguese in the Sixteenth Century|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520028098|url=https://archive.org/details/merchantsrulersi0000pear|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/merchantsrulersi0000pear/page/124 124]|language=en|quote=Mahajan means different things in different parts of India; it can refer to an individual banker, a money-lender, a merchant, or an unspecified "great man". In Gujarat it usually meant a body representing a group of people engaged in the same commercial occupation, a governing council with an elected or occasionally hereditary headman...|date=1 January 1976}}</ref> and for its institution of Nagarsheth ("head of the guild assembly"); a 16th-century [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] system akin to medieval European [[guilds]] which self-regulated the mercantile affairs of multi-ethnic, multi-religious communities in the Gujarati [[bourgeoisie]] long before municipal state politics was introduced.<ref>{{cite news|title=Going global|url=https://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21683983-secrets-worlds-best-businesspeople-going-global|newspaper=The Economist|date=19 December 2015|quote=Whereas one religion, Protestantism, has often been associated with the rise of Anglo-Saxon capitalism, Gujarati capitalism was much more a fusion of influences. Ethnic and religious diversity became a source of strength, multiplying the trading networks that each community could exploit. Pragmatism and flexibility over identity, and a willingness to accommodate, perhaps inherited from the mahajans, are strong Gujarati traits, argues Edward Simpson of the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. Gujaratis have been adept at remaining proudly Gujarati while becoming patriotically British, Ugandan or Fijian—an asset in a globalised economy.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Sundar|first1=Pushpa|title=Business and Community: The Story of Corporate Social Responsibility in India|publisher=SAGE Publications India|isbn=9788132111535|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=seiICwAAQBAJ&q=mahajan,+gujarati&pg=PA55|language=en|quote=The merchants were organized into mahajans or guilds with hereditary seths. A mahajan could include merchants of different religions and there was no strict segregation of religious, social, and occupational functions.|date=24 January 2013}}</ref> Historically, Gujaratis belonging to numerous faiths and [[castes]], thrived in an inclusive climate surcharged by a degree of [[cultural syncretism]], in which Hindus and [[Jains]] dominated occupations such as [[Banker|shroff]]s and brokers whereas, [[Gujarati Muslims|Muslims]], [[Hindu]]s and [[Parsi]]s largely dominated sea shipping trade. This led to religious [[interdependence]], tolerance, [[Cultural assimilation|assimilation]] and [[community cohesion]] ultimately becoming the hallmark of modern-day Gujarati society.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rai|first1=Rajesh|last2=Reeves|first2=Peter|last3=Pro|first3=Visiting Professor Coordinator South Asia Studies Programme Peter Reeves|title=The South Asian Diaspora: Transnational Networks and Changing Identities|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134105953|page=41|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bwJD2WBNtNMC&q=gujarat+muslims,+shipping&pg=PA41|language=en|quote=For Banias and Muslims there was a clear division of commercial activities based on religious persuasions and canonical injunctions. For example, Muslim merchants did not deal in printed textiles with motifs of living creatures on it, while these were procured by the Bania and Jain brokers. On the other hand Bania and Jain merchants would not deal in the trade of animals while Muslims did not have any problems with such trade. Similarly, Muslim merchants dominated the shipping trade and many were big ship-owners. The nakhudas and the lascars were also primarily from the Muslim community. On the other hand, some of the Banias and the Jains were prominent merchants and they organized an extensive trade from Gujarat to other parts of Asia. Thus, two forms of trade which formed the shipping and commerce were controlled by these two major communities of Gujarati merchants. For both these communities their relationship necessitated mutual understanding and interdependence in commercial matters so that they could play a complementary role in advancing their trading interests|date=25 July 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Malik|first1=Ashish|last2=Pereira|first2=Vijay|title=Indian Culture and Work Organisations in Transition|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317232025|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hCUFDAAAQBAJ&q=gujarati,+society&pg=PA190|language=en|quote=He found that Gujaratis are highly family-oriented valuing family network and highly familial. They are also spiritualistic, religious and relationship oriented, attaching importance to co-operation. They are accepted to be materialistic. Panda, on the basis of empirical evidence, has named the society as 'collectivist familial (clannish) society'. Further, Gujarati society is found to have a high social capital. The dominant cultural characteristics identified from this study, which are essentially 'familial', 'co-operative' and 'non-hierarchical' (democratic) are consistent with Joshi's findings.|date=20 April 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Berger|first1=Peter|last2=Heidemann|first2=Frank|title=The Modern Anthropology of India: Ethnography, Themes and Theory|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1134061112|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sBgLb8XIGR8C&q=gujaratis,+uk,+anthropology+of+india&pg=PA84|language=en|quote=Gujaratis continuously redefine and contest caste and hiearchical values in a competitive pluralistic social environment. In post-colonial Gujarat, the merchant culture and its values of purity and economic wealth have prevailed over plural notions of hierarchy (Tambs-Lyche 1982)|date=3 June 2013}}</ref>

===Religion===
The Gujarati people are predominantly [[Hindu]]. There are also minority communities of [[Gujarati Muslims|Muslims]], [[Jainism|Jains]], [[Christianity in India|Christians]], [[Sikhism|Sikhs]], [[Buddhism|Buddhists]], [[Zoroastrianism|Parsis]], [[History of the Jews in India|Jews]], and followers of the [[Baháʼí Faith]] amongst the Gujaratis.<ref name=religion>{{cite web|title=Gujarat Religion Census 2011|url=http://www.census2011.co.in/data/religion/state/24-gujarat.html|website=Census of India, 2011|publisher=The Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Anjali H. Desai|title=India Guide Gujarat|publisher=India Guide Publications|isbn=9780978951702|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gZRLGZNZEoEC&pg=PA37|language=en|year=2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Globalisation, diaspora and belonging : exploring transnationalism and Gujarati identity|others=Mawani, Sharmina,, Mukadam, Anjoom A.|isbn=9788131606322|location=Jaipur|oclc=871342185|last1 = Mawani|first1 = Sharmina|last2 = Mukadam|first2 = Anjoom A.|year = 2014}}</ref>

===Hindu communities===
The major communities in Gujarat are farmers and livestock herders (such as [[Patidar]], [[Koli people|Koli]], [[Rabari]], [[Bharvad]], [[Ahir]]), traders (such as [[Bania (caste)|Bania]], [[Bhatia caste|Bhatia]], [[Soni (caste)|Soni]]), sailor and seafood exporters (such as [[Kharwa caste|Kharwa]]), artisan and business communities (such as [[Kumhar|Prajapati]], [[Varaiya]], [[Mochi (Hindu)|Mochi]]), [[Brahmin]] communities (such as [[Joshi]], [[Anavil]], [[Nagar Brahmin|Nagar]], [[Modh]], [[Shrimali]]), genealogists (such as [[Barot (caste)|Barot]]), [[Kshatriya]] communities (such as [[Koli people|Koli]] [[Thakor]],<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IWrTs5yt1DkC&q=Thakore&pg=PA1363|title=Gujarat|date=2003|publisher=Popular Prakashan|isbn=9788179911068|language=en}}</ref> [[Bhanushali]], [[Karadiya Rajput|Karadia]], [[Nadoda Rajput|Nadoda]], [[Jadeja]], [[Dabhi]], [[Chudasama (Rajput clan)|Chudasama]], [[Mer people|Maher]], [[Lohana]]), Tribal communities (such as [[Bhils]], [[Meghwal]], [[Gamit]], [[Konkani people|Konkani]], [[Varli people|varli]]) and Devipujak (such as Dataniya, Dantani, [[Chunara]], [[Patni Computer Systems|Patni]]).{{Citation needed|date=February 2020}}

===Muslim communities===
{{further|Gujarati Muslims}}
The majority of Gujarati Muslims are [[Sunni Muslim]]. Minority communities include [[Twelver]], [[Nizari Ismailis|Nizari]] Ismailis, [[Daudi Bohra]], [[Khoja]], Pathans, Shaikhs, Maliks.

==Diaspora==
{{main article|Gujarati diaspora}}
Gujaratis have a long tradition of seafaring and a history of overseas migration to foreign lands, to [[Yemen]]<ref>{{cite book|author1=Pedro Machado|title=Ocean of Trade: South Asian merchants, Africa and the Indian Ocean, {{circa|1750 - 1850}}|date=2014|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-07026-4|page=20|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ODfJBAAAQBAJ&q=gujaratis,+kuwait&pg=PA20|access-date=4 February 2015|quote=Hindu Vaniya networks from Kathiawar, in particular, operated prominently in the region, and directed their trade primarily to Yemen, and Hadramawt. They were also active in the early eighteenth century in the southern Red Sea, where Mocha and other ports such as Aden provided them with their principal markets}}</ref> [[Oman]]<ref>{{cite book|author1=Cordell Crownover|title=Ultimate Handbook Guide to Muscat : (Oman) Travel Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BRDGBAAAQBAJ&q=Oman,+gujaratis&pg=PP6|access-date=4 February 2015|quote=As an important port-town in the Gulf of Oman, Muscat attracted foreign tradesman and settlers, such as the Persians, the Balochs and Gujaratis.|date=5 October 2014}}</ref> [[Bahrain]],<ref>{{cite book|author1=Andrew Gardner|title=City of Strangers: Gulf Migration and the Indian Community in Bahrain|date=1969|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-7602-0|page=77|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5QTI_GG8cB0C&q=gujaratis,+in+bahrain&pg=PA77|access-date=4 February 2015|quote=Other Indian groups with a long-standing presence in Bahrain include the Gujarati businessmen whose enterprises historically centered on the trade of gold; the Bohra community, an Indian Muslim sect with a belief system particularly configured around business...}}</ref> Kuwait, [[Zanzibar]]<ref>{{cite book|author1=Ababu Minda Yimene|title=An African Indian Community in Hyderabad: Siddi Identity, Its Maintenance and Change|date=2004|isbn=978-3-86537-206-2|pages=66, 67|publisher=Cuvillier Verlag |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DigPvwHTqJ4C&q=gujaratis+in+england,+19th+century&pg=PA67|access-date=4 February 2015|quote=Some centuries later, the Gujarati merchants established permanent trading posts in Zanzibar, consolidating their influence in the Indian Ocean... Gujarati Muslims, and their Omani partners, engaged in a network of mercantile activities among Oman, Zanzibar and Bombay. Thanks to those mercantile Gujarati, India remained by far the principal trading partner of Zanzibar.}}</ref> and other countries in the [[Persian Gulf]]<ref>{{cite book|author1=Irfan Habib|title=Economic History of Medieval India, 1200-1500|isbn=978-81-317-2791-1|page=166|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K8kO4J3mXUAC&q=gujarati+merchants,+Iran&pg=PA166|access-date=4 February 2015|quote=In the Persian Gulf, Hurmuz (Hormuz), was the most important entrepot for the international exchange for goods which were either bartered or purchased with money. The rise of Hurmuz in the thirteenth century followed the decline of the neighbouring entrepot of Qays, where there was a community of Gujarati Bohra merchants|year=2011|publisher=Pearson Education India }}</ref> since a mercantile culture resulted naturally from the state's proximity to the Arabian Sea.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Paul R. Magocsi|title=Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-2938-6|page=631|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dbUuX0mnvQMC&q=mercantile,+gujaratis&pg=PA631|access-date=4 February 2015|quote=Gujarat's proximity to the Arabian Sea has been responsible for the ceaseless mercantile and maritime activities of its people. Through the ports of Gujarat, some of which date back to the dawn of history, trade and commerce flourished, and colonizers left for distant lands.|year=1999}}</ref> The countries with the largest Gujarati populations are Pakistan, United Kingdom, United States, Canada and many countries in Southern and East Africa.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Gujaratis in the West: evolving identities in contemporary society|date=2007|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Pub|others=Mukadam, Anjoom A., Mawani, Sharmina.|isbn=9781847183682|location=Newcastle, UK|oclc=233491089}}</ref> Globally, Gujaratis are estimated to constitute around 33% of the Indian diaspora worldwide and can be found in 129 of 190 countries listed as sovereign nations by the [[United Nations]].<ref>{{cite news|author1=Chidanand Rajghatta|title=Global Gujaratis: Now in 129 nations |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/nris-in-news/global-gujaratis-now-in-129-nations/articleshow/45748322.cms |website=The economic times|date=4 January 2015 |quote=A lot of the spread worldwide took place after a pit-stop in East Africa, right across the sea from Gujarat. When Idi Amin turfed out some 100,000 Indians (mostly Gujaratis) from Uganda in 1972, most of them descended on Britain before peeling off elsewhere.}}</ref> [[Non-resident Indian and person of Indian origin|Non Resident Gujaratis]] (NRGs) maintain active links with the homeland in the form of business, [[remittances|remittance]], [[philanthropy]], and through their political contribution to state governed domestic affairs.<ref>{{cite news|author1=Premal Balan & Kalpesh Damor|title=Thanks to NRIs, 3 small Gujarat villages each have Rs 2,000cr bank deposits|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Thanks-to-NRIs-3-small-Gujarat-villages-each-have-Rs-2000cr-bank-deposits/articleshow/47698445.cms|website=the times of india|date=17 June 2015 |access-date=26 October 2015|quote=No wonder bank hoardings flashing interest rates for NRI deposits (up to 10%) is a common sight in these villages. "Some villages in Kutch like Madhapar and Baladia have very high NRI deposits. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest in the country," said K C Chippa, former convener of the State Level Banker's Committee (SLBC) Gujarat. Between them, Madhapar, Baladia and Kera have 30 bank branches and 24 ATMs.}}</ref><ref name=piyush>{{cite news|author1=Piyush Mishra|title=NRI deposits in Gujarat cross Rs 50K crore mark|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/NRI-deposits-in-Gujarat-cross-Rs-50K-crore-mark/articleshow/47889249.cms|website=the times of India|date=July 2015 |access-date=26 October 2015|quote=Gujaratis form 33% of the Indian diaspora and Gujarat is among the top five states in the country in terms of NRI deposits. RBI data shows there was a little over $115 billion (about Rs 7 lakh crore) in NRI accounts in India in 2014-15, with Gujarat accounting for 7.78% of the kitty.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Fernandez-Kelly|editor1-first=Patricia|editor2-last=Portes|editor2-first=Alejandro|title=The State and the Grassroots: Immigrant Transnational Organizations in Four Continents|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=9781782387350|page=99|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zyjfCQAAQBAJ&q=gujaratis,+NRGs,+politics&pg=PA99|access-date=26 October 2015|date=1 July 2015}}</ref>

Gujarati parents in the diaspora are not comfortable with the possibility of their language not surviving them.<ref name=lang>{{cite book|title=Language in South Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O2n4sFGDEMYC&pg=PA531|page=531|first1=Braj B.|last1=Kachru|first2=Yamuna|last2=Kachru|first3=S. N.|last3=Sridhar|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2008|isbn=9781139465502}}</ref> In a study, 80% of [[Malayali]] parents felt that "children would be better off with English", compared to 36% of [[Kannada people|Kannada]] parents and only 19% of Gujarati parents.<ref name=lang/>

===Pakistan===
{{Main|Demographics of Pakistan}}
Significant Gujarati communities existed here before 1947 Partition of India. Many of them migrated after the [[Partition of India]] and subsequent [[Pakistan movement|creation of Pakistan]] in 1947. These Pakistani Gujaratis belong mainly to the [[Ismailism|Ismāʿīlī]], [[Khoja]], [[Dawoodi Bohra]], [[Chundrigar]], [[Sunni Bohra|Charotar Sunni Vohra]], [[Khatri|Khatri Muslims]] [[Kutchi Memon]]s and [[Memons (Kathiawar)|Khatiawari Memons]]; however, many Gujaratis are also a part of Pakistan's small [[Hinduism in Pakistan|Hindu community]]. A number of them belong to the [[Dalit]] community.<ref>Gazdar, Haris, and Hussain Bux Mallah. "Traditional municipal sweepers in Faisalabad and Karachi." (2022).[https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hussain-Mallah/publication/365729102_Traditional_municipal_sweepers_in_Faisalabad_and_Karachi/links/63807cba48124c2bc66b1381/Traditional-municipal-sweepers-in-Faisalabad-and-Karachi.pdf]</ref><ref>Boivin, Michel. "The Hindus in Sindh." Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Editor-in-Chief: Knut A. Jacobsen Associate Editors: Helene Basu, Angelika Malinar, and Vasudha Narayanan (2023).[https://hal.science/hal-03959098/]</ref>

Estimated to number 3.5 million they virtually all live in [[Karachi]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Khan |first=Naimat |date=3 October 2018 |title=Karachi's Gujarati speaking youth strive to revive Jinnah's language |url=https://www.arabnews.pk/node/1381116/pakistan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250111213426/https://www.arabnews.pk/node/1381116/pakistan |archive-date=11 January 2025 |website=[[Arab News]] |quote=Out of the 50 million Gujarati-speaking people in the world, around 3.5 million live in Karachi and these include top industrialists, businessmen and owners of big media houses.}}</ref> Community leaders estimate that it roughly amounts to some 15% of Karachi's total population, while also highlighting the dire state of the Gujarati language in the country, with only two newspapers, ''Vatan'' and ''[[Millat]]'', still serving the community.<ref>{{Cite web |last=ur Rehman |first=Zia |date=18 August 2015 |title=With a handful of subbers,two newspapers barely keeping Gujarati alive in Karachi |url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/57104-with-a-handful-of-subberstwo-newspapers-barely-keeping-gujarati-alive-in-karachi |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250704140116/https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/57104-with-a-handful-of-subberstwo-newspapers-barely-keeping-gujarati-alive-in-karachi |archive-date=4 July 2025 |website=[[The News International]]}}</ref>

===United States===
{{main|Gujarati Americans}}
[[File:India Square JC jeh.JPG|thumb|Gujaratis have achieved a high [[demographic profile]] in many urban districts worldwide, notably in [[India Square]], or ''[[Gujarati Americans|Little Gujarat]]'', in [[Bombay, Jersey City|Bombay]], [[Jersey City, New Jersey|Jersey City]], [[New Jersey]], USA, within the [[Indians in the New York City metropolitan area|New York City Metropolitan Area]], as large-scale immigration from India continues into [[New York City|New York]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dhs.gov/yearbook-immigration-statistics-2013-lawful-permanent-residents|title=Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2013 Supplemental Table 2|publisher=U.S. Department of Homeland Security|access-date=18 June 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dhs.gov/yearbook-immigration-statistics-2012-legal-permanent-residents|title=Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2012 Supplemental Table 2|publisher=U.S. Department of Homeland Security|access-date=5 July 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dhs.gov/files/statistics/publications/LPR11.shtm|title=Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2011 Supplemental Table 2|publisher=U.S. Department of Homeland Security|access-date=5 July 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dhs.gov/files/statistics/publications/LPR10.shtm|title=Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2010 Supplemental Table 2|publisher=U.S. Department of Homeland Security|access-date=5 July 2013}}</ref> with the largest metropolitan Gujarati population outside of India.]]
The United States has the second-largest [[Gujarati diaspora]] after Pakistan. The highest concentration of the population of over 200,000 is in the [[Indians in the New York City metropolitan area|New York City Metropolitan Area]], notably in the growing Gujarati diasporic center of [[India Square]] in [[Jersey City, New Jersey|Jersey City]], [[New Jersey]], and [[Edison Township, New Jersey|Edison]] in [[Middlesex County, New Jersey|Middlesex County]] in [[Central New Jersey]]. Significant immigration from India to the United States started after the landmark [[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Keely|first1=Charles B.|title=Effects of the immigration act of 1965 on selected population characteristics of immigrants to the United States|journal=Demography|date=May 1971|volume= 8|issue=2|pages=157–169|doi=10.2307/2060606|jstor=2060606|pmid=5163987|s2cid=36538373|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Khandelwal|first1=MS|title=The politics of space in South asian Diaspora, Chapter 7 Indian immigrants in Queens, New York City: patterns of spatial concentration and distribution, 1965–1990 - Nation and migration: - books.google.com|date=1995|publisher=University of Pennsylvania|location=Philadelphia, USA|isbn=978-0-8122-3259-2|page=179|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bvTHlLRZL8UC&q=+Immigration+and+Nationality+Act+of+1965+india+united+states+gujarat&pg=PA178|access-date=20 June 2015}}</ref> Early immigrants after 1965 were highly educated professionals. Since US immigration laws allow sponsoring immigration of parents, children and particularly siblings on the basis of family reunion, the numbers rapidly swelled.<ref name="ClarkeClarke1990">{{cite book|author1=Colin Clarke|author2=Ceri Peach|author3=Steven Vertovec|title=South Asians Overseas: Migration and Ethnicity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jet6JOYjZ4wC&pg=PA197|date=26 October 1990|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-37543-6|page=198}}</ref> A number of Gujarati are twice or thrice-migrant because they came directly from the former British colonies of East Africa or from East Africa via Great Britain respectively.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rangaswamy|first1=Padma|title=Indian Americans|date=2007|publisher=Chelsea House|location=New York|isbn=9780791087862|page=[https://archive.org/details/indianamericans0000rang/page/55 55]|edition=2007 Hardcover|url=https://archive.org/details/indianamericans0000rang|url-access=registration|quote=gujarati.}}</ref> Given the Gujarati propensity for business enterprise, a number of them opened shops and motels. While they may make up only around 0.1% of the population in the United States, Gujarati Americans control over 40% of the [[hospitality industry|hospitality]] market in the country, for a combined net worth of over US$40 billion and employing over one million employees.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baum |first1=Joel A.C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=23bcHnkX3bUC&pg=PA31 |title=Multiunit organization and multimarket strategy |last2=Greve |first2=Henrich R. |date=15 June 2001 |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |isbn=978-0-7623-0721-0 |edition= |volume=18 |location=New York |pages=33–48 |doi=10.1016/S0742-3322(2001)18 |issn=0742-3322}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Virani |first1=Aarti |title=Why Indian Americans Dominate the U.S. Motel Industry |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/06/11/why-indian-americans-dominate-the-u-s-motel-industry/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120702201038/https://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/06/11/why-indian-americans-dominate-the-u-s-motel-industry/
|archive-date= 2 July 2012 |access-date=2 February 2015 |website=[[The Wall Street Journal]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author1=Hiral Dholakia-Dave|title=42% of US hotel business is Gujarati|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/42-of-US-hotel-business-is-Gujarati/articleshow/2191584.cms|website=The Times of India|access-date=5 February 2015|date=18 October 2006|quote=Gujaratis, mainly Patels, now own 21,000 of the 53,000 hotels and motels in the US. It makes for a staggering 42% of the US hospitality market, with a combined worth of $40 billion.}}</ref> Gujaratis, especially the Patidar Samaj, also dominate as franchisees of fast food restaurant chains such as [[Subway (restaurant)|Subway]] and [[Dunkin' Donuts]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rangaswami|first1=Padma|title=Namaste America: Indian Immigrants in an American Metropolis|date=2000|publisher=Pennsylvania State University press|location=University park, PA, USA|isbn=978-0271--01980-2|page=285}}</ref>

===Europe===
====United Kingdom====
{{Main article|British Gujaratis}}
[[File:Neasden Temple - Shree Swaminarayan Hindu Mandir - Power Plant.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|right|The [[Neasden Temple|Swaminarayan Temple]] in Neasden, London, the largest Hindu temple in Europe]]

The third largest overseas diaspora of Gujaratis, after [[Pakistan]] and United States, is in the United Kingdom. At a population of around 600,000 Gujaratis form almost more than half of the Indian community who live in the UK (1.2 million). Gujaratis first went to the UK in the 19th century with the establishment of the [[British Raj]] in India. Prominent members of this community such as [[Shyamji Krishna Varma]] played a vital role in exerting political pressure upon colonial powers during the [[Indian independence movement]].<ref name="ukncgo.org">{{cite web |title=Gujaratis in Britain: Profile of a Dynamic Community |url=http://ukncgo.org/gujaratis_britain.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150204230146/http://ukncgo.org/gujaratis_britain.html |archive-date=4 February 2015 |access-date=4 February 2015 |website=NATIONAL CONGRESS OF GUJARATI ORGANISATIONS (UK)}}</ref>

Gujaratis in Britain are regarded as affluent middle-class peoples who have assimilated into the milieu of British society.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Derek Laud|title=The Problem With Immigrants|date=2015|publisher=Biteback Publishing|isbn=978-1849548779|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GR8mBgAAQBAJ&q=Gulu+Lalvani,+gujarati&pg=PT104|access-date=5 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author1=Shastri Ramachandaran|title=India has much to learn from Britain and Germany|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-india-has-much-to-learn-from-britain-and-germany-2001769|website=dnaindia.com|access-date=22 October 2015|quote=Britain places high value on the power of commerce. After all, its political and military dominance when Britannia ruled the waves was founded on its trading power. The Gujaratis know this better than many others, which explains their prosperity and success in the UK.}}</ref> They are celebrated for revolutionising the corner shop, and energising the British economy which changed Britain's antiquated retail laws forever.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Chitra Unnithan|title=Family is key to success of Gujarati businessmen in Britain|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Family-is-key-to-success-of-Gujarati-businessmen-in-Britain/articleshow/13401987.cms|website=The Times of India|access-date=4 February 2015|date=23 May 2012|quote=British Gujaratis were also more successful than other minority communities in Britain because they had already tasted success in Africa. The book also says that Gujarati Hindus have become notably successful public citizens of contemporary, capitalistic Britain; on the other hand, they maintain close family links with India. "British Gujaratis have been successful in a great variety of fields. Many younger Gujaratis took to professions rather than stay behind the counter of their parents' corner shops, or they entered public life, while those who went into business have not remained in some narrow commercial niche," says the book.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author1=Sudeshna Sen|title=How Gujaratis changed corner shop biz in UK|url=http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/LettersfromLondon/how-gujaratis-changed-corner-shop-biz-in-uk/|website=The Economic Times|access-date=4 February 2015|date=8 January 2013|quote="What most people don't get is that those who took the Arab dhows in the 17th and 18th century to leave their villages and set up life in an alien land were already an entrepreneurial and driven minority, in search of a better life. They communicated that hunger to their children," says Raxa Mehta, director at Nomura, based in Tokyo and first generation child of Kenyan Indian parents. So it doesn't surprise the Gujaratis that they did well in Britain – it only surprises the Brits and Indians. The Gujaratis are a trader community. As Manubhai says, they always left the fighting to the others. If there's one diaspora community that East African Asians model themselves on, it's the Jews. Except of course, the Jews get more publicity than they do.}}</ref> Demographically, Hindus form a majority along with a significant number of [[Jain]]s and Muslims,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Rodger|first1=R|last2=Herbert|first2=J|title='Narratives of South Asian women in Leicester 1964 - 2004', no. 2, pp..|journal=Oral History|date=2008|volume=36|issue=2|pages=554–563|url=http://www.research.ed.ac.uk/portal/files/15509392/RODGER_Narratives_of_South_Asian_Muslim_Women_in_Leicester_1964_2004.pdf}}</ref> and smaller numbers of [[Christianity in Gujarat|Gujarati Christians]].<ref>{{cite web|title=London's Gujarati Christians celebrate milestone birthday|url=http://www.eauk.org/current-affairs/media/press-releases/londons-gujarati-christians-celebrate-milestone-birthday.cfm|website=www.eauk.org}}</ref> They are predominantly settled in metropolitan areas like [[Greater London]], [[East Midlands]], [[West Midlands (region)|West Midlands]], [[Lancashire]] and [[Yorkshire]].<ref name="ukncgo.org" /> Cities with significant Gujarati populations include [[Leicester]] and London boroughs of [[London Borough of Harrow|Harrow]], [[London Borough of Barnet|Barnet]] and [[London Borough of Brent|Brent]]. There is also a small, but vibrant Gujarati-speaking Parsi community of [[Zoroastrians]] present in the country, dating back to the bygone era of [[Dadabhai Navroji]], [[Shapurji Saklatvala]] and [[Pherozeshah Mehta]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Malik |first1=K.N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r1tuAAAAMAAJ&q=gujarati,+upper+class,+britain |title=India and Britain: Recent Past and Present Challenges |last2=Robb |first2=Peter |publisher=Allied Publishers |year=1994 |isbn=9788170233503 |location=New Delhi |access-date=5 February 2015}}</ref> Both Hindus and Muslims have established caste or community associations, temples, and mosques to cater for the needs of their respective communities. A well known temple popular with Gujaratis is the [[BAPS]] [[Neasden Temple|Swaminarayan Temple]] in Neasden, London. A popular mosque that caters for the Gujarati Muslim community in Leicester is the [[Masjid Umar, Leicester|Masjid Umar]]. Leicester has a Jain Temple that is also the headquarters of Jain Samaj Europe.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jain Samaj Europe |url=http://www.jaincentreleicester.com/our-history.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150123211249/http://www.jaincentreleicester.com/our-history.asp |archive-date=23 January 2015  }}</ref>

Gujarati Hindus in the UK have maintained many traditions from their homeland. The community remains religious with more than 100 temples catering for their religious needs. All major Hindu festivals such as [[Navratri]], Dassara, and [[Diwali]] are celebrated with a lot of enthusiasm even from the generations brought up in UK. Gujarati Hindus also maintain their caste affiliation to some extent with most major castes having their own community association in each population center with significant Gujarati population such as Leicester and London suburbs. [[Patel|Patidars]] form the largest community in the diaspora including Kutch Leva Patels,<ref>{{cite web|title=Shree Kutch Leva Patel Community (UK)|url=http://www.sklpc.com/|website=sklpc.com/}}</ref> followed closely by [[Lohanas]] of [[Saurashtra people|Saurashtra]] origin.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Eliezer Ben Rafael, Yitzhak Sternberg|title=Transnationalism: Diasporas and the Advent of a New (Dis)order|isbn=978-90-04-17470-2|page=531|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QmpgywaZrrgC&q=gujarati+patidars,+lohanas,+UK&pg=PA531|access-date=4 February 2015|year=2009|publisher=BRILL }}</ref> Gujarati [[Rajputs]] from various regional backgrounds are affiliated with several independent British organisations dependent on caste such as Shree Maher Samaj UK,<ref>{{cite web|title=Shree Maher Samaj UK|url=http://www.maheronline.org/centres/shree-maher-samaj-uk|website=maheronline.org/|access-date=3 April 2015}}</ref> and the Gujarati Arya Kshatriya Mahasabha-UK.<ref>{{cite web|title=Gujarati Arya Kshatriya Mahasabha-UK|url=http://www.gakm.co.uk/?p=about|website=gakm.co.uk/?p=about|access-date=3 April 2015}}</ref>

Endogamy remains important to Gujaratis in UK with the existence of matrimonial services specifically dedicated to their community.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pemberton |first1=Trevor J. |last2=Li |first2=Fang-Yuan |last3=Hanson |first3=Erin K. |last4=Mehta |first4=Niyati U. |last5=Choi |first5=Sunju |last6=Ballantyne |first6=Jack |last7=Belmont |first7=John W. |last8=Rosenberg |first8=Noah A. |last9=Tyler-Smith |first9=Chris |last10=Patel |first10=Pragna I. |date=September 2012 |title=Impact of restricted marital practices on genetic variation in an endogamous Gujarati group |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |volume=149 |issue=1 |pages=92–103 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.22101 |issn=0002-9483 |pmc=3436606 |pmid=22729696 |bibcode=2012AJPA..149...92P }}</ref> The Gujarati Muslim society in the UK have kept the custom of Jamat Bandi, literally meaning communal solidarity. This system is the traditional expression of communal solidarity. It is designed to regulate the affairs of the community and apply sanctions against infractions of the communal code. Gujarati Muslim communities, such as the [[Ismāʿīlī]], Khoja, [[Dawoodi Bohra]], [[Sunni Bohra]], and Memon have [[caste]] associations, known as jamats that run mosques and community centers for their respective communities.<ref>[http://www.gujaratimuslimmarriage.com Gujarati Muslim Marriage] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020172455/http://www.gujaratimuslimmarriage.com/ |date=20 October 2016 }}, a dedicated service to assist Gujarati Muslims to marry within the community.</ref>

====Belgium====
Two Gujarati business communities, the [[Palanpur]]i Jains and the Kathiawadi Patels from Surat, have come to dominate the diamond industry of [[Belgium]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Backman|first1=M|last2=Butler C|first2=C|title=BIG in Asia - Understanding Asia's Overseas Indians|url=https://archive.org/details/biginasia25strat0000back|url-access=registration|date=2003|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=London|isbn=978-0-230-00027-8|doi=10.1057/9781403914484_4}}</ref> They have largely displaced the [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jewish]] community which previously dominated this industry in Belgium.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://theconversation.com/the-rise-and-rise-of-belgiums-indian-diamond-dynasties-32332|title=The rise and rise of Belgium's Indian diamond dynasties|date=16 October 2014|first=Kathryn|last=Lum|publisher=[[The Conversation (website)|The Conversation]]}}</ref>

====Portugal====
The 1961 takeover of Portuguese Goa by India made life difficult for the Indian population in the then Portuguese colony of Mozambique. The independence of Mozambique like in other African countries led to many Gujaratis to move to Portugal.<ref name="digitalcommons.butler.edu">Baumann, M.B., 1998. The Hindu Presence in Europe and Implications of Interfaith Dialogue. Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies, 11(1), p.8.[https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1181&context=jhcs]</ref> Many Hindu Gujaratis have moved from Portugal to Great Britain since the 1990s.<ref>Lourenço, I., 2013. From Goans to Gujaratis: a study of the Indian community in Portugal.[https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/29463/CARIM-India-2013%20-%2001.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y]</ref>

===Canada===
[[File:Gujarati Canadians (2021).jpg|thumb|Gujarati percent in Canadian province/territory, 2021 census]]
Canada, just like its southern neighbour, is home to a large Gujarati community. As per the [[2021 Canadian census]], Gujarati Canadians number approximately 210,000 and account for roughly 0.6% of Canada's population.<ref name="gujarati2021"/>{{efn|name=population}} The majority of them live in [[Greater Toronto Area|Toronto and its suburbs]] - home to the second largest Gujarati community in North America, after the [[New York Metropolitan Area]]. Gujarati Hindus are the second largest linguistic/religious group in Canada's Indian community after [[Punjabi people|Punjabi Sikhs]], and Toronto is home to the largest Navratri [[Dandiya Raas|raas garba]] festival in North America.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.torontogarba.com/|title=Toronto Garba: North America's Largest Raas-Garba|website=www.torontogarba.com|access-date=29 June 2018}}</ref> The Muslim [[Ismaili]] [[Khoja]] form a significant part of the Canadian diaspora estimated to be about 80,000 in numbers overall.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Al Noor Kassum|title=Africa's winds of change : memoirs of an international Tanzanian|date=2007|publisher=I.B. Tauris|location=London|isbn=978-1-84511-583-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p2H121rsH7cC&q=ismaili+population+of+canada&pg=PA69|access-date=6 February 2015}}</ref> Most of them arrived in Canada in the 1970s as either refugees or [[Ugandans in Canada|immigrants from Uganda]] and other countries of [[East Africa]].<ref>{{cite thesis|last1=Versi|first1=Salima|title=Make This Your Home: The Impact of Religion on Acculturation: The Case of Canadian Khoja Nizari Isma'ilis from East Africa|date=13 August 2010 |url=http://qspace.library.queensu.ca/handle/1974/5967|publisher=Queens University|access-date=5 February 2015|type=thesis }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author1=Ajit Jain|title='Gujarati diaspora integral to state's success'|url=http://theindiandiaspora.com/news-details/diaspora-news/subprimary_news/gujarati-diaspora-has-contributed-to-gujarats-success.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118180551/http://theindiandiaspora.com/news-details/diaspora-news/subprimary_news/gujarati-diaspora-has-contributed-to-gujarats-success.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=18 November 2015|website=theindiandiaspora.com|access-date=22 October 2015|quote=According to him "It was a very warm discussion. PM Modi knows Canada well because we have been such active participants in Vibrant Gujarat for over 18 years now. He also knows very well how strong the Gujarati diaspora is in Canada. It may be up to one quarter of all the Indo-Canadians in this country, and so their success has been part of Gujarat's success." And "the prime minister (of India) recognizes that," Alexander stated emphatically.}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Gujarati Canadians by [[Provinces and territories of Canada|province and territory]] (1991−2021){{efn|name=population|Statistic includes all speakers of the [[Gujarati language]], as many [[Immigrant generations|multi-generation]] individuals do not speak the language as a [[Mother-tongue|mother tongue]], but instead as a [[Second language|second]] or [[Third language acquisition|third language]].}}
! rowspan="2" |Province/<br>territory
! colspan="2" |2021<ref name="gujarati2021">{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=17 August 2022 |title=Knowledge of languages by age and gender: Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations with parts |url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810021701 |access-date=12 October 2022 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}</ref>
! colspan="2" |2016<ref name="gujarati2016">{{cite web|url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=01&Geo2=&Code2=&SearchText=Canada&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&TABID=1&type=0|title=Census Profile, 2016 Census Canada [Country] and Canada [Country]|date=8 February 2017}}</ref>
! colspan="2" |2011<ref name="gujarati2011">{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=27 November 2015 |title=NHS Profile, Canada, 2011 |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=01&Data=Count&SearchText=Canada&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&A1=All&B1=All&Custom=&TABID=1 |access-date=12 September 2022 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}</ref>
! colspan="2" |2006<ref name="gujarati2006">{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=1 May 2020 |title=2006 Census Topic-based tabulations Various Languages Spoken (147), Age Groups (17A) and Sex (3) for the Population of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2006 Census - 20% Sample Data |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/tbt/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=89189&PRID=0&PTYPE=88971,97154&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=705&Temporal=2006&THEME=70&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF= |access-date=12 September 2022 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}</ref>
! colspan="2" |2001<ref name="gujarati2001">{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=23 December 2013 |title=2001 Census Topic-based tabulations Various Non-official Languages Spoken (76), Age Groups (13) and Sex (3) for Population, for Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2001 Census - 20% Sample Data |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/English/census01/products/standard/themes/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=1&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=1&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=55664&PRID=0&PTYPE=55430&S=0&SHOWALL=No&SUB=0&Temporal=2006&THEME=41&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF= |access-date=12 September 2022 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}</ref>
! colspan="2" |1996<ref name="gujarati1996">{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=4 June 2019 |title=Data tables, 1996 Census Population Able to Speak Various Non-official Languages (73), Showing Age Groups (13A) and Sex (3), for Canada, Provinces, Territories and Federal Electoral Districts (1996 Representation Order), 1996 Census (20% Sample Data) |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/English/census96/data/tables/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=1&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=1&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=13640&PRID=0&PTYPE=89103&S=0&SHOWALL=No&SUB=0&Temporal=2006&THEME=6&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF= |access-date=12 September 2022 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}</ref>
! colspan="2" |1991<ref name="gujarati1991">{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=3 April 2013 |title=1991 Census: The nation Knowledge of languages |url=https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.676075/publication.html |access-date=12 September 2022 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}</ref>{{rp|184}}
|-
!{{abbr|Pop.|Population}}
!{{Abbr|%|percentage}}
!{{abbr|Pop.|Population}}
!{{Abbr|%|percentage}}
!{{abbr|Pop.|Population}}
!{{Abbr|%|percentage}}
!{{abbr|Pop.|Population}}
!{{Abbr|%|percentage}}
!{{abbr|Pop.|Population}}
!{{Abbr|%|percentage}}
!{{abbr|Pop.|Population}}
!{{Abbr|%|percentage}}
!{{abbr|Pop.|Population}}
!{{Abbr|%|percentage}}
|-
|[[File:Flag of Ontario.svg|15px]] [[Ontario]]
|143,240
|{{Percentage | 143240 | 14031755 | 2 }}
|103,890
|{{Percentage | 103890 | 13242160 | 2 }}
|87,805
|{{Percentage | 87805 | 12722060 | 2 }}
|76,910
|{{Percentage | 76910 | 12028900 | 2 }}
|53,485
|{{Percentage | 53485 | 11285545 | 2 }}
|40,605
|{{Percentage | 40605 | 10642790 | 2 }}
|32,110
|{{Percentage | 32110 | 9977055 | 2 }}
|-
|[[File:Flag of Alberta.svg|15px]] [[Alberta]]
|24,780
|{{Percentage | 24780 | 4177720 | 2 }}
|18,005
|{{Percentage | 18005 | 3978145 | 2 }}
|11,875
|{{Percentage | 11875 | 3610185 | 2 }}
|9,170
|{{Percentage | 9170 | 3256355 | 2 }}
|8,685
|{{Percentage | 8685 | 2941150 | 2 }}
|8,025
|{{Percentage | 8025 | 2669195 | 2 }}
|6,545
|{{Percentage | 6545 | 2519180 | 2 }}
|-
|[[File:Flag of British Columbia.svg|15px]] [[British Columbia|British<br>Columbia]]
|14,340
|{{Percentage | 14340 | 4915940 | 2 }}
|11,500
|{{Percentage | 11500 | 4560235 | 2 }}
|9,325
|{{Percentage | 9325 | 4356205 | 2 }}
|10,410
|{{Percentage | 10410 | 4074385 | 2 }}
|10,520
|{{Percentage | 10520 | 3868870 | 2 }}
|10,080
|{{Percentage | 10080 | 3689755 | 2 }}
|8,120
|{{Percentage | 8120 | 3247505 | 2 }}
|-
|[[File:Flag of Quebec.svg|15px]] [[Quebec]]
|10,640
|{{Percentage | 10640 | 8308480 | 2 }}
|7,950
|{{Percentage | 7950 | 7965450 | 2 }}
|7,485
|{{Percentage | 7485 | 7815950 | 2 }}
|7,155
|{{Percentage | 7155 | 7435905 | 2 }}
|7,005
|{{Percentage | 7005 | 7125580 | 2 }}
|5,450
|{{Percentage | 5450 | 7045085 | 2 }}
|4,040
|{{Percentage | 4040 | 6810300 | 2 }}
|-
|[[File:Flag of Saskatchewan.svg|15px]] [[Saskatchewan]]
|6,965
|{{Percentage | 6965 | 1103200 | 2 }}
|3,320
|{{Percentage | 3320 | 1070560 | 2 }}
|765
|{{Percentage | 765 | 1018310 | 2 }}
|320
|{{Percentage | 320 | 953850 | 2 }}
|310
|{{Percentage | 310 | 963150 | 2 }}
|385
|{{Percentage | 385 | 976615 | 2 }}
|405
|{{Percentage | 405 | 976040 | 2 }}
|-
|[[File:Flag of Manitoba.svg|15px]] [[Manitoba]]
|6,535
|{{Percentage | 6535 | 1307190 | 2 }}
|3,905
|{{Percentage | 3905 | 1240700 | 2 }}
|1,460
|{{Percentage | 1460 | 1193095 | 2 }}
|960
|{{Percentage | 960 | 1133515 | 2 }}
|550
|{{Percentage | 550 | 1103700 | 2 }}
|480
|{{Percentage | 480 | 1100295 | 2 }}
|735
|{{Percentage | 735 | 1079395 | 2 }}
|-
|[[File:Flag of Nova Scotia.svg|15px]] [[Nova Scotia|Nova<br>Scotia]]
|1,475
|{{Percentage | 1475 | 955855 | 2 }}
|240
|{{Percentage | 240 | 908340 | 2 }}
|105
|{{Percentage | 105 | 910620 | 2 }}
|230
|{{Percentage | 230 | 903090 | 2 }}
|115
|{{Percentage | 115 | 897570 | 2 }}
|150
|{{Percentage | 150 | 899970 | 2 }}
|140
|{{Percentage | 140 | 890950 | 2 }}
|-
|[[File:Flag of New Brunswick.svg|15px]] [[New Brunswick|New<br>Brunswick]]
|765
|{{Percentage | 765 | 759195 | 2 }}
|110
|{{Percentage | 110 | 730710 | 2 }}
|105
|{{Percentage | 105 | 739900 | 2 }}
|175
|{{Percentage | 175 | 719650 | 2 }}
|85
|{{Percentage | 85 | 719710 | 2 }}
|85
|{{Percentage | 85 | 729630 | 2 }}
|105
|{{Percentage | 105 | 716495 | 2 }}
|-
|[[File:Flag of Prince Edward Island.svg|15px]] [[Prince Edward Island|Prince Edward<br>Island]]
|325
|{{Percentage | 325 | 150485 | 2 }}
|5
|{{Percentage | 5 | 139685 | 2 }}
|5
|{{Percentage | 5 | 138435 | 2 }}
|0
|{{Percentage | 0 | 134205 | 2 }}
|0
|{{Percentage | 0 | 133385 | 2 }}
|0
|{{Percentage | 0 | 132855 | 2 }}
|0
|{{Percentage | 0 | 128100 | 2 }}
|-
|[[File:Flag of Newfoundland and Labrador.svg|15px]] [[Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland<br>and Labrador]]
|255
|{{Percentage | 255 | 502095 | 2 }}
|70
|{{Percentage | 70 | 512250 | 2 }}
|50
|{{Percentage | 50 | 509950 | 2 }}
|50
|{{Percentage | 50 | 500605 | 2 }}
|85
|{{Percentage | 85 | 508080 | 2 }}
|70
|{{Percentage | 70 | 547160 | 2 }}
|110
|{{Percentage | 110 | 563935 | 2 }}
|-
|[[File:Flag of Yukon.svg|15px]] [[Yukon]]
|65
|{{Percentage | 65 | 39585 | 2 }}
|50
|{{Percentage | 50 | 35110 | 2 }}
|0
|{{Percentage | 0 | 33655 | 2 }}
|0
|{{Percentage | 0 | 30190 | 2 }}
|0
|{{Percentage | 0 | 28520 | 2 }}
|0
|{{Percentage | 0 | 30650 | 2 }}
|0
|{{Percentage | 0 | 27660 | 2 }}
|-
|[[File:Flag of the Northwest Territories.svg|15px]] [[Northwest Territories|Northwest<br>Territories]]
|25
|{{Percentage | 25 | 40380 | 2 }}
|15
|{{Percentage | 15 | 41135 | 2 }}
|15
|{{Percentage | 15 | 41040 | 2 }}
|20
|{{Percentage | 20 | 41055 | 2 }}
|10
|{{Percentage | 10 | 37100 | 2 }}
|0
|{{Percentage | 0 | 64125 | 2 }}
|10
|{{Percentage | 10 | 57430 | 2 }}
|-
|[[File:Flag of Nunavut.svg|15px]] [[Nunavut]]
|10
|{{Percentage | 10 | 36600 | 2 }}
|10
|{{Percentage | 10 | 35580 | 2 }}
|5
|{{Percentage | 5 | 31765 | 2 }}
|0
|{{Percentage | 0 | 29325 | 2 }}
|10
|{{Percentage | 10 | 26665 | 2 }}
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|-
![[File:Flag of Canada.svg|15px]] Canada
! 209,410
! {{Percentage | 209410 | 36328480 | 2 }}
! 149,045
! {{Percentage | 149045 | 34460065 | 2 }}
! 118,950
! {{Percentage | 118950 | 33121175 | 2 }}
! 105,395
! {{Percentage | 105395 | 31241030 | 2 }}
! 80,835
! {{Percentage | 80835 | 29639030 | 2 }}
! 65,345
! {{Percentage | 65345 | 28528125 | 2 }}
! 54,210
! {{Percentage | 54210 | 26994045 | 2 }}
|}

{{Pie chart 
|thumb = right
|caption = Religious breakdown of Gujarati Canadians (2021)<ref name="religion2021">{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=10 May 2023 |title= Religion by ethnic or cultural origins: Canada, provinces and territories and census metropolitan areas with parts |url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/cv.action?pid=9810034101 |access-date=4 May 2024 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}</ref>{{efn|name=Religion2021|Religious breakdown proportions based on "Gujarati" ethnic or cultural origin response on the [[2021 Canadian census|2021 census]].<ref name="religion2021"/>}}
|label1 = [[Hinduism]]
|value1 = 75.6
|color1 = Orange
|label2 = [[Islam]]
|value2 = 16.0
|color2 = Green
|label3 = [[Irreligion]]
|value3 = 3.1
|color3 = Black
|label4 = [[Christianity]]
|value4 = 1.1
|color4 = DodgerBlue
|label5 = [[Sikhism]]
|value5 = 0.4
|color5 = DarkKhaki
|label6 = Others
|value6 = 3.8
|color6 = grey
}}

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Gujarati Canadian demography by religion
! rowspan="2" |Religious group
! colspan="2" |2021<ref name="religion2021">{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=10 May 2023 |title= Religion by ethnic or cultural origins: Canada, provinces and territories and census metropolitan areas with parts |url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/cv.action?pid=9810034101 |access-date=4 May 2024 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}</ref>{{efn|name=Religion2021}}
|-
!{{abbr|Pop.|Population}}
!{{Abbr|%|percentage}}
|-
| [[Hinduism]]
| 27,950
| {{Percentage | 27950 | 36970 | 2 }}
|-
| [[Islam]]
| 5,915
| {{Percentage | 5915 | 36970 | 2 }}
|-
| [[Irreligion]]
| 1,140
| {{Percentage | 1140 | 36970 | 2 }}
|-
| [[Christianity]]
| 425
| {{Percentage | 425 | 36970 | 2 }}
|-
| [[Sikhism]]
| 145
| {{Percentage | 145 | 36970 | 2 }}
|-
| [[Buddhism]]
| 15
| {{Percentage | 15 | 36970 | 2 }}
|-
| [[Mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous spirituality]]
| 10
| {{Percentage | 10 | 36970 | 2 }}
|-
| [[Judaism]]
| 0
| {{Percentage | 0 | 36970 | 2 }}
|-
| [[Major religious groups|Other]]
| 1,365
| {{Percentage | 1365 | 36970 | 2 }}
|-
! Total Gujarati Canadian responses
! 36,970{{efn|name=Religion2021}}
! {{Percentage | 36970 | 209410 | 2 }}
|-
! Total Gujarati Canadian population
! 209,410{{efn|name=population}}
! {{Percentage | 209410 | 209410 | 2 }}
|}
{{clear}}

===East Africa===
Former British colonies in East Africa had many residents of [[South Asian]] descent. The primary immigration was mainly from Gujarat and to a lesser extent from Punjab. They were brought there by the [[British Empire]] from [[British India|India]] to do [[clerk|clerical]] work in Imperial service, or unskilled and semi-skilled manual labour such as construction or farm work. In the 1890s, 32,000 labourers from British India were brought to the then British East African colonies under indentured labour contracts to work on the construction of the [[Uganda Railway]] that started in the Kenyan port city of [[Mombasa]] and ended in [[Kisumu]] on Kenyan side of [[Lake Victoria]]. Most of the surviving Indians returned home, but 6,724 individuals decided to remain in the [[African Great Lakes]] after the line's completion.

Many Asians, particularly the Gujaratis, in these regions were in the trading businesses. They included Gujaratis of all religions as well many of the castes and Quoms. Since the representation of Indians in these occupations was high, stereotyping of Indians in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanganyika as shopkeepers was common. A number of people worked for the British run banks. They also worked in skilled labour occupations, as managers, teachers and administrators. Gujarati and other South Asians had significant influence on the economy, constituting 1% of the population while receiving a fifth of the national income. For example, in Uganda, the [[Nanji Kalidas Mehta|Mehta]] and [[Muljibhai Madhvani|Madhvani]] families controlled the bulk of the manufacturing businesses. Gated ethnic communities served elite healthcare and schooling services. Additionally, the tariff system in Uganda had historically been oriented toward the economic interests of South Asian traders.<ref name="Journal of Modern African Studies">{{cite book|title= JSTOR}}<[https://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/160072?uid=3739936&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21101589093047 Expulsion of a minority: essays on Ugandan Asians.]></ref> One of the oldest [[Jainism|Jain]] overseas diaspora was of Gujarat. Their number was estimated at 45,000 at the independence of the East African countries in the early 1960s.<ref name="google26">{{citation |last1=Gregory|first1=Robert G.|title=Quest for equality: Asian politics in East Africa, 1900-1967|date=1993|publisher=Orient Longman Limited|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-0-863-11-208-9|page=26|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vl8tMabf5KUC&pg=PA1 }}</ref> Most members of this community belonged to Gujarati speaking Halari Visa Oshwal Jain community originally from the [[Jamnagar]] area of [[Saurashtra (region)|Saurashtra]].<ref name="google26"/><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Mehta|first1=Makrand|title=Gujarati Business Communities in East African Diaspora: Major Historical Trends|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|date=2001|volume=36|issue=20|pages=1738–1747|jstor=4410637}}</ref>

The countries of East Africa gained independence from Britain in the early 1960s. At that time most Gujarati and other Asians opted to remain as British Subjects. The African politicians at that time accused Asians of economic exploitation and introduced a policy of Africanization. The 1968 Committee on "Africanisation in Commerce and Industry" in Uganda made far-reaching Indophobic proposals. A system of work permits and trade licences was introduced in 1969 to restrict the role of Indians in economic and professional activities. Indians were segregated and discriminated against in all walks of life.<ref name="Amin-Indophobia">{{cite journal |title=General Amin and the Indian Exodus from Uganda |first=Hasu H. |last=Patel |journal=Issue: A Journal of Opinion |volume=2 |issue=4 |year=1972 |pages=12–22 |doi=10.2307/1166488 |jstor=1166488 }}</ref> During the middle of the 1960s many Asians saw the writing on the wall and started moving either to UK or India. However, restrictive British immigration policies stopped a mass exodus of East African Asians until Idi Amin came to power in 1971. He exploited pre-existing Indophobia and spread propaganda against Indians involving stereotyping and scapegoating the Indian minority. Indians were stereotyped as "only traders" and "inbred" to their profession. Indians were labelled as "dukawallas" (an occupational term that degenerated into an anti-Indian slur during Amin's time), and stereotyped as "greedy, conniving", without any racial identity or loyalty but "always cheating, conspiring and plotting" to subvert Uganda. Amin used this propaganda to justify a campaign of "de-Indianization", eventually resulting in the expulsion and ethnic cleansing of Uganda's Indian minority.<ref name="Amin-Indophobia"/>

====Kenya====
Gujarati and other Indians started moving to the Kenya colony at the end of the 19th century when the British colonial authorities started opening up the country with the laying down of the [[railroad]]s. A small colony of merchants, however, had existed on the port cities such Mombasa on the Kenyan coast for hundreds of years prior to that.<ref>{{cite news|author1=Parth Shastri|title=US researcher looks for Gujarati influence in Kenya and East Africa|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/US-researcher-looks-for-Gujarati-influence-in-Kenya-and-East-Africa/articleshow/46816299.cms|website=the times of india|date=5 April 2015 |access-date=28 October 2015|quote=During British ascendancy, the early Gujarati-speaking traders were predominantly Muslims—Khoja, Bhora, and Ithna Asheri. They were quickly followed by Patel, Lohana, Bhatia and Oshawal. "Community was a major factor. It both energized Indian identity and simultaneously prevented Indians from coming together as a political whole except in times of dire crisis," Misha says.}}</ref> The immigrants who arrived with the British were the first ones to open up businesses in rural Kenya a century ago. These dukanwalas or shopkeepers were mainly Gujarati (Mostly Jains and Hindus and a minority of Muslims). Over the following decades the population, mainly Gujarati but also a sizeable number of Punjabi, increased in size. The population started declining after the independence of Kenya in the 1960s. At that time the majority of Gujaratis opted for British citizenship and eventually moved there, especially to cities like [[Leicester]] or [[London]] suburbs. Famous Kenyans of Gujarati heritage who contributed greatly to the development of East Africa include [[Thakkar Bapa]], [[Manu Chandaria]],<ref name="premchand">{{cite news| title=Forbes India Magazine – Experiences of the Indian Diaspora in Africa| date=26 August 2009| url=http://business.in.com/article/magazine-extra/experiences-of-the-indian-diaspora-in-africa/3762/0| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521183935/http://business.in.com/article/magazine-extra/experiences-of-the-indian-diaspora-in-africa/3762/0| url-status=dead| archive-date=21 May 2011}}</ref>

====Uganda====
{{Main|Indians in Uganda}}
There is a small community of people of Indian origin living in Uganda, but the community is far smaller than before 1972 when Ugandan ruler Idi Amin expelled most Asians, including Gujaratis.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ugandan Asians are part of Britain's secret weapon for success|url=http://blogs.new.spectator.co.uk/2012/12/ugandan-asians-are-part-of-britains-secret-weapon-for-success/|website=spectator.co.uk|access-date=28 October 2015|quote=In 1997, Ugandan President Museveni invited the displaced Asians to return home. And while some returned to sort out their affairs, very few went back for good.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151110012925/http://blogs.new.spectator.co.uk/2012/12/ugandan-asians-are-part-of-britains-secret-weapon-for-success/|archive-date=10 November 2015}}</ref> In the late 19th century, mostly [[Sikhs]], were brought on three-year contracts, with the aid of Imperial British contractor [[Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee]] to build the [[Uganda Railway]] from Mombasa to Kisumu by 1901, and to [[Kampala]] by 1931. Some died, while others returned to India after the end of their contracts, but few chose to stay. They were joined by Gujarati traders called "passenger Indians",<ref>{{cite web|last=Hiralal|first=Kalpana|title=Indian Family Businesses in Natal, 1870–1950|url=http://natalia.org.za/Files/38/Natalia%2038%20pp27-37%20C.pdf|publisher=Natal Society Foundation|access-date=25 August 2021}}</ref> both Hindu and Muslim free migrants who came to serve the economic needs of the indentured labourers, and to capitalise on the economic opportunities.

After the 1972 expulsion, most Indians and Gujaratis migrated to the United Kingdom. Due to the efforts of the [[Aga Khan]], many Khoja Nizari Ismaili refugees from Uganda were offered asylum in Canada.<ref>{{cite web|title=Out of Africa: Thousands of Ismaili Muslims expelled from their African homelands in the 1970s have thrived in Canada|url=http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/observer/story.html?id=4d43f2e2-2ccf-4234-96f4-35e853c20679|website=www.canada.com|publisher=Calgary Herald|access-date=28 October 2015|quote=Through the efforts of the Aga Khan, other countries agreed to take in the refugees, and they were scattered over the world. Britain took in 20,000, the U.S. took 50,000, and 75,000 came to Canada... Ladha said Canada's role in taking in the refugees has earned the praise of the Aga Khan for its treatment of refugees and its multiculturalism. "The Aga Khan is a great admirer of Canada's multicultural policies," said Ladha. As a result, he's putting $4 million toward a global centre for pluralism in Ottawa, with the Canadian government providing $3 million..|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160117035913/http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/observer/story.html?id=4d43f2e2-2ccf-4234-96f4-35e853c20679|archive-date=17 January 2016}}</ref>

====Tanzania====
{{Main|Indians in Tanzania}}
Indians have a long history in [[Tanzania]] starting with the arrival of Gujarati traders in the 19th century.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Anna Greenwood|author2=Harshad Topiwala|title=Indian Doctors in Kenya, 1895-1940: The Forgotten History Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series|date=2015|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|page=25|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r5gMCgAAQBAJ&q=gujaratis,+kenya&pg=PA25|quote=The Gujaratis comprised a large number of the traders drawn from the Western Indian port province of Gujarat (including Kutch) who had had long historical trading links with Zanzibar. Their presence meant that from very early on Zanzibar became demographically colonised by a religiously and ethnically diverse Gujarati speaking population of Ismaili Khojas, Bhoras, Suni Memons, Hindu Vaniyas and the Parsis. Frustratingly for historians this group of immigrants left few records, but it is widely agreed that they were the ancestors of the communities of Indian traders that the British encountered when they arrived in Zanzibar and the East Coast of Africa at the end of the nineteenth century.|isbn=9781137440532}}</ref> There are currently over 50,000 people of Indian origin in Tanzania. Many of them are traders and they control a sizeable portion of the Tanzanian economy. They came to gradually control the trade in [[Zanzibar]]. Many of the buildings constructed then still remain in [[Stone Town]], the focal trading point on the island.

===South Africa===
The Indian community in South Africa is more than 150 years old and is concentrated in and around the city of [[Durban]].<ref>{{cite web|author1=Robin David|title=Rainbow Nation's colourful Indians|url=http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/On-the-bounce/rainbow-nation-s-colourful-indians/|website=Times of India|access-date=5 February 2015|date=4 July 2010|quote=Gujaratis of Durban, who came to South Africa mainly from Surat and Saurashtra, have gone a step further and are keeping their unique Gujarati identity alive as well. Most of them arrived as traders soon after the first Indian labourers were brought in to work on sugarcane fields in the 1860s and have carved out a unique niche for themselves.}}</ref> The vast majority of immigrant pioneer Gujaratis who came in the latter half of the 19th century were ''passenger Indians'' who paid for their own travel fare and means of transport to arrive and settle South Africa, in pursuit of fresh trade and career opportunities and as such were treated as [[British subject]]s, unlike the fate of a class of Indian indentured labourers who were transported to work on the sugarcane plantations of [[Natal Colony]] in dire conditions. Passenger Indians, who initially operated in Durban, expanded inland, to the South African Republic ([[South African Republic|Transvaal]]), establishing communities in settlements on the main road between [[Johannesburg]] and Durban. After wealthy [[Gujarati Muslim]] merchants began experiencing discrimination from repressive colonial legislation in [[Colony of Natal|Natal]],<ref name="saHistoryIndianTimeline">{{cite web |url=http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/chronology/special-chrono/governance/indian-history.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606163436/http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/chronology/special-chrono/governance/indian-history.html|archive-date=6 June 2011 |title=Timeline|access-date=24 November 2011}}</ref> they sought the help of one young lawyer, [[Mahatma Gandhi]] to represent the case of a [[Umar Hajee Ahmed Jhaveri|Memon]] businessman. [[Umar Hajee Ahmed Jhaveri]] was consequently elected the first president of the [[South African Indian Congress]].
Indians in South Africa could traditionally be bifurcated as either indentured labourers (largely from Tamil Nadu, with smaller amounts from UP and Bihar) and merchants (exclusively from Gujarat).

Indians have played an important role in the [[Internal resistance to apartheid|anti-apartheid movement]] of South Africa.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mehta|first1=Nalin|last2=Mehta|first2=Mona G.|title=Gujarat beyond Gandhi identity, society and conflict|date=2011|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=978-1317988359|page=161|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NfraAAAAQBAJ&q=gujaratis,+indian+independence&pg=PA161|access-date=12 December 2015|quote=Mobility remains a feature of Gujaratis. While apartheid may have sought to keep people in a mould, Gujaratis kept resisting this through their caste, class, and national mobility.}}</ref> Many were incarcerated alongside [[Nelson Mandela]] following the [[Rivonia Trial]], and many became martyred fighting to end racial discrimination.

===Mozambique===
In the second half of the 1800s, many Gujarati Hindus belonging to the Vaniya community migrated to the South of [[Mozambique]], in particular to the provinces of [[Inhambane]] and [[Lourenço Marques]] to run businesses. This was followed by migration of Hindus of various artisan castes from [[Diu, India|Diu]] to the region. Later in 1800s, immigration restrictions imposed by the colonial authorities in neighbouring South Africa and the [[Boer republic]] made Mozambique the preferred destination for many Gujarati Hindus from the [[Saurashtra (region)|Saurashtra]] (namely, Rajkot and Porbandar) and Surat regions.<ref>BASTOS, J., 2003. In Search of Hidden Meanings: Identity Processes and Strategies from a triple point-of-view. Berckeley University, comunicação pessoal (texto policopiado).</ref><ref>Bastos, S., 2005. Indian transnationalisms in colonial and postcolonial Mozambique. African Migrations: Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Dynamics, special issue. Stichproben: Vienna Journal of African Studies, 8, pp.277-306.[https://stichproben.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/user_upload/p_stichproben/Artikel/Nummer08/15_Bastos.pdf]</ref>

The 1961 takeover of Portuguese Goa by India made life difficult for the Indian population in the then Portuguese colony of Mozambique. The independence of Mozambique like in other African countries led to many Gujaratis to move to Portugal.<ref name="digitalcommons.butler.edu"/>

===Oman===
{{Main|Indians in Oman}}
[[Oman]], holding a strategically important position at the mouth of the [[Persian Gulf]], has been the primary focus of trade and commerce for medieval Gujarati merchants for much of its history and Gujaratis, along with various other ethnic groups, founded and settled its capital port city, [[Muscat, Oman|Muscat]].<ref>{{cite web|author1=Willem Floor|title=The Persian Gulf: Muscat – City, Society and Trade|url=http://www.magepublishers.com/persian-gulf-muscat-city-society-trade/|website=Mage Publishers|access-date=5 February 2015|quote=Muscat, the capital city of present day Oman, has had a long history as an Indian Ocean port at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. International trade brought about a mix of various ethnic and religious groups including, besides Arabs, Africans, Baluchis, Mekranis, Sindis, Gujaratis, Persians, and many others. At the turn of the twentieth century fourteen languages could be heard spoken in the city.}}</ref> Some of the earliest Indian immigrants to settle in Oman were the [[Bhatia caste|Bhatia]]s of [[Kutch]], who have had a powerful presence in Oman dating back to the 16th century.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Khalid M. Al-Azri|title=Social and Gender Inequality in Oman: The Power of Religious and Political Tradition.|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-67241-2|page=50|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eb6Pgy1Q0vQC&q=bhatias,+oman&pg=PA50|access-date=5 February 2015|quote=Hindus had settled in Oman by the sixteenth century, and from at least the early nineteenth century Omani commerce and trade has been conducted by Hindu Banyans of Bhatia caste deriving from Kutch in Gujarat.}}</ref> At the turn of the 19th century, Gujaratis wielded enough clout that [[Faisal bin Turki, Sultan of Muscat and Oman|Faisal bin Turki]], the great-grandfather of the current ruler, spoke Gujarati and [[Swahili language|Swahili]] along with his native Arabic<ref>{{cite magazine|author1=Hugh Eakin|title=In the Heart of Mysterious Oman|url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/aug/14/heart-mysterious-oman/|website=The New York Review of Books|access-date=5 February 2015|date=14 August 2014}}</ref> and Oman's sultan Syed Said (1791-1856) was persuaded to shift his capital from Muscat to [[Zanzibar]], more than two thousand miles from the Arabian mainland, on the recommendation of Shivji Topan and Bhimji families who lent money to the Sultan.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Bharat Yagnik|title=Oman was Gujaratis' first stop in their world sweep|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Oman-was-Gujaratis-first-stop-in-their-world-sweep/articleshow/45737586.cms|website=The Times of India|access-date=5 February 2015|date=3 January 2015}}</ref> In modern times, business tycoon Kanaksi Khimji, from the famous Khimji family of Gujarat<ref>{{cite book|author1=Marc Valeri|title=Oman : politics and society in the Qaboos state|date=2009|publisher=C. Hurst|location=London|isbn=978-1-85065-933-4|page=42|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MKzlyho2KQkC&q=khimji+family,+gujarat&pg=PA42|access-date=5 February 2015|quote=One of these families is another Banyan one, known today as Khimji, whose ancestor came to Oman around 1870 from Gujarat. The family business grew during the Second World War, when it became the Sultan's most important contractor: the Khimji group was the exclusive supplier of the royal palace, and was granted the monopoly and distribution of food products in the Dhofar region.}}</ref> was conferred title of [[Sheikh]] by the Sultan, the first ever use of the title for a member of the Hindu community.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Runa Mukherjee Parikh|title=World's only Hindu Sheikh traces his roots to Gujarat|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Worlds-only-Hindu-Sheikh-traces-his-roots-to-Gujarat/articleshow/19995680.cms|website=The Times of India|access-date=5 February 2015|date=11 May 2013|quote="We see achievements as milestones in the quest for excellence. We just want to be the best," says the 77-year-old tycoon, Kanaksi Khimji. Not sales and volumes, Khimji believes that the most important measure of success for his family's business is how far it has helped advance the national development plans laid out by Oman's Sultan Qaboos bin Said. In fact, Khimji with his Indian roots was one of the first to embrace Omanisation, a directive to train and empower Omani professionals. Such a rare honour makes Khimji the most distinguished Indian in this Middle Eastern country.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Alpers|first1=Edward A.|title=The Indian Ocean in World History|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199721795|page=106|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=suLQCwAAQBAJ&q=gujarati,+oman&pg=PA106|language=en|quote=Gujarati merchants enjoyed a special place in the political economy of an emerging Omani Empire in the Western Indian Ocean, while as British-protected subjects they became the advance guard of British imperial presence in both the Gulf and eastern Africa north of the Portuguese possessions. Already by this time Omani customs collection, which was farmed out on five-year contracts to the highest bidder, was in the hands of a Kachchhi Hindu trader named Mowjee Bhimani whose family maintained control of the Masqat farm into the 1840s.|date=31 October 2013}}</ref> The Muscati Mahajan is one of the oldest merchants associations founded more than a century ago.<ref>{{cite web|title=Muscat Early History|url=http://www.bhatiamahajan.com/muscat--middle-east.html|website=bhatia mahajan|access-date=5 February 2015|archive-date=5 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205215327/http://www.bhatiamahajan.com/muscat--middle-east.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Hoerder|first1=Dirk|title=Migrations and Belongings|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674281318|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2BahAwAAQBAJ&q=GUJARATIS,+ECONOMIC+MIGRATIONS&pg=PA106|language=en|quote=The Western trade had, for example, led to settlement of merchants from the Gulf of Kutch and from Jamnagar in Zanzibar. In view of local hostility to intermingling, the merchants brought in wives, and a community emerged by 1860s. Its five to six thousand Hindus and Muslims fragmented, however, along ethnoreligious and occupational lines: Baluchi as soldiers of the Omani sultan, Memons from Sind in shipping and fishing, Parsi merchants, Hindu trading castes - Baniyas, Bhatias, Lohanas, and Shia Muslims, as well as Daudi Bohoras, Ismaili Khojas, Isthnasteris, and [[Goan Catholics]]. Ethnoreligious-professional traditions framed agency: Hindus usually returned when they had accumulated savings and wealth, whereas Muslims stayed and formed families... In the frame of dependencies between colonizer and colonies, the Gujarati enclave, protected by the Omani sultanate, did in the 1870s, become a conduit for British influence and, over time for British ascendancy. Distinct vertical links of each of the South Asian ethnoreligious groups to the British in Mumbai hindered horizontal Indian-cultured homogenization in the community. Mumbai's commercial expansion resulted in increased Gujarati in-migration, and Gujarati became the community's lingua franca. The privileged and thus distinct status granted by the Omani sultanate prevented indigenization.|year=2014}}</ref>

===Southeast Asia===
Gujaratis had a flourishing trade with Southeast Asia in the 15th and 16th centuries, and played a pivotal role in establishing [[Islam]] in the region.<ref>{{cite news|title=Gujarat helped establish Islam in SE Asia|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/ampnbspGujarat-helped-establish-Islam-in-SE-Asia/articleshow/11262585.cms|newspaper=[[The Times of India]]|last=Prabhune|first=Tushar|location=[[Ahmedabad]]|date=27 December 2011}}</ref> Miller (2010) presented a theory that the indigenous scripts of [[Sumatra]] ([[Indonesia]]), [[Sulawesi]] (Indonesia) and the [[Philippines]] are descended from an early form of the [[Gujarati script]]. [[Tomé Pires]] reported a presence of a thousand Gujaratis in [[Malacca]] ([[Malaysia]]) prior to 1512.<ref name="Miller2010">{{cite journal|last1=Miller|first1=Christopher|title=A Gujarati Origin for Scripts of Sumatra, Sulawesi and the Philippines|journal=Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society|volume=36|issue=1|year=2010|pages=276|issn=2377-1666|doi=10.3765/bls.v36i1.3917|doi-access=free}}</ref> The Gujarati language continues to be spoken in Singapore and Malaysia.<ref name=e25>{{e25|guj}}</ref><ref name="pr">{{Cite web |url=http://www.pressreader.com/malaysia/the-sun-malaysia/20150225/281831462182561 |title=Journey of enrichment |via=PressReader |access-date=29 June 2018}}</ref>

====Hong Kong====
Gujaratis also dominate the diamond trade in the city. As of 2012 350 diamond firms in Hong Kong were owned by Gujaratis.
<ref>{{Cite news|first=Melvyn |last=Thomas |date=2012|publisher=timesofindia|location=India|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Gujarat-glitter-on-Hong-Kong-business/articleshow/12564796.cms |title=Gujarat glitter on Hong Kong business|access-date=7 April 2012}}</ref>

====Malaysia====
{{Main|Gujarati Malaysian}}
There estimated around 31,500 Gujarati in Malaysia. Most of this community work as traders and settled in the urban parts of Malaysia like Melaka, George Town, Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh.<ref name=pr/>

==== Fiji ====
Gujaratis in Fiji represent an important trading community within the large Indian population.<ref>Prasad, K. K. (1978). The Gujaratis of Fiji, 1900-1945 : a study of an indian immigrant trader community (T). University of British Columbia. Retrieved from https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/ubctheses/831/items/1.0094513[https://open.library.ubc.ca/soa/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/831/items/1.0094513{{Dead link|date=November 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}]</ref>

==Culture==
{{Main|Culture of Gujarat}}

===Literature===
{{main|Gujarati literature|}}
[[File:Guj Script Mahatma Gandhi 1.png|thumb|upright=0.95|Excerpt from "[[My experiments with truth]]" - the [[autobiography]] of [[Mahatma Gandhi]] in its original Gujarati.]]
[[Kavi Kant]], [[Kalapi]] and [[Mareez|Abbas Abdulali Vasi]] are Gujarati language poets. [[Ardeshar Khabardar]], Gujarati-speaking Parsi who was president of [[Gujarati Sahitya Parishad]] was a nationalist poet. His poem, ''Jya Jya Vase Ek Gujarati, Tya Tya Sadakal Gujarat'' (Wherever a Gujarati resides, there forever is Gujarat) depicts Gujarati ethnic pride and is widely popular in Gujarat.<ref name="Williams1984">{{cite book|author=Raymond Brady Williams|title=A New Face of Hinduism: The Swaminarayan Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AHI7AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA170|access-date=18 August 2014|year=1984|publisher=CUP Archive|isbn=978-0-521-27473-9|pages=170–}}</ref>

[[Bhagwan Swaminarayan|Swaminarayan]] paramhanso, like Bramhanand, Premanand, contributed to Gujarati language literature with prose like [[Vachanamrut]] and poetry in the form of [[bhajans]]. [[Kanji Swami]] a spiritual mystic who was honoured with the title, '[[Koh-i-Noor]] of [[Kathiawar]]' made literary contributions to [[Jain]] philosophy and promoted [[Ratnatraya]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Poojya Gurudeve Shree Kanji Swami|url=http://www.mangalayatan.com/gurudevshri.html|website=mangalayatan.com|access-date=19 November 2015|quote=He read many Shwetambar Scriptures and preached in so impressed way that people called him ‘Kohinoor of Kathiawad’|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151119223839/http://www.mangalayatan.com/gurudevshri.html|archive-date=19 November 2015}}</ref>

Gujarati theatre owes a lot to bhavai. [[Bhavai]] is a musical performance of stage plays. Ketan Mehta and [[Sanjay Leela Bhansali]] explored artistic use of bhavai in films such as ''[[Bhavni Bhavai]]'', ''[[Oh Darling! Yeh Hai India]]'' and ''[[Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam]]''. Dayro (gathering) involves singing and conversation reflecting on human nature.

Gujarati language is enriched by the Adhyatmik literature written by the Jain scholar, [[Shrimad Rajchandra]] and Pandit Himmatlal Jethalal Shah. This literature is both in the form of poetry and prose.<ref>{{cite web|title=Shrimad Rajchandra – A spiritual gem|url=http://www.rajsaubhag.org/category/spiritual/foundations/shrimad-rajchandra/|website=www.rajsaubhag.org|access-date=27 October 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140825134936/http://www.rajsaubhag.org/category/spiritual/foundations/shrimad-rajchandra/|archive-date=25 August 2014}}</ref>

===Cuisine===
{{Main|Gujarati cuisine}}
[[File:Vedhmi.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|''Vedhmi'' is a sweet lentil stuffed [[Roti|chapati]].]]
Gujarati food has famously been described as "the haute cuisine of vegetarianism" and meals have a subtle balance of sweet, tart and mild hot sensations on the palate.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jung|first1=Jeffrey Aldford & Naomi Duguid; photographs by Jeffrey Aldford & Naomi Duguid; additional photographs by Richard|title=Mangoes & curry leaves culinary travels through the great subcontinent|date=2005|publisher=Artisan|location=New York|isbn=9781579655655|page=14|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K5viC1KaoBUC&q=meat+eating+in+gujarat&pg=PA14|access-date=24 October 2015}}</ref> Gujarati Jains, as well as many Hindus and [[Buddhists]] in Gujarat, are vegetarian. However, many Gujarati Hindu communities such as [[Ghanchi]], Koli Patel, and [[Kharwa caste|Kharwa]] consume fish as part of their diet.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Singh |first1=K.S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Cy_-FXW9BQC&dq=ghanchi++fish&pg=PR11 |title=People of India: Gujarat |publisher=Popular Prakashan |year=2003 |isbn=81-7991-104-7 |volume=22 |location=Mumbai, India |pages=397, 652, 694}}</ref> [[Christians]], and Muslims have traditionally eaten a variety of meats and seafood, although [[Muslim]]s don't eat pork and Hindus don't eat beef.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Zahir Janmohamed|title=Butter Chicken in Ahmedabad|url=http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/20/butter-chicken-in-ahmedabad/|website=[[The New York Times]]|date=20 August 2013|access-date=24 October 2015|quote=But attitudes are changing, according to Mr. Dauwa. "More people, especially businessmen from China and Japan, are visiting Gujarat and many of them want non-vegetarian food," he said. "And also, Gujaratis are becoming wealthier, and when they live abroad they pick up nonvegetarian eating habits."|author1-link=The Racist Sandwich}}</ref> [[Gujarati cuisine]] follows the traditional Indian full meal structure of rice, cooked vegetables, [[dal|lentil dal]] or curry and ''[[roti]]''. The different types of flatbreads that a Gujarati cooks are [[rotli]] or [[chapati]], [[Bhakri|bhakhri]], puri, thepla, rotla, dhebara, maal purah, and puran-pohli. Popular snacks such as [[Khaman]], [[Dhokla]], Dhokli, dal-dhokli, [[Undhiyu]], [[Jalebi]], fafda, [[Chevda|chevdoh]], Muthia, Bhajia, Patra, bhusu, locho, sev {{Not a typo|usal}}, fafda gathiya, vanela gathiya and [[Sev mamra]], Sev Khaman, Dabeli are traditional Gujarati dishes savoured by many communities across the world.<ref>{{cite web|title=Western Indian Food: An explosion of Flavour|url=http://blog.mapsofindia.com/india/western-indian-food-an-explosion-of-flavour/|website=mapsofindia|access-date=27 October 2015}}</ref>

[[Khichdi]] — a mix of rice and [[mung dal]], cooked with spice — is a popular and nutritious dish which has regional variations. Quite often the khichdi is accompanied by [[Kadhi]]. It is found satisfying by most Gujaratis, and cooked very regularly in most homes, typically on a busy day due to its ease of cooking. It can also become an elaborate meal such as a [[thali]] when served with several other side dishes such as a vegetable curry, yogurt, [[Indian cuisine|sabzi]] shaak, onions, mango pickle and [[papad]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hajratwala|first1=Bhanu|title=Gujarati kitchen : family recipes for the global palate|date=2011|publisher=Westland|location=Bangalore|isbn=9789380658490|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vTjBfwzuEYgC&q=gujarati+food+khichdi}}</ref>

Spices have traditionally been made on grinding stones, however, since villages have seen rapid growth and industrialisation in recent decades, today people may use a blender or grinder. People from north Gujarat use dry red chili powder, whereas people from south Gujarat prefer using green chili and coriander in their cooking. There is no standard recipe for Gujarati dishes, however the use of tomatoes and [[lemons]] is a consistent theme throughout Gujarat.<ref name="10 Best Gujarati Recipes">{{cite web|title=10 Best Gujarati Recipes|url=http://food.ndtv.com/lists/10-best-gujarati-recipes-695837|website=ndtv.com|access-date=27 October 2015}}</ref>
Traditionally Gujaratis eat [[mukhwas]] at the end of a meal to enhance digestion, and desserts such as ''aam shrikhand'' made using [[mango]] salad and hung [[curd]] are very popular.<ref name="10 Best Gujarati Recipes"/> In many parts of Gujarat, drinking [[chaas]] (chilled [[buttermilk]]) or soda after lunch or dinner is also quite common.

Surti delicacies include [[ghari (sweet)|ghari]] which is a puri filled with [[khoa]] and nuts that is typically eaten during the festival [[Chandani Padva]]. [[Khambhat]] delicacies include famous [[sutarfeni]] — made from fine strands of sweet dough (rice or maida) garnished with pistachios, and ''halwasan'' which are hard squares made from broken wheat, khoa, nutmeg and [[pistachios]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Darra Goldstein|title=The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets Oxford Companions Series|date=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0199313396|page=358|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jbi6BwAAQBAJ&q=gujarat,+cornstarch,+custard&pg=PA358}}</ref> A version of English [[custard]] is made in Gujarat that uses [[cornstarch]] instead of the traditional eggs. It is cooked with cardamom and [[saffron]], and served with fruit and sliced almonds.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sitafal basundi|url=http://www.khanakhazana.com/recipes/view.aspx?id=6361|website=khana khazana|access-date=25 October 2015}}</ref> Gujarati families celebrate [[Sharad Purnima]] by having dinner with doodh-pauva under moonlight.<ref>{{cite book|title=Passing on the Culture in the Diaspora: Inter-generational Communication of Cultural Identity Amongst Gujaratis in the USA.|date=2007|page=113|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j5n5JDDhCZkC&q=gujarati+food,+doodh+pauva&pg=PA113|access-date=25 October 2015|isbn=9780549413127}}</ref>

===Folk dance and music===
The folk dances of Gujarat are [[Garba (dance)|Garba]], [[Dandiya]], [[Padhar dance|Padhar]], [[Tippani Dance|Tippani]], Dangi, etc. which are done during festivals.<ref name="IToday">{{cite web | title=Notes make a culture|last=Patil|first=Vatsala | website=India Today| date=13 February 2015 | url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/supplement/story/20150223-notes-make-a-culture-817538-2015-02-13 | access-date=3 October 2022}}</ref>
[[File:Navratri Garba.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Women and men performing [[Garba (dance)|Garba]] as part of [[Navaratri]] celebrations in the city of Ahmedabad]]
[[File:Mer Dandiya.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Mer people|Mer]] [[Dandiya]], a sword dance performed by the martial communities of [[Saurashtra (region)|Saurashtra]]]]

=== Gujarati folklore ===
Folklore is an important part of Gujarati culture. The folktales of Kankavati are religious in nature because they sprung from the ordinary day-to-day human cycle of life independent of, and sometimes deviating from the scriptures. They are part of the Hindu rituals and practices for marriage, [[Simantonnayana|baby shower]], [[Nāmakaraṇa|naming ceremony]], the harvest and death, and are not merely religious acts but they reflect the lived life of people in rural and urban societies. The anthologies of Dadaji Ni Vato and Raang Chhe Barot are pragmatic with practical and the esoteric wisdom. Saurashtra Ni Rasdhar is a collection of love legends and depicts every shade of love and love is the main emotion which makes human world beautiful because it calls forth patience, responsibility, sense of commitment and dedication. Also the study of Meghani's works is quintessential because he was a trailblazer in exploring the vast unexplored heritage of Gujarati folklore. His folktales mirror the milieu of Gujarat, dialects, duhas, decors, humane values, sense of sacrifice and spirit of adventure, enthusiasm and, of course, the flaws in people. Meghani's folktales are verbal miniature of Gujarati culture.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Soni|first=vandana|date=2014|title=A Translation of Jhaverchand Meghani's Nontranslated Folk Tales from Gujarati into English with a Critical Evaluation|url=http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/123916/11/11_chapter%206.pdf|pages=484}}</ref>

==Images==
<gallery>
File:Nagar Brahmins (9969683734).jpg|[[Nagar Brahmins]] in western India (c. 1855–1862)
File:Bhattias (9938720746).jpg|[[Bhatia caste|Bhatia]]s in western India (c. 1855–1862)
File:Goojerattee Brokers (9806490963).jpg|[[Bania (caste)|Gujarati brokers]] in western India (c. 1855–1862)
File:Goojerattee Accountants (9806454294).jpg|[[Banker|Gujarati accountants]] in western India (c. 1855–1862)
File:Rajpoots (9938614386).jpg|[[Rajputs]] in western India (c. 1855–1862)
File:Parsees (9806963583).jpg|[[Parsis]] in western India (c. 1855–1862)
File:Parsee Priests (9806503805).jpg|[[Parsi]] priests in western India (c. 1855–1862)
File:Lohannas (9805958365).jpg|[[Lohanas]] in western India (c. 1855–1862)
File:Bohoras (9738294552).jpg|[[Bohra clan|Bohras]] in western India (c. 1855–1862)
File:Banians of Damnaggar (Kutch) (9938983803).jpg|[[Bania (caste)|Banians]] of Damnaggar (Kutch)
File:Kojahs (9727943566).jpg|[[Khoja]]s of Western India ca. 1855-1862
File:Mehmans (9727923226).jpg|[[Memon people|Memon]] men - photographs of Western India Series 1855-1862
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[List of people from Gujarat]]
* [[Gujarati diaspora]]
* [[Jethwa|Jethwa Rajputs]]
* [[Rajputs of Gujarat]]
* [[Dharasana Satyagraha]]
* [[Navnirman Andolan]]
* [[Mahagujarat Movement]]
*[[Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule]]
* [[Genetic studies on Gujarati people]]
*[[Memons (Kathiawar)|Khatiawari Memons]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{reflist|group=nb}}

==Further reading==
*{{Cite book
| editor-last      = Jhaveri
| editor-first     = Krishanlal Mohanlal 
| year      = 2003
| title     = The Gujaratis: The People, Their History, and Culture
| place     = New Delhi
| publisher = Cosmo Publications
}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}

{{Gujarat}}
{{Social groups of Gujarat}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gujarati People}}
[[Category:Gujarati people| ]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in India]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Social groups of Gujarat]]
[[Category:Culture of Gujarat]]
[[Category:Culture of Kollam]]
[[Category:Indigenous peoples of South Asia]]
[[Category:Indo-Aryan peoples]]
[[Category:Gujarati-language writers]]
[[Category:Cultural assimilation]]
[[Category:Indian industrialists]]