Deidre67J44 at 17:13, 21 March 2026

2026-03-21T17:13:04Z

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{{Short description|Ethnic Gujaratis and their descendants living outside of India and Pakistan}}
{{infobox ethnic group
| group = Gujarati diaspora
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| regions = [[United States]],<ref name="globalguj"/><ref name="usagujarati">{{Cite web|url=http://www2.census.gov/library/data/tables/2008/demo/language-use/2009-2013-acs-lang-tables-nation.xls|title=US Census Bureau ''American Community Survey (2009-2013)'' See Row #62|website=2.census.gov}}</ref> [[United Kingdom|Britain]],<ref name="globalguj"/> [[Canada]],<ref name="gujaraticanada2021">{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=2022-08-17 |title=Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population Profile table Canada [Country] |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?LANG=E&GENDERlist=1,2,3&STATISTIClist=1,4&DGUIDlist=2021A000011124&HEADERlist=,15,13,18,12,16,14,17&SearchText=Canada |access-date=2022-08-18 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}</ref> [[East Africa]],<ref name="globalguj"/> [[Caribbean]],<ref name="globalguj"/> [[Fiji]]<ref name="fiji">{{cite web |url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/soa/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/831/items/1.0094513 |title=The Gujaratis of Fiji, 1900-1945 : a study of an indian immigrant trader community |author= Prasad, Kamal Kant |year=1978 |accessdate=30 May 2024 |website=The University of British Columbia }}</ref>
| langs = [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]], [[English language|English]] ([[Indian English|Indian dialect]] or [[Pakistani English|Pakistani dialect]]), [[Memoni language|Memon]]
| 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]]|[[File:Faravahar.svg|20px]] [[Zoroastrianism]]}}
| related_groups =
}}

The '''Gujarati diaspora''' refers to the descendants of the [[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indian]] [[ethnolinguistic group]] known as [[Gujaratis]] who emigrated out of [[Gujarat]] and adjacent areas in the [[Indian subcontinent]] to the rest of the world.

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=2014-10-05}}</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,<ref name="usagujarati"/> Canada,<ref name="gujaraticanada2021"/> the Caribbean, Fiji<ref name="fiji"/> 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 name="globalguj">{{cite web|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|access-date=21 October 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=2015-07-01}}</ref>

Gujaratis in the diaspora are prominent [[entrepreneurs]] and industrialists and maintain high [[social capital]].<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|date=2016-04-20}}</ref> Gujarati parents in the diaspora are not comfortable with the possibility of [[Gujarati language|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/>

==Notable people==
[[File:Kash Patel, official FBI portrait.jpg|thumb|[[Kash Patel]] Director of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI)]]
* [[Aliza Vellani]], born in [[Vancouver, Canada]], Canadian actress
* [[Arun Manilal Gandhi]], born in [[Durban]], American activist and author
* [[Ben Kingsley]], born in [[Snainton]], British actor
* [[Bharat Desai]], born in [[Kenya]], American businessman and billionaire
* [[Charli XCX]], born in [[Cambridge]], British singer and songwriter
* [[Dev Patel]], born in [[London Borough of Harrow|Harrow]], British actor
* [[Freddie Mercury]], born in [[Zanzibar]], British singer, lead vocalist of [[Queen (band)|Queen]]
* [[Kantilal Jivan|Kantilal Jivan Shah]], Seychellois conservationist
* [[Kal Penn]] , American actor, author & Former Civi Servant
* [[Kash Patel]], born in [[Garden City, New York|Garden City]], American lawyer, politician, and Director of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI)
* [[Khursheed Jeejeebhoy]], born in [[Rangoon]], Canadian gastroenterologist
* [[Mahmood Mamdani]], born in [[Bombay]], Ugandan academic
* [[Naheed Nenshi]], born in [[Toronto]], Canadian politician and former mayor
* [[Nimisha Mehta]], born in [[Ahmedabad]], British actress and model
* [[Raj Bhavsar]], born in [[Houston]], American Olympic gymnast
* [[Rizwan Manji]], born in [[Toronto]], Canadian actor
* [[Salim Kara]], born in [[Zanzibar]], Canadian inventor and entrepreneur
* [[Shabir Ally]], born in [[Guyana]], Canadian Islamic preacher
* [[Shekhar Mehta]], born in [[Uganda]], Kenyan rally driver
* Baroness [[Shriti Vadera, Baroness Vadera|Shriti Vadera]], born in [[Uganda]], British businesswoman and politician
* [[Zohran Mamdani]], born in [[Kampala]], American politician and [[mayor of New York City]]

==See also==
* [[Gujarati people]]
* [[Gujarati language]]
* [[Indian diaspora]]

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
{{notelist}}

{{Gujarati diaspora}}
{{Overseas Asians}}
{{overseas Pakistani}}
{{Indian diaspora}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gujarati Diaspora}}
[[Category:Gujarati diaspora| ]]
[[Category:Pakistani diaspora]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in India]]

Gujarati diaspora - Revision history

Deidre67J44 at 17:13, 21 March 2026