Indians in Zambia

Indians in Zambia
Regions with significant populations
	Non-resident Indian and Person of Indian Origin · Desi

There is a small but recognisable community of Indians in Zambia. Unlike the better-known Indian communities of South East Africa, they were little-studied by historians until the 2000s.^[1]

Migration history

Indians from

Indians in South Africa, the proportion of indentured labourers among them was quite small; most instead were skilled artisans or businesspeople.^[2] Initial settlers were Muslims, they were followed by Hindu traders.^[3] Indians always formed a much smaller portion of the population than Europeans, but their numbers continued to increase until the 1950s; in 1930, the ratio of Europeans to Indians was 300:1, but by 1951 the proportion had shifted to just 10:1.^[4] One main driver for this was the expansion in Northern Rhodesia's mining industry in the late 1940s, which attracted demobilised white British servicemen as well as Indians.^[2] Immigration again accelerated around 1953, for fears that the new federal government of Northern Rhodesia would place restrictions on Indian migration.^[4]

The

British High Commissioner to India proposed that one seat on Lusaka's legislative council be allocated to an Indian, but this suggestion was ignored and not further pursued. The Indian High Commissioner for British East and Central Africa was specifically warned "not to be the spokesman of Indians permanently resident". The Indian government, when it did voice complaint about issues of Indians in Africa, tended to focus on those in East Africa rather than Central Africa.^[5]

After

British citizenship.^[6] Many are in professions like banking, retail, farming and mining. Recent arrivals include medical and educational professionals. The Levy Mwanawasa government was friendly towards the Indian community; the functions hosted by the Indian community, such as Diwali, were attended by a number of cabinet ministers of the Mwanawasa government.^[3]

Notable people

East African cricket team^[7]

Dipak Patel, Minister of Commerce and Industry under the Chiluba and Mwanawasa governments^[6]
Sir Alimuddin Zumla, London-based professor of tropical medicine; parents of Gujarati origin^[8]^[9]
Kiran C Patel - American philanthropist, serial entrepreneur, hotelier and cardiologist

References

Notes

^ Haig 2007, Section I
^ ^a ^b Haig 2007, Section II
^ ^a ^b ^c Singhvi 2000, p. 109
^ ^a ^b Haig 2007, Section IV
^ ^a ^b Haig 2007, Section III
^ ^a ^b MEA 2008, p. 9
^ Neems, Jeff (2009-03-11), "Top billing Fans mob cricket's stars", Stuff.co.nz, retrieved 2011-04-15
^ Kaunda, Danstan (2010-02-11), "Zambian Doctor in Prestigious Award", New Science Journal, retrieved 2011-04-12
^ Ghodiwala, Adam; Mank, Yacoob, eds. (2011), Bharuchi Vahora Patel (PDF), United-Kingdom: y, Gujarati Writers' Guild, p. 96, retrieved 2012-12-27^{[permanent dead link]}

Sources

Singhvi, L. M. (2000), "Other Countries of Africa", Report of the High Level Committee on the Indian Diaspora (PDF), New Delhi: Ministry of External Affairs, pp. 89–109, archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-06
Haig, Joan M. (2007), "From Kings Cross to Kew: Following the History of Zambia's Indian Community through British Imperial Archives", History in Africa, 34 (1): 55–66,
S2CID 162469035

Zambia (PDF), Foreign Relations Briefs, India: Ministry of External Affairs, 2008, archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-04-10, retrieved 2009-08-21