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Gujarati people
The Gujarati people, or Gujaratis, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group native to the Indian state of Gujarat. They primarily speak Gujarati, an Indo-Aryan language. Gujaratis have diaspora across India as well in a large number of countries around the world.
Despite significant migration primarily for economic reasons, most Gujaratis in India live in the state of Gujarat in Western India. Gujaratis also form a significant part of the populations in the neighbouring metropolis of Mumbai and union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, formerly colonial possessions of Portugal. There are very large Gujarati immigrant communities in other parts of India, most notably in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and other cities like Kochi. All throughout history. Gujaratis have earned a reputation as merchants, industrialists and business entrepreneurs 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, Malaya, Singapore, East Africa, and South Africa. Diasporas and transnational networks in many of these countries date back to more than a century. In recent decades, larger numbers of Gujaratis have migrated to English-speaking countries such as the United States (especially New Jersey), United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
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.
Early European travellers like Ludovico di Varthema (15th century) travelled to Gujarat and wrote on the people of Gujarat. He noted that 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:
...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.
An outbreak of bubonic plague in 1812 has been claimed to have killed about half the Gujarati population.
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, 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. 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. 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 and along the East Africa coast in towns such as Kilwa, Bagamoyo, Mombasa and Malindi. 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 slaves from Africa in exchange for cotton and glass beads from India. 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. The Jains were active during the Solannki period trading with Arabian and Red sea ports. The Portuguese also preferred Jains to the Arab traders.
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Gujarati people
The Gujarati people, or Gujaratis, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group native to the Indian state of Gujarat. They primarily speak Gujarati, an Indo-Aryan language. Gujaratis have diaspora across India as well in a large number of countries around the world.
Despite significant migration primarily for economic reasons, most Gujaratis in India live in the state of Gujarat in Western India. Gujaratis also form a significant part of the populations in the neighbouring metropolis of Mumbai and union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, formerly colonial possessions of Portugal. There are very large Gujarati immigrant communities in other parts of India, most notably in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and other cities like Kochi. All throughout history. Gujaratis have earned a reputation as merchants, industrialists and business entrepreneurs 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, Malaya, Singapore, East Africa, and South Africa. Diasporas and transnational networks in many of these countries date back to more than a century. In recent decades, larger numbers of Gujaratis have migrated to English-speaking countries such as the United States (especially New Jersey), United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
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.
Early European travellers like Ludovico di Varthema (15th century) travelled to Gujarat and wrote on the people of Gujarat. He noted that 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:
...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.
An outbreak of bubonic plague in 1812 has been claimed to have killed about half the Gujarati population.
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, 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. 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. 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 and along the East Africa coast in towns such as Kilwa, Bagamoyo, Mombasa and Malindi. 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 slaves from Africa in exchange for cotton and glass beads from India. 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. The Jains were active during the Solannki period trading with Arabian and Red sea ports. The Portuguese also preferred Jains to the Arab traders.