The Overseas Minangkabau is a demographic group of Minangkabau people of Minangkabau Highlands origin in Central Sumatra, Indonesia who have settled in other parts of the world. Over half of the Minangkabau people can be considered overseas Minangkabaus. They make up the majority of the population of Negeri Sembilan (in Malaysia) and Pekanbaru (in Indonesia). They also form a significant minority in the populations of Jakarta, Bandung, Medan, Batam, Surabaya and Palembang in Indonesia as well as Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Penang, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam in the rest of the Malay world. Minangkabaus have also emigrated as skilled professionals and merchants to the Netherlands, United States, Saudi Arabia and Australia. The matrilineal culture and economic conditions in West Sumatra have made the Minangkabau people one of the most mobile ethnic group in Maritime Southeast Asia.

The young people usually have to go outside the region after their teens to become traders or students. For most of the Minangkabau people, wandering is an ideal way to reach maturity and success. By moving, wealth and scientific knowledge are gained and the prestige and honor individuals in the midst of indigenous environment.

The immigrants usually send part of the wealth home to be invested in family businesses, such as by expanding the ownership of paddy fields, control of land management, or pick up the rice fields of the spout. Money from the diaspora is also used to improve village facilities, such as mosques, roads, or the rice fields.

The Minangkabau people have a long history of migrating overseas. They would leave their homes and travel in search of knowledge and to seek their fortunes. The first migration in the 7th century when the Minangkabau Merchants sold the gold in Jambi and involved in the formation of the Malayu Kingdom. In the 13th century, the Minangkabau people started colonies along the west coast of Sumatra island from Meulaboh to Bengkulu when they were spice traders. In Aceh, they were known as Aneuk Jamee and Pesisir (Ughang Pasisia) in west coast of North Sumatra.

Some scholars noted that the arrival of the Minangkabau to the Malay Peninsula occurred in the 12th century. This ethnic group moved in to peninsula at the height of the Sultanate of Malacca, and maintains the Adat Perpatih of matrilineal kinships system in Negeri Sembilan and north Malacca. In the early 18th century, many Minang merchants as cross-strait traders. These traders transport various commodities that came from the interior of Sumatra to be sold to foreign ships in the Straits Settlements. The three brothers were Nakhoda Bayan, Nakhoda Intan, and Nakhoda Kecil opened up a settlement at Penang island. Minangkabau migration to the Malay peninsula increased dramatically in the early 1850s, as a result of Padri War in West Sumatra. Most of them work as miners, merchants, and craftsmen. Utsman bin Abdullah and Haji Mohamed Taib were influential tycoons in Kuala Lumpur and surrounding area. Haji Taib, one of the wealthiest Minangkabau merchant at that time, was an important person in the early development city centre of Kuala Lumpur.

After Portuguese captured of Malacca in 1511, many Minangkabau family moved to South Sulawesi. Datuk Makotta and his wife Tuan Sitti were pioneer of Minangkabau family in South Sulawesi. They supported Sultanate of Gowa as military leaders, administrators and ulamas. Beside as preacher, the Minangkabau were the major traders in Makassar before the Makassar War. After the Makassar War, almost of Minangkabau descendants had identified themselves as being Makassar people or Bugis. And they belong to the "Bugis-Makassar community" who migrated to the Malay Peninsula, West Borneo, eastern Sumatra and Java in the late 17th century.

In the mid-19th century many of Minangkabau people migrate to Java to continue their education and expand of business. Minang merchants are found in traditional markets of Jakarta, mainly in Tanah Abang and Senen. In 1961, the number of Minang migrants in Jakarta increased 18.7 times compared to the city's population growth rate of only 3.7 times, and in 1971 Minangkabau people was estimated to have amounted to around 10% of Jakarta's population at that time. Even though many Minang migrants were well established 'uptown', many of them later moved and settled in Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi. Despite Greater Jakarta is their major concentrations, they are also often found in many cities and towns, such as Bandung, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Surabaya, Malang, Surakarta and Tasikmalaya, where they have quite solid associations.

The increasing wealth of the interior of Minangkabau people has encouraged them to send their children to school in the Middle East, Europe and Java. Haji Sumanik, Haji Miskin, and Haji Piobang were Mecca alumni who carried out Islamic reforms in the early 19th century in Minangkabau. Their teachings, known as the Padri movement, then spread to Riau and the southern Tapanuli.