The Indian Diaspora in Africa I was born in East Africa and my family has a long history of migration-you can read more about this in my article African connection in The Global Indian (pdf). In fact, Indians have a history of migration that dates back three thousand years, initially as traders and later as sojourners. Reference to Indians in Africa goes back to the first century AD, arriving as traders rather than migrants or permanent settlers. The Indian diaspora was a 19th and 20th century development related to the impact of the British indentured labour scheme, which sought to replace slave labour with cheap and reliable labour for plantations, or the building of railways, for example in Uganda. Large scale migrations of Indians to Africa began with the construction of the great railway from Mombasa to Lake Victoria in Uganda in the late nineteenth century. Indians (especially Goans) were recruited to run the railways after they were built (and Goans came to dominate the colonial civil services). 15, 000 of the 16, 000 "coolies"that worked on the railroads were Indians, who were renowned for their work ethic and competitiveness (Sowell, 1996). One quarter of them returned either dead or disabled.
You can read about my Mother's experiences in Tanzania in a new edited book by Susan Rodrigues called " A Collection of Goan Voices: Stories by People of Goan descent" which has just been published. As it is a no royalty option anyone can download the book for 'free' or order a copy from the website where you will be charged for the book and postage. Mum talks about her experience of the mutiny of soldiers of the Tanganyika Rifles in January 1964. According to Wikipedia: "the Mutiny began in Colito barracks in Dar es Salaam, then spread to Kalewa barracks in Tabora with Nachingwea, a new barracks, following suit. The mutiny was over pay, promotions, the removal of British officers and Africanisation. Julius Nyerere conceded that the "soldiers had genuine grievances and the demands presented a perfectly reasonable case." However, he could not tolerate a mutiny. The mutiny raised questions about the place of the military in the newly independent Tanganyika — a military under a foreign command and not integrated into the country's system". You can also read Justus Kizito Siboe Makokha's MA thesis, a pioneer study in Kenya, on the works of the most prolific contemporary Anglophone writer from East Africa, MG Vassanji, called "The worlds in-between of an Asian African writer: A Postcolonial reading of selected novels of M.G. Vassanji" completed in May 2006 in the Literature Department at Kenyatta University. Download as pdf (1MB)... http://www.wairua.com/ruth/culture/africa.html -- DEV BOREM KORUM. Gabe Menezes. London.