17 Facts About Gujaratis

Gujarati people or Gujaratis, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who reside in or can trace their ancestry or heritage to the present-day western Indian state of Gujarat.

Gujaratis form a significant part of the populations in the neighboring metropolis of Mumbai and union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, which was a former Portuguese colony.

All throughout history Gujaratis have earned a reputation as being India's greatest merchants, their direct role in slavery and slave trading in East Africa is skillfully occluded in most writing that commemorated the Gujarati mercantile elite, 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, East Africa and South Africa.

In recent decades, larger numbers of Gujaratis have migrated to English-speaking countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States.

Gujaratis 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.

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Historically, Gujaratis belonging to numerous faiths and castes, thrived in an inclusive climate surcharged by a degree of cultural syncretism, in which Hindus and Jains dominated occupations such as shroffs and brokers whereas, Muslims, Hindus and Parsis largely dominated sea shipping trade.

Gujaratis have a long tradition of seafaring and a history of overseas migration to foreign lands, to Yemen Oman Bahrain, Kuwait, Zanzibar and other countries in the Persian Gulf since a mercantile culture resulted naturally from the state's proximity to the Arabian Sea.

Non Resident Gujaratis maintain active links with the homeland in the form of business, remittance, philanthropy, and through their political contribution to state governed domestic affairs.

Gujaratis first went to the UK in the 19th century with the establishment of the British Raj in India.

Many Hindu Gujaratis have moved from Portugal to Great Britain since the 1990s.

Gujaratis exploited pre-existing Indophobia and spread propaganda against Indians involving stereotyping and scapegoating the Indian minority.

At that time the majority of Gujaratis opted for British citizenship and eventually moved there, especially to cities like Leicester or London suburbs.

The vast majority of immigrant pioneer Gujaratis who came in the latter half of the 19th century were passenger Indians who paid for their own travel fare and means of transport to arrive and settle South Africa, in pursuit of fresh trade and career opportunities and as such were treated as British subjects, unlike the fate of a class of Indian indentured laborours who were transported to work on the sugarcane plantations of Natal Colony in dire conditions.

At the turn of the 19th century, Gujaratis wielded enough clout that Faisal bin Turki, the great-grandfather of the current ruler, spoke Gujarati and Swahili along with his native Arabic and Oman's sultan Syed Said was persuaded to shift his capital from Muscat to Zanzibar, more than two thousand miles from the Arabian mainland, on the recommendation of Shivji Topan and Bhimji families who lent money to the Sultan.

Gujaratis had a flourishing trade with Southeast Asia in the 15th and 16th centuries, and played a pivotal role in establishing Islam in the region.

Gujaratis was renamed in 1898 to Star Ferry, which today transports passengers throughout Hong Kong.

Traditionally Gujaratis eat mukhwas at the end of a meal to enhance digestion, and desserts such as aam shrikhand made using mango salad and hung curd are very popular.