Indians in Kenya
Indians in Kenya: The importance of the Indian community in Kenya is due to the influence it has had on the economy. It is a common misconception that this Asians in Kenya descended solely from the 32,000 indentured laborers from Gujarat and Punjab imported by the British at the end of the nineteenth century to work as “coolies” on the Uganda Railway.
Origin of Indians in Kenya
In fact, there had been people of Indian descent living on the coast for hundreds of years before then, as evidenced by the introduction of bananas and coconuts to the economy. Nevertheless, the majority of the present Asian populations are descendants of the 6,000 workers who elected to stay in Kenya after the railway was completed.
Indians in Kenya – Business
Hardworking, aggressive in business, and highly skilled, they soon established a burgeoning commercial community, which still controls most of the country’s retail trade. Initially functioning very much as an economic “colony” of India, to which its members tended to send most of their earnings, the Asian community is still self- contained, nurturing its own rich and diverse culture while remaining largely impervious to African cultural influences. Officially referred to as “Asians” since the partitioning of India in 1947, the present community consists of four main groups: Hindus (numerically the largest), Muslims (second largest), Goans, and sikhs