ARE INDIANS FROM AFRICA?
India is an Asian country made up of lots of people who have different origins and ancestors. One thing is for sure, Africans are not strangers in India. A lot of tribes known to have originated from Africa have lived for centuries in India.
These African tribes became part of India when their ancestors were brought as slaves into India by the Arabs and British people in the 8th century. Some of them who escaped slavery also migrated to India as merchants selling various goods.
Habshi as they were often referred to by their masters when they were slaves later changed their name to Saddi. This happened after slavery was banned in the 18th and 19th centuries, they had to take charge of their destiny and the first step was to change the name given to them by those who enslaved them. That was when the name Saddi was formed, this name is used to describe all Indians who trace back their origin to Africa.
Saddis are known to occupy villages located in Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Gujarat in India with a population of over 970,000 people.
Saddis are also described as beautiful, colorful, and fun-loving people. Despite what they've been through they have grown into a strong tribe with lots of experience in producing good crops and making colorful wear for themselves and women in India.
Some people tend to disagree that most black citizens of Indians have any origin related to Africa but there seems to be a connection. Their curly hair to their dark skin and facial features, are similar to African features. "As soon as we arrived, we couldn’t miss the curly hair and facial features that were markedly different from the South Indian people," said BBC's Neelima during her visit to their town.
It's a wonderful thing to see that Africans are everywhere, we are a group of people who went through a lot but are standing strong and dominating all spheres of the earth.
Our genes are like no other, always showing up to help us identify ourselves wherever destiny had to take us.
That's why we are one unique group of people and yes Indians are from Africa too.
Neelima V. (2016, August 4th). India’s forgotten African tribe. Retrieved from
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20160801-indias-forgotten-jungle-dwellers
Indian population originated in 3 migration waves from Africa, Iran & Asia. (2017, May 11th). Retrieved from https://www.google.com/amp/s/wap.business-standard.com/article-amp/current-affairs/indian-population-originated-in-3-migration-waves-from-africa-iran-asia-117051100378_1.html