There is a sizable community of people of Indian origin living in

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

. In 2003, there were an estimated 15,000 people of

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

n descent (majority of Indians and Pakistanis) living in Uganda, compared to approximately 80,000 before they were expelled by the dictator

Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...

in 1972. Many returned to Uganda in the 1980s and 1990s and have once again gone on to dominate the country's economy. Despite making up less than 1% of the population, they are estimated to contribute up to 65% of the country's tax revenues.

Sudhir Ruparelia Sudhir Ruparelia (born 17 January 1956) is a Ugandan business magnate and investor of Indian origin. He is the chairman and majority shareholder in the companies of the Ruparelia Group. His investments are mainly in the areas of banking, insura ...

, who is of Indian origin, is the richest man in Uganda and has an estimated fortune of $1 billion.

History

SSDM Shikma temple at Nakasero, Kampala Uganda

In 1895 construction of the

Uganda Railway The Uganda Railway was a metre-gauge railway system and former British state-owned railway company. The line linked the interiors of Uganda and Kenya with the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa in Kenya. After a series of mergers and splits, the li ...

began. The

Imperial British East Africa Company The Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC) was a commercial association founded to develop African trade in the areas controlled by the British Empire. The company was incorporated in London on 18 April 1888 and granted a royal charter by Q ...

awarded

Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee (1856– 2 May 1936) was an Indian-born Kenyan merchant, politician and philanthropist. He was amongst the first and most influential Indian settlers in Kenya, amassing significant wealth and becoming a leader of Kenya ...

, an agent based in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

, with the contract to supply the required labour force. Jeevanjee recruited his workforce from the

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

region of British India.Uganda Society, The Uganda Journal, Kampala, 1948, p.7 The first group to arrive had a total of 350 men, and over a six-year period, a total of 31,895 men worked on the project. Some died, others returned to India after the end of their contracts, and others chose to stay. The population was later bolstered by

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

i traders called "passenger Indians", both Hindu and Muslim free migrants who came to serve the economic needs of the indentured labourers and to capitalize on the economic opportunities. Over time, Indians became prosperous and dominated much of the Ugandan economy, with some acting in the role of 'colonial overseers' for the British regime, which prompted the rise of resentment and Indophobia. These resentments came to a crisis when

ousted

Milton Obote Apollo Milton Obote (28 December 1925 – 10 October 2005) was a Ugandan political leader who led Uganda to independence from British colonial rule in 1962. Following the nation's independence, he served as prime minister of Uganda from 1962 to ...

by military

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

in 1971. The following year, Amin ordered the expulsion of Asians living in Uganda. As a result, many Indians migrated to the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, and elsewhere and began rebuilding their lives. After Amin's death, however, more Indians who were born in Uganda started migrating back. Demographically, the number of people of mixed Ugandan-Indian heritage is not known ( Multiracial Ugandans in Uganda).

Notable Ugandan people of Indian descent or notable people of Indian-Ugandan descent

* Akbar Baig - Ugandan cricketer * Alykhan Karmali - Ugandan industrialist *

Charli XCX Charlotte Emma Aitchison (born 2 August 1992), known professionally as Charli XCX, is an English singer and songwriter. Born in Cambridge and raised in Start Hill, Essex, she began posting songs on Myspace in 2008, which led to her discovery ...

- British singer *

Anup Singh Choudry Anup Singh Choudry (born 13 August 1949), is a Ugandan-born Sikh of Punjabi ancestry and a Sikh writer formerly based in the United Kingdom who served as a justice of the High Court of Uganda from 2 May 2008 until 11 August 2014. He was swor ...

- Former judge of the High Court of Uganda *

Arif Virani Arif Virani (born November 23, 1971) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who has sat as the member of Parliament (MP) for Parkdale—High Park since 2015. Virani represents the riding in the House of Commons as a member of the Liberal Party. H ...

- Member of Parliament (Canada) *

Asif Din Mohamed Asif Din (born 21 September 1960) is a former British cricketer who played county cricket for Warwickshire from 1981 to 1995. A right-handed batsman and occasional legbreak bowler, he is most famous for scoring a hundred and winning th ...

- English cricketer *

Bharat Masrani Bharat Masrani is a Canadian financial executive who is presently the Group President and Chief Executive Officer of the Toronto-Dominion Bank (also known as TD Bank Group). Masrani was appointed to this role on November 1, 2014. Early life and e ...

- CEO of

TD Canada Trust TD Canada Trust, frequently shortened to simply TD, is the commercial banking operation of TD Bank Group in Canada. TD Canada Trust offers a range of financial services and products to more than 10 million Canadian customers through more than 1,1 ...

* Bhaskar Bhattacharya- Indian independent film-maker and scholar. * Hasmukh Dawda - Businessman *

Irshad Manji Irshad Manji (born 1968) is a Ugandan-born Canadian educator. She is the author of ''The Trouble with Islam Today'' (2004) and ''Allah, Liberty and Love'' (2011), both of which have been banned in several Muslim countries. She also produced a P ...

- Canadian author *

Jayesh Manek Jayesh Manek (born 1956 in Uganda) is an Indian fund manager. He was the winner of the Sunday Times Fantasy Fund Manager competition in 1994 and 1995, beating thousands of other entrants and winning £100,000 on each occasion. This attracted the ...

- Indian fund manager * Jitendra Patel - Canadian cricketer *

Kashif Siddiqi Kashif Mumtaz Siddiqi (born 25 January 1986) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender. Born in England, Siddiqi represented Pakistan at senior international level. After playing youth football with various teams in England, Sidd ...

Mahmood Mamdani Mahmood Mamdani, FBA (born 23 April 1946) is an Indian-born Ugandan academic, author, and political commentator. He currently serves as the Chancellor of Kampala International University, Uganda. He was the director of the Makerere Institute o ...

- Ugandan academic * Mayur Madhvani - Ugandan industrialist *

Miraj Barot Miraj (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, iɾəd͡z ) is a city in Sangli District and also in Maharashtra, India, that was founded in the early 10th century. It was an important jagir of the Adil Shahi dynasty, Adil Shahi court of Bijapur ...

- Businessman *

Mobina Jaffer Mobina S. B. Jaffer (born August 20, 1949) is a Canadian Senator representing British Columbia. Early life and career Born to a Pakistani family living in Africa, Jaffer was educated in England and Canada. She earned a law degree from the Unive ...

- Canadian senator * Mukesh Shukla - Ugandan industrialist *

Nandi Rose Plunkett Half Waif is the stage name of American musician Nandi Rose. Early life Rose was born to an Indian mother from Uganda. She grew up in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Her parents divorced when she was a child. Rose began writing music when she was a ...

- American musician *

Nandikishore Patel Nandikishore Patel, also known as Nand Kishore (born 21 January 1982) is an Indian-born Ugandan cricketer. A right-handed batsman and right arm medium-fast bowler, he played six matches for Uganda in the 2005 ICC Trophy in Ireland, and has mad ...

- Ugandan cricketer *

Naomi Scott Naomi Scott (born 6 May 1993) is an English actress and singer. Born in Hounslow, she rose to prominence for her performances in the television film '' Lemonade Mouth'' (2011) and the science fiction series '' Terra Nova'' (2011). In 2015, Scree ...

- English actress and singer *

Nehal Bibodi Nehal Bibodi (born 18 March 1971) is an Indian born Ugandan cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising ...

- Ugandan cricketer *

Omar Sachedina Omar Sachedina (born August 21, 1982) is a Canadian television journalist and anchor for Bell Media. He is the chief news anchor and senior editor for CTV's national evening newscast ''CTV National News'' since September 5, 2022. Previously, Sac ...

- Canadian journalist * Priti Patel - British politician *

Peter Nazareth Peter Nazareth (born 27 April 1940) is a Ugandan-born literary critic and writer of fiction and drama. Life Peter Nazareth was born in Uganda of Indian Goan ancestry, and his mother's family was earlier based in Malaya-Malaysia-Singapore. He wa ...

- Ugandan-American author *

Rajat Neogy Rajat Neogy (December 17, 1939 – December 3, 1995),Paul Theroux ''The Independent'', 15 January 1996, a Ugandan of Indian Bengali ancestry, was a writer, poet and publisher. In Kampala in 1961, at the age of 22, he founded '' Transition Magazine' ...

- Ugandan-American poet, Founder & First Editor of

Transition Magazine ''Transition Magazine'' was established in 1961 by Rajat Neogy as ''Transition Magazine: An International Review''. It was published from 1961 to 1976 in various countries on the African continent, and since 1991 in the United States. In recent y ...

Salma Lakhani Salma Lakhani (born 1951 or 1952) is the 19th lieutenant governor of Alberta. Her appointment as lieutenant governor became effective upon the swearing of the oath of allegiance and oath of office on August 26, 2020. She is the viceregal repre ...

-19th

Lieutenant Governor of Alberta The lieutenant governor of Alberta () is the viceregal representative in Alberta of the . The lieutenant governor is appointed in the same manner as the other provincial viceroys in Canada and is similarly tasked with carrying out most of the m ...

Shailesh Vara Shailesh Lakhman Vara (born 4 September 1960) is a Ugandan-British politician, who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from July to September 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, he has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) ...

- British politician *

Shekhar Mehta Chandra Shekhar Mehta (20 June 1945 – 12 April 2006) was a Kenyan rally driver. He was born in Uganda and won the Safari Rally a record five times (1973, 1979–82), including four consecutively, and in 1981 finished fifth in the World Rally ...

- Kenyan rally driver *

Shimit Amin Shimit Amin is an Indian film director and editor. He is best known for the award-winning film ''Chak De! India'' (2007) starring Shah Rukh Khan. Biography Amin was born in Kampala, Uganda but grew up in Florida, in the United States. While ...

- Indian film director * Sikander Lalani - Ugandan steel magnate *

- Ugandan businessman * Suresh Dalal - Ugandan & American Attorney *

Wilfred de Souza Wilfred de Souza (23 April 1927 – 4 September 2015) was a surgeon and politician from Goa, India. He served as Goa's first Deputy Chief Minister of Goa and chief minister on three occasions when he was a member of the Indian National ...

- Politician and Chief Minister of Goa * Walter de Sousa - Indian field hockey player. * Supra Singhal - Ugandan swimmer

References

External links

* Demographics of Uganda
Indian Diaspora in Africa

{{Portal bar, India, Uganda Asian diaspora in Uganda

Indian diaspora in Africa

History

Notable Ugandan people of Indian descent or notable people of Indian-Ugandan descent

See also

References

External links