Punjabi New Zealanders are New Zealanders who are of

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

descent. Their ancestry originates wholly or partially in 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 ...

region of South Asia, constituting a subgroup of

Indian New Zealanders Indian New Zealanders are persons of Indian origin or descent, living in New Zealand. The term includes Indians born in New Zealand, as well as immigrants from India, Fiji, as well as other regions of Asia, parts of Africa such as South Africa as ...

and

Pakistani New Zealanders Pakistani New Zealanders, also known as Pakistani Kiwis, are New Zealanders of Pakistani descent or Pakistan-born people who have immigrated to New Zealand. Demographics According to 2001 statistics, Pakistani Kiwis size around a population of 3,0 ...

. According to the

2018 New Zealand census Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the sho ...

, there were 34,227 Punjabi-speaking individuals in the country.

was the second most commonly spoken South Asian language in New Zealand after

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

, and the 14th most common overall. New Zealand has a historical and growing

Sikh community Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

, most of whom originate from Punjab. Punjabis were amongst the earliest immigrants from South Asia to arrive in New Zealand alongside the

Gujaratis The 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. They primarily speak Gujarati, an Indo-Aryan language. While G ...

, during what was then the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

in the 1890s, and some of them married local

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

women, whose offspring became known as

Māori Indians Māori Indians (or Indo-Māori) are an ethnic group in New Zealand of people with mixed Māori and Indian ancestry. History The earliest record of a mixed Indo-Māori union is said to have occurred in 1810, when an Indian man from Bengal abando ...

Notable Punjabi New Zealanders

Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi ( Punjabi: ਕੰਵਲਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਬਖ਼ਸ਼ੀ; born 20 February 1964) is an Indian-born New Zealand politician and a member of the National Party. He was a Member of Parliament as a list MP from the 20 ...

, National Party politician and former MP. *

Ashraf Choudhary Ashraf Choudhary (born 15 February 1949; Sialkot, Punjab) is a Pakistani-New Zealand scientist in agricultural engineering and formerly a member of the Parliament in New Zealand. He is a member of the Labour Party, and was New Zealand's first ...

, Labour Party politician and former MP. *

Billy Ibadulla Khalid "Billy" Ibadulla (born 20 December 1935) is a Pakistani New Zealander cricket coach, commentator, former cricket umpire and cricketer. He has worked as TVNZ cricket commentator. He played in four Tests for Pakistan between 1964 and 1967. ...

, a Punjabi Christian and former Test cricketer for Pakistan, who emigrated to New Zealand in 1976. *

Abraham Salaman Abraham Walley Mahomed Salaman (also spelt Mohamed; 1881-1886 – 8 February 1941) was a notable New Zealand merchant, dyer, herbalist and charlatan. He was born in Amritsar, to Muslim parents, in Punjab, British India The province ...

, a Punjabi Muslim merchant and herbalist who arrived in New Zealand in 1903. * Amandeep Singh, first-class cricketer. * Bhupinder Singh, first-class cricketer. *

Phomen Singh Phomen Singh ( pa, ਫੁੰਮਣ ਸਿੰਘ; 1869/1870 – 27 May 1935), also known Phuman Singh and Phomen Singh Gill, was an Indian businessman. He was one of the earliest Indian migrants to New Zealand, where he founded a successful con ...

, confectioner who arrived in New Zealand in c. 1890. *

Ish Sodhi Inderbir Singh "Ish" Sodhi (born 31 October 1992) is a New Zealand cricketer born in Punjab, India who represents the New Zealand national cricket team in all formats, and Canterbury in domestic cricket. He bowls right-arm leg spin, and bats righ ...

, New Zealand Test cricketer. *

Sukhi Turner Dame Sukhinder Kaur Gill Turner (born Sukhinder Kaur Gill, 13 April 1952), commonly known as Sukhi Turner, is an Indian-born-New Zealand politician who served as the Mayor of Dunedin, New Zealand, from 1995 until her retirement from the positio ...

, politician and former mayor of Dunedin.

References

{{Overseas Pakistani

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Indian diaspora in New Zealand Pakistani diaspora in New Zealand

Notable Punjabi New Zealanders

See also

References