The Memon People arrived in Ceylon (in modern Sri Lanka) from Sindh region (in modern

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

) in the year 1870s. Sunni Hanafi Muslim by origin, the

Memon people The Memon are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group that originated in the Sindh region of Pakistan. The majority of the Memon people around the world follow the Hanafi fiqh of Sunni Islam. The Memon people have cultural similarities with the Khoja, Khat ...

are

entrepreneurs Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

and traders who settled in Ceylon (in modern Sri Lanka) for business opportunities during the colonial period. Some of these people came to the country as far back as the Portuguese period. Memons arrived during the British period from the Kathiawar region (in modern state of Gujarat, India) during the Partition of India in 1947. Majority of Memons arrived in Sri Lanka were from the historical village called

Kutiyana Kutiyana (Devanagari: कुंतियाणा; Gujarati: કુતિયાણા) is a city and a municipality in Porbandar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is situated on the banks of Bhadar river. History Source:- The name o ...

, in

Junagadh Junagadh () is the headquarters of Junagadh district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Located at the foot of the Girnar hills, southwest of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar (the state capital), it is the seventh largest city in the state. Literally ...

District,

State of 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- ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Along with the Kathiawar Memons, many Other Memon families from out of the popular Kathiawar Memon villages also arrived, and they are known and identified as the Mir, Pinjara, Allahrakha, khatri and Mulla within the Memon community in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan Memons are strictly following the traditional and cultural values of the International Memon community. Memons in Sri Lanka are represented by th
Memon Association of Sri Lanka

History

Early 1900s, Kathiawar Memon merchants and traders; mainly from

, Porbandar and

Upleta Upleta is a city and tehsil in the Rajkot district of the state of Gujarat, India. It contains within it two towns and 49 villages. Geography Upleta is located at . It is about from Dhoraji, in the Rajkot district of Gujarat, on the banks of the ...

traveled to Ceylon (in modern Sri Lanka) to trade and exploit business opportunities. Memon people started the trading route between India and Sri lanka in early 1930s. Memon merchants brought variety of Indian products to Ceylon (in modern Sri Lanka), it mainly consisted textiles and it was sold in the Colombo Pettah market. Reason for mass migration and settlement of Memon people around the world was due to the Gujarat's Hindu-Muslim riot in 1947, which was initiated due to the Partition of India. Many Memons in the Kathiawar region were attacked and were looted by the mobs, which resulted in great loss to the Memon community especially in the

District and surrounding villages in modern state of Gujarat in India. After the riots, extremely affected Memon people from the Kathiawar region were replaced in refugee camps in the bordering cities nearby the State of Gujarat, India. Lately, Memon people started migrating to other states within India, and large number of them migrated and settled in modern

. Memon merchants who were involved in the trading route between India and Sri Lanka, decided to migrate and settle in Ceylon (in modern Sri Lanka) along with their families. Memon people were firstly based in Colombo 12 in the early 1950s and gradually started to expand and move to other parts of the

Colombo city Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo met ...

. Memon association of Ceylon was formed in the year 1956 in Hullsdorf, Colombo by well known personalities of the Memon community in Sri Lanka. Lately it was changed to Memon association of Sri Lanka.

References

External links

Memon Association of Sri Lanka
{{DEFAULTSORT:Memons In Sri Lanka Pakistanis in Sri Lanka Social groups of Sri Lanka * Memon Sri Lankan people of Pakistani descent

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links