Siddi people

Siddi, Sheedi

Siddi people in Karachi, Pakistan.
Regions with significant populations
Pakistan	250,000–1 million[1][2][3]
Languages
Sindhi, Gujarati, Swahili, Balochi, Urdu
Religion
Mainly Sunni Islam

The Siddi, also called Sheedi, are a group of people living mainly in southern Pakistan, in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan. They are one of two major Black ethnic groups in Pakistan, the other being Makranis.^[4] They originally come from the Bantu communities in Southeast Africa and Ethiopia. Many of them arrived in the subcontinent through the Indian Ocean Slave Trade, while others came as traders, sailors, servants, and soldiers. There are now more than a million Siddis in Pakistan and a smaller group of about 50,000 in India. Pakistan has the largest diaspora of Africans in South Asia.^[5]

The Siddi population mostly has roots in the Bantu peoples of Southeast Africa who were brought to the Indo-Pak subcontinent as slaves. Most of them became Muslims, and a few became Christians. First Siddis are believed to have arrived in Sindh with the Arab army of Muhammad Bin Qasim during the Islamic conquest of the Sindh in 712 CE. They were known as Zanjis.^[6]

1. ↑ https://behanbox.com/2020/09/03/first-african-pakistani-lawmaker-fights-discrimination-to-rise-up-in-politics-interview-with-tanzeela-qambrani/
2. ↑ https://minorityrights.org/minorities/sheedis-2/
3. ↑ Paracha, Nadeem (26 August 2018), "Smokers’ corner: Sindh's African roots ", Dawn.
4. ↑ Tanzeela Qambrani. "The two largest communities of people of African descent in Pakistan" (PDF). ohchr.org. Retrieved 26 Nov 2023.
5. ↑ "The African Diaspora in Pakistan". American Pakistan Foundation. 2020-09-21. Retrieved 2023-11-26.
6. ↑ Pandya, Yatin; Rawal, Trupti (2002). The Ahmedabad Chronicle, Imprints of a Millennium. Vastu Shilpa Foundation for Studies and Research in Environmental Design.