Punjabis In East Africa

Railways, Settlement and Belonging

Punjabi migration to East Africa began within the expanding networks of the British Empire.

Some arrived as soldiers and policemen. Others came as railway workers, engineers, craftsmen and traders. Many intended to remain only temporarily. Yet across Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika - modern Tanzania, Punjabis gradually established families, businesses and religious institutions.

Their story became part of East African history. It was shaped by colonial rule, racial inequality, African independence and, in Uganda, forced expulsion.

Early Arrivals

Connections between South Asia and East Africa existed long before British colonial rule. Merchants had crossed the Indian Ocean for centuries, linking ports in western India with Zanzibar and the wider Swahili Coast.

Punjabi migration, however, expanded during the late nineteenth century.

The British valued Punjab as a source of soldiers, policemen and skilled workers. Punjabi people were recruited for service across the empire, including its growing territories in East Africa.

Some of the earliest arrivals served in colonial military and police forces. Others worked as guards, engineers, carpenters, blacksmiths and mechanics. Their skills were increasingly needed as Britain attempted to extend its authority from the coast into the interior.

Building the Uganda Railway

The construction of the Uganda Railway became a major turning point.

Beginning in 1896, the railway was built from Mombasa on the Kenyan coast towards Lake Victoria. It was intended to strengthen British control of the region and connect the interior with Indian Ocean trade.

More than 30,000 workers were recruited from British India. They are often described collectively as Indian, although they came from several different regions and communities. Punjabis formed an important part of this workforce, particularly among skilled craftsmen, railway employees, guards and policemen.

Conditions were difficult. Workers faced disease, dangerous terrain, accidents, poor accommodation and attacks by wildlife. Many died during construction, some returned to South Asia once their contracts ended.

Others stayed.

Railway stations developed into towns. Workshops required permanent employees. New roads and commercial routes created opportunities beyond the original construction project. What began as imperial labour migration gradually became settlement.

Life Beyond the Railway

Punjabis did not remain confined to railway work.

Some entered construction, transport and mechanical trades. Others became shopkeepers, contractors, farmers, clerks or small business owners. Punjabi policemen and security guards also became familiar figures in colonial towns.

Families began to join the men who had travelled first. Gurdwaras, mosques and mandirs were established as communities became more permanent. These institutions provided more than places of worship. They offered food, accommodation, education and assistance to new arrivals.

Punjabi language, food, music and family traditions were carried into a very different environment. At the same time, life in East Africa reshaped the community. New generations grew up speaking English or Swahili alongside Punjabi and understood Kenya, Uganda or Tanzania as home.

They were not simply Punjabis living temporarily overseas. They were becoming East African Punjabis.

A Community Within a Larger Diaspora

Punjabis formed only one part of East Africa’s wider South Asian population.

Gujarati merchants and other communities from western India had especially prominent commercial networks throughout the region. Punjabis were often more visible in railway workshops, engineering, construction, security and the police, although their occupations became increasingly diverse.

Divided by Colonial Rule

British East Africa was organised through a racial hierarchy- one wherein south Asians were placed uneasily.

Some benefited from commercial opportunities and occupations created by colonial rule. Yet they also faced segregation, restrictions and discrimination. Residential areas, schools, railway carriages and public facilities could be divided along racial lines.

This position created a complicated relationship between South Asian and African communities.

They lived beside one another, traded with one another and sometimes worked together. However, the colonial system also encouraged separation and economic competition. Inequality between merchants and customers could produce resentment, while racial categories prevented the development of equal citizenship.

Punjabis were therefore both participants in the colonial economy and people restricted by its hierarchy.

Politics and Independence

Punjabi activists became involved in labour organisation, demands for political representation and wider anti-colonial movements. Connections with British India also carried revolutionary ideas into East Africa, including those associated with the Ghadar - Revolt movement.

One influential figure was Makhan Singh, who had been born in Gujranwala and later settled in Kenya. He became an important trade union leader and worked with African activists to demand workers’ rights and independence. British authorities detained him for more than a decade because of his political activity.

Nevertheless, relations remained complex. As Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania approached independence, questions emerged about citizenship, economic inequality and the position of communities that had arrived under British rule.

Independence and Uncertain Belonging

Tanzania became independent in 1961, Uganda in 1962 and Kenya in 1963.

For Punjabi families born and raised in East Africa, independence brought both hope and uncertainty. Many considered these countries their homes. Yet some still held British passports, while others maintained legal or family connections with India or Pakistan.

New African governments inherited economies deeply shaped by colonial racial divisions. In some countries, policies of Africanisation attempted to transfer employment and business opportunities to the African majority.
These policies responded to genuine colonial inequalities. However, South Asian communities could also become targets of suspicion. They were sometimes portrayed as outsiders even when their families had lived in East Africa for generations.

Some Punjabis accepted local citizenship and remained. Others left for Britain, Canada, India, Pakistan or elsewhere, beginning another stage of migration.

The Expulsion from Uganda

The most dramatic rupture occurred in Uganda.

In August 1972, the President ordered tens of thousands of people of South Asian descent to leave the country within ninety days, despite their citizenship status. Many had been born in Uganda and had never lived anywhere else.
Homes, shops, factories and personal property were confiscated. Families were forced to decide what they could carry and where they might be accepted. British passport holders were transported to Britain, while others resettled in Canada, India, Pakistan, Kenya and several European countries.

For Punjabi Ugandans, this created a second diaspora. Their families had first travelled from Punjab to East Africa. Now they were displaced again, often arriving in countries they knew mainly through passports, relatives or imperial connections.

Legacy

Punjabis remain part of East Africa today, particularly in Kenya and Tanzania. Historic gurdwaras, businesses, neighbourhoods and railway towns preserve traces of the communities that grew there.

Punjabis built homes and institutions. Some joined struggles for labour rights and independence. Others endured political uncertainty, departure and forced displacement.

Their story reveals that diaspora rarely follows one simple journey from an old home to a new one.