Greater Asian immigration to Africa

Valdemar II

Banned
What if under the era of colonisme more Asians immigrated to Africa? Maybe not enough to become majority in any states (with the exception of Zanzibar), but enough to form a viable middle class and being a important political factor in some African states. Could we see something like Malaysia in Africa.
 

Susano

Banned
What if under the era of colonisme more Asians immigrated to Africa? Maybe not enough to become majority in any states (with the exception of Zanzibar), but enough to form a viable middle class and being a important political factor in some African states. Could we see something like Malaysia in Africa.

Well, Ill take over Floccs usual role fo rnow and point out not only East Asians, but South Asians are Asians ;) and hence point to the OTL example of the Indians in Uganda...now if the British Empire was more into population transfers as part of its colonial rule, such things could have happened on a larger scale...
 

Valdemar II

Banned
Well, Ill take over Floccs usual role fo rnow and point out not only East Asians, but South Asians are Asians ;) and hence point to the OTL example of the Indians in Uganda...now if the British Empire was more into population transfers as part of its colonial rule, such things could have happened on a larger scale...

In this I thought mostly of Chinese and Indian (flocc would be proud, his indoctrination works), but any Asian would count. I could see Zanzibar as a African Singapore with a majority of Chinese and/or Indians.
 
That is already the case in South Africa with regards to South Asians. Although South Asians only make up about 2% of SA's population (about 10% in KwaZulu-Natal province), they are, after whites, the richest population group, and are influential in the life of the country, especially politics, and cricket.
Imtiaz Patel - CEO of Supersport
Kass Naidoo - general manager Cricket SA
Essop Pahad - Minister in the Office of the Presidency
Aziz Pahad - Deputy Foreign Minister (and Essop's brother)
The late Krish Mackerduj - former head of SA Cricket and former ambassador to Japan
Kader Asmal - former Minister of Water Affairs and something of an elder statesman in the SA politics
Valli Moosa - former Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and now on Eskom's (state-owned electricity utility) board
Jay Naidoo - former cabinet minister and successful businessman

I don't think you'd see a South Asian majority state, but I think South Asians would possibly be analagous to the Jews, a small but influential, prosperous minority.

Having no apartheid in South Africa would result in a larger Asian population in SA, and by extension Southern Africa.
 

Hendryk

Banned
One problem is that Asian communities in Britain's African colonies, like all middlemen minorities such as the Jews in Eastern Europe and the Chinese in South-East Asia, made convenient targets for post-independence populist movements. I've suggested elsewhere that Zanzibar could become a refuge for East Africa's persecuted Asian communities, and in the process become a local analog to Singapore.
 

Valdemar II

Banned
That is already the case in South Africa with regards to South Asians. Although South Asians only make up about 2% of SA's population (about 10% in KwaZulu-Natal province), they are, after whites, the richest population group, and are influential in the life of the country, especially politics, and cricket.
Imtiaz Patel - CEO of Supersport
Kass Naidoo - general manager Cricket SA
Essop Pahad - Minister in the Office of the Presidency
Aziz Pahad - Deputy Foreign Minister (and Essop's brother)
The late Krish Mackerduj - former head of SA Cricket and former ambassador to Japan
Kader Asmal - former Minister of Water Affairs and something of an elder statesman in the SA politics
Valli Moosa - former Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and now on Eskom's (state-owned electricity utility) board
Jay Naidoo - former cabinet minister and successful businessman

I don't think you'd see a South Asian majority state, but I think South Asians would possibly be analagous to the Jews, a small but influential, prosperous minority.

Having no apartheid in South Africa would result in a larger Asian population in SA, and by extension Southern Africa.

Good points.

One problem is that Asian communities in Britain's African colonies, like all middlemen minorities such as the Jews in Eastern Europe and the Chinese in South-East Asia, made convenient targets for post-independence populist movements. I've suggested elsewhere that Zanzibar could become a refuge for East Africa's persecuted Asian communities, and in the process become a local analog to Singapore.

It was one of the reasons I ask about a larger Asian community, if you look at both Malaysia (30% Chinese) and Indonesia (10% Chinese), you can see the difference in the size of the community does to their interaction with the rest of population. If Asians had made a large precent of Ugandas population I doubt Id Amins could could have deported them with the same ease.
 
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Sargon

Donor
Monthly Donor
IIRC Madagascar has a sizeable ethnic Chinese population. I've met more than one Chinese from there.


Sargon
 

Susano

Banned
IIRC Madagascar has a sizeable ethnic Chinese population. I've met more than one Chinese from there.

Ah, those Chinese! They must bother those poor Malay peoples wherever they find them, it appears, even in Africa :p
 
I wonder if after either world war, Britain could encourage Asian immigration to Africa as a means of diluting the native majorities. While I doubt they would get anything as sizable as the whites got, particularly in the case of settlement colonies such as Kenya and South Africa, a little added incentive could work wonders in the right situation. Although as Hendryk pointed out already it would definitely complicate matters of decolonization.
 
In this I thought mostly of Chinese and Indian (flocc would be proud, his indoctrination works), but any Asian would count. I could see Zanzibar as a African Singapore with a majority of Chinese and/or Indians.

I don't think you'd see Asians become a majority in Zanzibar, but before colonization they were very significant socially and economically. Maybe if the British back their Resident and preserve Zanzibar's domains, you'd see an interesting state with an Indian middle/business class.

I don't think a lot of Asians had much interest in moving to Africa; there would have to be a lucrative reason, and there was only so much "room" for so many merchants and money-lenders.
 
Consensus is that they would be screwed after independence so WI they support the colonial powers? Or set up more democratic institutions? Or anything to prevent bad stuff happening post independence.

Essop Pahad - Minister in the Office of the Presidency

I love that title.
 
But in Zanzibar they were there before colonization - if Zanizibar isn't partitioned like it was in OTL, and rather left independent, or in a treaty relationship like Oman, this wouldn't be an issue.

Consensus is that they would be screwed after independence so WI they support the colonial powers? Or set up more democratic institutions? Or anything to prevent bad stuff happening post independence.



I love that title.
 
I wonder if after either world war, Britain could encourage Asian immigration to Africa as a means of diluting the native majorities.

I have often wondered about this on a large scale, for all the colonies (except the "white" ones). East and South Asians to Africa, Africans, Caribbeans and East Asians to India. Africans, East and South Asians to the Caribbean. South Asians, Africans, Caribbeans to Hong Kong.etc. I know there are a lot of S. Asians in the Caribbean already, but what about more.
 
I wonder if after either world war, Britain could encourage Asian immigration to Africa as a means of diluting the native majorities. While I doubt they would get anything as sizable as the whites got, particularly in the case of settlement colonies such as Kenya and South Africa, a little added incentive could work wonders in the right situation. Although as Hendryk pointed out already it would definitely complicate matters of decolonization.

I'm not sure what the motivation for this would be - Asians generally had higher literacy, were more plugged into the European world and way more politically developed - this would just create a powerful class that provide leadership for independence drives - or if the Powers managed to co-opt them they would be a very strong impetus for violent resentment of the indigenous peoples.

Note the difference between the interaction of Muslims and Jews in Palestine before and after the beginning of Zionist immigration.
 
But in Zanzibar they were there before colonization - if Zanizibar isn't partitioned like it was in OTL, and rather left independent, or in a treaty relationship like Oman, this wouldn't be an issue.

Mmm.

So they're like the Chinese in Thailand?

I'm just saying the 20th century hasn't been kind to ethnic minorities in most places, and I see no reason for Zanzibar to be an exception.
 
Mmm.

So they're like the Chinese in Thailand?

I'm just saying the 20th century hasn't been kind to ethnic minorities in most places, and I see no reason for Zanzibar to be an exception.

I don't see how the Chinese in Thailand have particularly suffered. They form a large percentage of the population and have fared better than Blacks have in 20th c America.

The Indians had centuries of history in Zanizibar and were closely assimilated into society and the economy, and were part of a wide-flung trade system.

It was British colonization that led to huge numbers rapidly arriving, and they were perceived as a method of colonial control.

In any case, once British rule ended, the advantages they had ended with them and it wasn't really worth their while to stay.
 

Hendryk

Banned
In any case, once British rule ended, the advantages they had ended with them and it wasn't really worth their while to stay.
Unless they've become the majority by then--like the Chinese in Singapore. When your ethnic group accounts for 80% of the population and controls the economy, staying after independence does become a viable option.
 
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