History of Indian migration

While India didn't really take off until the 21st century, its integration into the world began much earlier.

Figure 1: The exodus of the Roma. It can no longer be dated precisely, but genetic and linguistic research places the first wave of Roma migration between 500 and 1000 AD, originating in north‑western India. Genetic evidence traces their roots mainly to the lower castes and tribes of Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana. The original reasons for their mass departure remain a mystery. What is clear is that in several waves they moved westwards along the Silk Road and from there spread across almost every region of Europe. Their main settlement area, however, remained the Balkans and Eastern Europe – today the largest Roma communities live in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, Serbia, Spain and Turkey. To this day, many Roma live as an economically marginalised group, especially in Eastern Europe. They have preserved their Indo‑Aryan language over centuries – as well as their reluctance to adopt a settled way of life. Even communist regimes, with their attempts to force sedentarisation, could not change that. The migration of the Roma thus counts as one of the oldest well‑documented large‑scale diasporas from South Asia – and as one of the most remarkable in world history.

Figure 2: Bombay, 1915. From the 17th century onwards, European powers established trading posts in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras – opening up new opportunities for Indians themselves to migrate: as sailors in the British fleet, as au pairs (ayahs) in England or as Tamil teachers in Germany in the early 18th century. European expansion had severe consequences for India – but for many Indians it also opened up an entirely new world. (Picture Source: Samuel Scott/wikicommons, 1731)

Figure 3: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, South Africa 1906. Many Europeans know Gandhi as the father of Indian independence. Yet his formative journey began much earlier – and also as a migrant. When he left for England to study in 1888, he told his friends: “I hope some of you will one day follow in my footsteps and, after your return from England, work wholeheartedly for major reforms in India.” In England, alongside his law studies, he immersed himself in different religions, joined the Vegetarian Society and actively sought to integrate into British society – through dance lessons, French classes and English fashion. He was fascinated by press freedom and the culture of strikes, while engaging with the political currents of his time: socialism, anarchism, atheism and pacifism. In his younger years he returned to India only briefly. Instead, he moved on to South Africa, where, as a dark‑skinned man, he repeatedly clashed with the system of racial segregation. Plans to strip the roughly 60,000 Indians in the country of their voting rights drove him to his first acts of resistance against the South African colonial government. To convince the British of the loyalty of Indians, he volunteered as a medic in the Boer War. In 1906, during the Zulu uprising, he again served as a medic on both sides – and was deeply shaken by the brutality of British repression. From these experiences he developed a cross‑caste neo‑Hinduism and the idea of Satyagraha: uncompromising non‑violence, combined with a willingness to endure pain and suffering in order to appeal to an opponent’s conscience – a weapon of those who are strong in mind and morals. It was not until 1914, at the age of 45, that Gandhi set off on his return to India – shaped by two decades as a migrant, activist and thinker. Armed with this experience, he accompanied India through many key milestones on its path to independence. In 1947, he witnessed the birth of the world’s largest democracy. One year later, he was assassinated by a fanatical Hindu nationalist. (Picture Source: wikicommons, 1906)

Figure 4: India’s top CEOs: Satya Nadella (left) was born in Hyderabad, where he completed his engineering degree before moving to the United States to earn a master’s. He began his career at Microsoft in 1992 and has led the company as CEO since 2014. Sundar Pichai (centre) grew up in modest circumstances in the southern Indian city of Madurai. He, too, obtained a master’s degree in the United States and joined Google in 2004. When the company’s founders withdrew from day-to-day operations, Pichai took over overall responsibility – both for Google and for its parent company Alphabet Inc. Arvind Krishna (right) moved to the United States to pursue a PhD in electrical engineering. At IBM he first rose to vice president of the cloud software division – and has been leading the company as CEO since 2020. (Picture Source: wikicommons)