Key Countries: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda
Number of Ismailis: Unknown, probably less than 20000, with 8000 in Kenya
Ismailis first arrived in East Africa in the early 19th century from India. Familiar with the Arabian Sea as a trade route for some time, Ismaili merchants were convinced to make a permanent move by Sultan Sayyed of Muscat and Oman who set up his headquarters in Zanzibar in 1837. In the 1890s, many Indian Ismaili labourers were brought by the British Empire to build the Kenya-Uganda railway.
The 1960s and '70s saw mass emigration to the UK, USA and Canada, the largest of which was the expulsion of all Asians from Uganda by Idi Amin. Today only a small remnant of the Ismaili community is left in East Africa. In her article on the deaths of 8 Ismailis in the September 2013 Nairobi Westgate Mall attack, one Ismaili wrote:
We are like a large, extended family. It can be gossipy, and intrusive, and the lack of privacy can grate, but when there is a crisis, there is no stronger support group in the world.
Originally published 1 year ago