Population: 10.5 million
Number of Ismailis: 8000
Key Area: Lisbon
In 1974, after over a decade of conflict with its various colonies, the Portuguese government was overthrown by a military coup, subsequently bringing an end to the anticolonial struggle and independence to all former Portuguese colonies. Portugal received hundreds of thousands of refugees from its ex-colonies, including a large number of Muslims of Indian descent from Mozambique who fled in response to Africanization, and later as a result of the civil war.
A large percentage of those immigrants were from the Ismaili community, mostly from the north-western Indian state of Gujarat. In fact, the majority of the present day community in Portugal knew each other in Mozambique where they had been well established as traders or in higher sectors of employment in Mozambique. Now, the Ismaili community in Portugal is enjoying considerable financial success.
In June 2015 the Portuguese government gave the Ismaili Imamat (office of the Imam, the Aga Khan) permission to establish their Seat in Portugal, the first time in modern history the Ismailis have had a physical HQ.
Originally published August 2015