[13] Gujaratis also form a significant part of the populations in the neighboring metropolis of Mumbai and union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, formerly colonial possessions of Portugal.

[14] There are very large Gujarati immigrant communities in other parts of India, most notably in Mumbai,[15] Pune, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore[16] and other cities like Kochi.

The Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama noted presence of Muslim and Hindu navigators and merchants from Gujarat in Zanzibar and Pemba and along the East Africa coast in towns such as Kilwa, Bagamoyo, Mombasa and Malindi.

[33] The important Gujarati traders active in the Indian Ocean trade at different periods of history included Jains; Hindu Bhatias and Lohanas; Muslim Khojas, Memons, and Bohras; and the Parsee communities.

Gujaratis have a long tradition of seafaring and a history of overseas migration to foreign lands, to Yemen[47] Oman[48] Bahrain,[49] Kuwait, Zanzibar[50] and other countries in the Persian Gulf[51] since a mercantile culture resulted naturally from the state's proximity to the Arabian Sea.

[54] Non Resident Gujaratis (NRGs) maintain active links with the homeland in the form of business, remittance, philanthropy, and through their political contribution to state governed domestic affairs.

While they may make up only around 0.1% of the population in the United States, Gujarati Americans control over 40% of the hospitality market in the country, for a combined net worth of over US$40 billion and employing over one million employees.

[73] The descendants of the Gujarati immigrant generation have also made high levels of advancement into professional fields, including as physicians, engineers and politicians.

Prominent members of this community such as Shyamji Krishna Varma played a vital role in exerting political pressure upon colonial powers during the Indian independence movement.

There is also a small, but vibrant Gujarati-speaking Parsi community of Zoroastrians present in the country, dating back to the bygone era of Dadabhai Navroji, Shapurji Saklatvala and Pherozeshah Mehta.

Patidars form the largest community in the diaspora including Kutch Leva Patels,[83] followed closely by Lohanas of Saurashtra origin.

Indians were labelled as "dukawallas" (an occupational term that degenerated into an anti-Indian slur during Amin's time), and stereotyped as "greedy, conniving", without any racial identity or loyalty but "always cheating, conspiring and plotting" to subvert Uganda.

Amin used this propaganda to justify a campaign of "de-Indianization", eventually resulting in the expulsion and ethnic cleansing of Uganda's Indian minority.

[110] In the late 19th century, mostly Sikhs, were brought on three-year contracts, with the aid of Imperial British contractor Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee to build the Uganda Railway from Mombasa to Kisumu by 1901, and to Kampala by 1931.

[114] The vast majority of immigrant pioneer Gujaratis who came in the latter half of the 19th century were passenger Indians who paid for their own travel fare and means of transport to arrive and settle South Africa, in pursuit of fresh trade and career opportunities and as such were treated as British subjects, unlike the fate of a class of Indian indentured labourers who were transported to work on the sugarcane plantations of Natal Colony in dire conditions.

After wealthy Gujarati Muslim merchants began experiencing discrimination from repressive colonial legislation in Natal,[115] they sought the help of one young lawyer, Mahatma Gandhi to represent the case of a Memon businessman.

Indians in South Africa could traditionally be bifurcated as either indentured labourers (largely from Tamil Nadu, with smaller amounts from UP and Bihar) and merchants (exclusively from Gujarat).

In the second half of the 1800s, many Gujarati Hindus belonging to the Vaniya community migrated to the South of Mozambique, in particular to the provinces of Inhambane and Lourenço Marques to run businesses.

Later in 1800s, immigration restrictions imposed by the colonial authorities in neighboring South Africa and the Boer republic made Mozambique the preferred destination for many Gujarati Hindus from the Saurashtra (namely, Rajkot and Porbandar) and Surat regions.

[120] At the turn of the 19th century, Gujaratis wielded enough clout that Faisal bin Turki, the great-grandfather of the current ruler, spoke Gujarati and Swahili along with his native Arabic[121] and Oman's sultan Syed Said (1791-1856) was persuaded to shift his capital from Muscat to Zanzibar, more than two thousand miles from the Arabian mainland, on the recommendation of Shivji Topan and Bhimji families who lent money to the Sultan.

Kanji Swami a spiritual mystic who was honored with the title, 'Koh-i-Noor of Kathiawar' made literary contributions to Jain philosophy and promoted Ratnatraya.

Gujarati language is enriched by the Adhyatmik literature written by the Jain scholar, Shrimad Rajchandra and Pandit Himmatlal Jethalal Shah.

[136] Gujarati food has famously been described as "the haute cuisine of vegetarianism" and meals have a subtle balance of sweet, tart and mild hot sensations on the palate.

[139] Gujarati cuisine follows the traditional Indian full meal structure of rice, cooked vegetables, lentil dal or curry and roti.

The different types of flatbreads that a Gujarati cooks are rotli or chapati, bhakhri, puri, thepla, rotla, dhebara, maal purah, and puran-pohli.

It can also become an elaborate meal such as a thali when served with several other side dishes such as a vegetable curry, yogurt, sabzi shaak, onions, mango pickle and papad.

[142] Traditionally Gujaratis eat mukhwas at the end of a meal to enhance digestion, and desserts such as aam shrikhand made using mango salad and hung curd are very popular.

Surti delicasies include ghari which is a puri filled with khoa and nuts that is typically eaten during the festival Chandani Padva.

They are part of the Hindu rituals and practices for marriage, baby shower, naming ceremony, the harvest and death, and are not merely religious acts but they reflect the lived life of people in rural and urban societies.

His folktales mirrors milieu of Gujarat, dialects, duhas, decors, humane values, sense of sacrifice and spirit of adventure, enthusiasm and, of course, the flaws in people.