Pakistan's indigenous African community

[bob_chasm]

@Khan15

The word Sheedi comes from the Arabic word Sayyidi, which means my lord. The word Makrani simply means some one from Makran. Afro-Indians and Pakistanis are found throughout the sub-continent, but the Makran region was used as dumping ground by the Arabs, who were the middle men in the slave trade. The Omani and Emiratis (Sharjawis) organized the raids and then sold then to the Dutch, French, English and Portuguese, who then took them to America. But in 1807, the British abolished slavery, but the Arabs carried on. So the British started to blockade the Gulf Arab ports, so the slavers simply dumped them in Makran. This created the large Sheedi community in that region.

Siddi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So, the Arab used the word Sidi and Sayyid to refer to themselves, but called these Africans Zinji. The South East Asians decided to called them Sidi/ Sheedi instead of Zinji because the Sidi brought them. This seems okay since the word Sidi was never used for Syed/ Sayyid in South East Asia. Okay fair enough. Now why do the Chinese mongols call themselves Khan and why do Pathans also call themselves Khan?

Do you think the Arabs dumped them here because the native population (Hindustani/ Pakistani) look a lot like the Sheedi or because the middle easterners thought the coast here was their dump-yard?

regards,

bob