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Concept
Sikh diaspora
Summary
The Sikh diaspora is the modern Sikh migration from the traditional area of the Punjab region of India. Sikhism is a religion native to this region. The Sikh diaspora is largely a subset of the Punjabi diaspora.
The diaspora is commonly accepted to have begun after the fall of the Sikh Empire in 1849 and the empire's subsequent annexation into British India. The onset of the Sikh diaspora is represented by Duleep Singh, the last emperor of the Sikhs, who was forced into exile by the British. Starting with this event, the rate of Sikh migration from Punjab has remained high and included a number of international destinations.
With more than 25 million worldwide, Sikhs are adherents of the fifth-largest religion in the world. The 2011 Indian census reported approximately 20 million Sikhs living in India. Of these, 16 million, or 76% of all Indian Sikhs, live in the northern state of Punjab, where they form 58% of the population. Substantial communities of Sikhs also live in the Indian states and union territories of Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttarakhand, and Jammu and Kashmir. The states of Maharastra and Bihar are home to the two important Sikh Takht of Hazur Sahib and Patna Sahib, respectively. The Canadian province of British Columbia was home to close to 300,000 Sikhs as of 2011.
The Sikhs as a political entity, distinct from other Indian traditions, can be said to have begun with the martyrdom of the fifth Sikh Guru, Arjan Dev, in 1606. Sikh distinction was further enhanced by the 1699 establishment of the Sikh brotherhood, or Khalsa (ਖ਼ਾਲਸਾ), by Gobind Singh. This gives the Sikhs, as an organized political grouping, a relatively recent history of around 400 years. Migrations during the era of the gurus were limited to the boundaries of modern-day India and Pakistan, and in particular, restricted to the Sikh tribal heartland of the Punjab region.The development of the Sikh Confederacy and the rise of the Sikh Empire (1716–1849) led to Sikhs migrating to conquered parts of their empire, such as Ladakh and Peshawar.
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