Indian South Africans : Ask Biography

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Indian South Africans are people of Indian descent living in South Africa. Most Indians in South Africa are descendents of migrants from colonial India (South Asia) during late 19th-century through early 20th-century. At other times Indians were subsumed in the broader geographical category "Asians", including persons originating in present-day Iran and the small Chinese community.

There remains a cultural, religious and racial overlap for "Asians" and "Indian South Africans". During the most intense period of segregation and apartheid, "Indian", "Asian", "Coloured", and "Malay" group identities defined where a classified person was permitted to live under the Group Areas Act.

During ideological apartheid from 1948 to 1994, Indians were called, and often voluntarily accepted, terms that ranged from "Black" to "Asians" to "Indians." Some citizens believed that these terms were improvements on the negatively defined identity of "Non-White", which was their previous status. Politically conscious and nationalistic Indian South Africans wanted to show both their heritage and their local roots. Increasingly they self-identified as "African", "Black", "South African" and, when necessary, "Indian South Africans".

Nonetheless, the spread of democratic elections has sometimes heightened ethnic loyalties. Politicians and groups have looked for means to mobilize power in the competitive parliamentary democracy which South Africa has become since 1994.