Indian Muslims in South Africa's History:Continuity and Change
The majority of Indian Muslims arrived in Natal between 1860 and 1911 as contract indentured workers or pioneer traders. Indentured migration lasted between 1860 and 1911, by which time 152,641 Indians had come to Natal. Approximately seven to ten percent (10, 000-15,000) were Muslim.' The indentured Muslim population was characterized by diversity of religious tradition, caste, language, ethnicity, and culture as migrants were drawn from a range of ecologies and modes of production. Traders from Gujarat, on the west coast of lndia, began arriving in Natal from the mid-1870s, n cheir own expense and of their own volition. The majority of traders were Muslims, either Memons from Porbandar in Kathiawar or Sunni Bohras from Surat, who spoke Gujarati. While the exact number of traders is not certain, the Wragg Commission approximated their number to be around one thousand in 1887, while Maureen Swan {1985: 2) estimated it to average around 2,000 between 1890 and 1910.