The arrival of Siddis is traced back to 10th century when many came aboard the vessels of Arab merchants as slaves. It seems there was a flourishing slave market between the 10th and the 16th centuries in Gujarat. And Gujarat was a witness to intercontinental migration. The Africans were being sold to the princely states as slaves and soldiers. The Siddis are the descendants of African slaves, sailors and merchants who remained in India after arriving through the sea trade with East Africa and the Gulf. With the disappearance of the princely states in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Siddis retreated into their own communities and now live in pockets along the coastal states of Gujarat, Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka. They have totally blended in the environment they live in. In Gujarat, these Siddis were brought in by Arabs, so they follow Islam as their religion. In Goa, the Siddis were brought in by Portuguese, and so they follow Christianity as their religion.
The Siddis of Gujarat speak Kathiawadi, a native Gujarati dialect spoken by vast number of population in the state. They dress up like just another Indian and eat Indian food. Many of these Siddis have lost touch with their roots. They are poor. They do not seem to know where exactly their ancestors came from and why they settled in India. Neither do they speak any African language.
They have managed to preserve their African looks because they don't marry outside their own group. In this, they do not differ from the majority of the Indian communities, where even today, marriages are arranged based on the caste and religion. The only things that separates them from the Indians is their taste of the music. They undoubtedly have African elements in their music. They jump and hoot wildly to the beat of a drum. They still perform an African derived musical genre called "Goma". Even their dance is African. Seems, music and dance are the only thing that links them to their past. The plight of the Siddis in India is not very promising. Most of these Siddis are uneducated, unemployed and live on the margins of society. They have been given a special tribal status by the Indian government guaranteeing them with jobs and education, but nothing has been practically done for their upliftment. India is known to have close to
15000 Siddis. They seem to be concerned about their community's economic future and their priorities include employment and education for the people of their community. Many of the boys are daily wage laborers earning about Rs. 50 a day. They help out on the sugarcane farms or do other odd jobs. These lost tribes of Africa seem to be lost in India too. They are left behind, un-noticed in the growing economy of India.
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