The vast majority of British South Asians fall into one of three broad population groups: those from the Punjab region of Northwestern India and Pakistan; those from Gujarat on the sea coast to the north of Bombay, and those from Sylhet, far to the east in Bangladesh.

More than 95% have their ancestral roots in one or other of these regions, and we can even be very specific about their origins. For example, the overwhelming majority of Punjabi migrants' have ancestral roots which lie either in the Jullundur Doab in the eastern plains of Punjab, or just over a hundred miles further to the west in the Potohar region of Pakistan. The great majority of migrants from Gujarat have been drawn from a fairly narrow coastal belt which runs from Jumnagar to the coast of Gujarat proper before fading out south of Navsari.

Far away in the north-eastern corner of Bangladesh, a stream of migrants have made their way to Britain from within a rough triangle which stretches down from Sylhet town to the Kushiyara river.

Why should so many migrants have come to Britain from these specific locations? None of these areas were particularly poverty stricken. Indeed Punjab and Gujarat are India's two most prosperous states. Whilst South Asian migrants may have come to Britain in search of a more prosperous future, few if any came from areas marked by famine and grinding poverty. What all three areas do have in common, however, is a connection with the sea.

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