From the early years of the 20th century until well into the 1950s, the vast majority of overseas emigrants from Gujarat headed straight for East Africa. However, as Independence began to loom ever higher on the political agenda, colonial administrators in East Africa found themselves under increasing pressure to stem the inflow from India. As a result prospective emigrants from Gujarat began to explore alternative opportunities - and most especially those available in Britain.

When Gujarati migrants who would otherwise have settled in East Africa began to arrive the UK, they teamed up with settlers from elsewhere in South Asia, and gravitated towards the same niches in the employment market. However the number of Gujarati settlers grew very rapidly during the 1960s, partly as a result of further direct migration from India, but even more so as well-established settlers in East Africa found themselves exposed the ever-intensifying forces of Africanisation.

In consequence the process of Gujarati settlement in Britain was rather distinctive in character.

However being uprooted from their homes in East Africa was traumatic. Most families lost virtually all their capital assets, and found themselves having to start all over again in a strange and often hostile land. Nevertheless most swiftly overcame these setbacks: not only did they manage to make up the ground that they had lost, but also to improve their lot. Today the Gujaratis are rightly regarded as forming the most prosperous section of the South Asian presence in Britain.

Generalisations about large population categories such as 'Gujaratis', 'Punjabis' and 'Pakistanis' can be very misleading; none of these groups are homogeneous. If the term 'community' is to be used in a meaningful way, it is essential to remember that ethnic colonies crystallised at a much finer level. This is particularly true of Britain's Gujarati population, which is not only sharply divided between its Hindu and Muslim components, but further by both sect and caste.

For example, most of Britain's Gujarati Muslims are peasants by background and are Sunnis. However, those whose origins lie in trading communities are for the most part Ismaeli Shi'as. The Shi'as are in turn are divided into the Bohras and the Khoja. Meanwhile the Gujarati Hindus are divided into different caste groups, of which the Patidars, the Lohanas and the Prajapatis are three of the largest. However, these divisions have been at least partially bridged by the rapid growth of popular sectarian movements such as the Swaminarayan Sanstha, whose members have recently constructed a splendid new Temple in Neasden.

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