Ethnic groups in South Asia

(Redirected from Indian ethnic groups)

Ethnic groups in South Asia are ethnolinguistic groupings within the diverse populations of South Asia, including the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan is variously considered to be a part of both Central Asia and South Asia, which means Afghans are not always included among South Asians, but when they are, South Asia has a total population of about 2.04 billion.

The majority of the population fall within three large linguistic groups: Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, and Iranic. These groups are also further subdivided into numerous sub-groups, castes and tribes. Indo-Aryans form the predominant ethnolinguistic group in India (North India, East India, West India, and Central India), Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. Dravidians form the predominant ethnolinguistic group in southern India, the northern and eastern regions of Sri Lanka and a small pocket of Pakistan. The Iranic peoples also have a significant presence in South Asia, the large majority of whom are located in Afghanistan and the northwestern and western parts of Pakistan.

Minority groups not falling within either large group mostly speak languages belonging to the Austroasiatic and Tibeto-Burman language families, and largely live around Ladakh and Northeast India, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. The Andamanese (Sentinel, Onge, Jarawa, and Great Andamanese) live in some of the Andaman Islands and speak a language isolate, as do the Kusunda in central Nepal, the Vedda in Sri Lanka, and the Nihali of Central India, who number about 5,000 people. The people of the Hunza Valley in Pakistan are another distinct population; they speak Burushaski, a language isolate.

The traditions of different ethnic groups in South Asia have diverged, influenced by external cultures, especially in the northwestern parts of South Asia and also in the border regions and busy ports, where there are greater levels of contact with external cultures. There is also a lot of genetic diversity within the region. For example, most of the ethnic groups of the northeastern parts of South Asia are genetically related to peoples of East or Southeast Asia. There are also genetically isolated groups who have not been genetically influenced by other groups, such as the Jarawa people of the Andaman Islands. The largest ethnolinguistic group in South Asia are the Indo-Aryans, numbering around 1 billion, and the largest subgroup are the native speakers of Hindi languages, numbering more than 470 million.

These groups are based solely on a linguistic basis and not on a genetic basis.

List of ethnic groups on the basis of language

Andamanese groups

Main article: Andamanese peoples

Great Andamanese of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Jangil of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Jarawa of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Onge of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Sentinelese of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Austroasiatic people

Main article: Austroasiatic peoples of South Asia

Austronesian people

Dravidian people

Main article: Dravidian peoples

Indo-Aryan people

Main article: Indo-Aryan peoples

Iranic people

Nuristani people

Main article: Nuristani peoples

Nuristani people

Semitic people

Arabs or Jews and mixed
- Arabs in Gujarat
- Sri Lankan Moors (trace ancestry to Arab traders who settled in Sri Lanka and native Tamil women)
- Iraqi biradri - a community of Muslims in north India (trace ancestry from Arab tribe of Bani Tamim)
- Labbay Arab traders who settled in South India
- Konkani Muslims trace their ancestry to Arab traders.
- Mappila Muslims trace their ancestry to Arab traders.
- Chaush trace ancestors to traders from Yemen.
- Nasrani Mapilla who trace their origins to Jewish traders
- Knanaya Syriac Christians who trace their origins to Mesopotamia
- Thangal
Indian Jews
- Cochin Jews (Malayali Jews)
- Bene Israel (Marathi Jews)
- Baghdadi Jews (Arab Jews in Bengal)
- Bnei Menashe (Mizo and Kuki Jews)
- Bene Ephraim (Telugu Jews)
- Paradesi Jews (European Jews in India)

Tai people

Tibeto-Burman people

Bodo–Kachari people
- Bodo
- Dimasa
- Garo
- Hajong
- Sonowal
- Sutiya
Chakma people
Chepang
Gurung
Khowa
Kirati people
- Rai
- Limbu
- Yakkha
- Sunuwar
- Jirel
- Hayu
- Dhimal
Lepcha people
Magar people
Memba
Meitei people (Manipuri people)
Naga people
- Anāl people
- Angami Naga
  - Southern Angami
- Ao Naga
- Chakhesang Naga
- Chang Naga
- Chiru Naga
- Chothe people
- Khiamniungan Naga
- Konyak Naga
- Lainong Naga
- Lamkang people
- Lotha Naga
- Mao people
- Maram people
- Maring people
- Monsang people
- Moyon Naga
- Nocte Naga
- Para Naga
- Poumai people
- Phom Naga
- Pochury Naga
- Rengma Naga
- Sangtam Naga
- Sümi Naga
- Tangkhul people
- Tangsa Naga
- Tarao people
- Thangal people
- Tikhir Naga
- Tutsa Naga
- Wancho Naga
- Yimkhiung Naga
  - Chirr Naga
  - Makury Naga
- Zeliangrong
  - Inpui people
  - Liangmai people
  - Rongmei people
  - Zeme Naga
Newar people
Nishi
Tamang
Thakali
Tibetans and Tibetan-speaking peoples
- Tibetan Ladakhis
- Uttarakhandi Bhotiya
- Sikkimese people
  - Bhutias
- Monpa
  - Takpa
  - Tshangla
- Sherpas
- Bhotiyas
- Sherdukpen
- Aka
- Miji
- Tibetan Muslim
  - Burig
  - Baltis
Tripuri
Karbi people or Mikir
Thami
Zo people
- Bawm people
- Chin
- Kuki
  - Halam
  - Hrangkhol
- Mizo

Turkic people

Turks in India
Rowther are alleged descendants of Seljuk Turks in Turko-Persian tradition. They have since become the tradition of Turko-Indian in 12th Century.
Mughal (Moghul) (A Sunni Islamic dynasty of Asia which originated in Central Asia)
- Chughtai Tartars (Those people who originated in Uzbekistan and fought for Chagatai Khan who was son of Genghis Khan).
- Barlas (A Turkified Mongol tribe to which Babur belonged)
- Changezi (Those who were in army of Hulagu Khan)
Turkic people in Pakistan

Afro-Asian groups

Main article: Afro-Asians in South Asia

Chaush
Sheedis/Siddis, an ethnic community of Black African descent, found primarily in Pakistan, Gujarat, and Karnataka.
Sri Lanka Kaffirs

European and Eurasian people

East Asian people

Chinese

Linguistic isolate groups

Diaspora

Main article: South Asian diaspora

Many South Asian ethnic groups and nationalities have substantial diasporas.

Ethnolinguistic diasporas

Other diasporas

Two (or possibly three) other people groups have ethnic and linguistic ties with the region:

Dom people
Romani people
Lom people (who speak a language both related to Indo-Aryan and Armenian)

References

"UN Geoscheme".
"World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations". population.un.org. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
Danico, Mary Yu (2014). Asian American Society: An Encyclopedia. SAGE Publications. p. 838. ISBN 978-1-4522-8189-6.
Bhopal, Raj (2004). "Glossary of terms relating to ethnicity and race: for reflection and debate". Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. 58 (6): 441–445. doi:10.1136/jech.2003.013466. PMC 1732794. PMID 15143107.
"Language and the BSA: Ethnicity & Race". British Sociological Association. March 2005. Archived from the original on 27 April 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
Sarwal, Amit (2012). Bridging Imaginations: South Asian Diaspora in Australia. Readworthy Publications. ISBN 978-81-935345-4-0.
Lindsay, olin (2001). "The South Asian Community" (PDF). Profiles of Ethnic Communities in Canada. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 June 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
https://study.com/academy/lesson/asian-ethnic-groups.html "South Asia is home to the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka."
https://minorityrights.org/minorities/south-asians/ "In the UK the term South Asian usually refers to people from the Indian subcontinent."
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.121.055159 "Individuals of South Asian (Bangladeshi, Bhutanese, Indian, Maldivian, Nepalese, Pakistani, and Sri Lankan) ancestry account for almost a quarter of the world’s population, and the South Asian diaspora is one of the largest and most widespread across the globe."
Chitta, Sridhar (7 January 2022). The Knowledge in the Vedas. StoryMirror Infotech Pvt Ltd. p. 173. ISBN 978-93-92661-61-7.
Swan, Michael; Smith, Bernard (26 April 2001). Learner English: A Teacher's Guide to Interference and Other Problems. Cambridge University Press. p. 227. ISBN 978-0-521-77939-5. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
Kachru, Braj B.; Kachru, Yamuna; Sridhar, S. N. (27 March 2008). Language in South Asia. Cambridge University Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-139-46550-2.
"Pakistan", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 24 January 2024
D.E. Watters, Notes on Kusunda (a language isolate of Nepal), Kathmandu 2005
Yasmin Saikia (9 November 2004). Fragmented Memories. Duke University Press. ISBN 0822333732.

16. Vij SB, Webb ML. Culturally competent occupational therapy practice for South Asians in the United States of America: A narrative review. Indian J Occup Ther 2022;54:4-9.

External links

Media related to Ethnic groups in India at Wikimedia Commons Media related to Ethnic groups in Pakistan at Wikimedia Commons Media related to Ethnic groups in Nepal at Wikimedia Commons

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