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Indian New Zealanders
Indian women in Grey Lynn, Auckland, in 1962
Total population
292,092

142,920 (born in India)

5.8% of the population of New Zealand (2023)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Auckland154,824
Wellington22,227
Waikato17,295
Canterbury14,763
Bay of Plenty10,335
Manawatū-Whanganui region4,374
Languages
New Zealand English • Hindi • Fijian Hindi • Gujarati • Malayalam • Odia • Bengali • Punjabi • Marathi • Tamil • Telugu • Kannada
Religion
Majority: Hinduism
Minority: Sikhism • Christianity • Islam • Zoroastrianism • Jainism • Buddhism
Related ethnic groups

Indian New Zealanders or informally known as Kiwi Indians are people of Indian origin or descent who live in New Zealand. The term includes Indians born in New Zealand, as well as immigrants from India, Fiji, other regions of Asia, parts of Africa such as South Africa and East Africa, and from other parts of the world. The term Indian New Zealander applies to any New Zealander with one or both parents of Indian heritage. Although sometimes the Indo-Kiwi definition has been expanded to people with mixed racial parentage with one Indian parent or grandparent, this can be controversial as it generally tends to remove the ethnic heritage or identity of the foreign parent or grandparent, which may be seen as insensitive to those with mixed parentage, who tend to value both their Indian and non-Indian parents and grandparents.

Indian New Zealanders are the largest group of New Zealand Asians.[2] The largest number of Indians living in New Zealand are from Fiji. The fifth largest language in New Zealand is Hindi, shown in the 2018 census. According to ENZ.org (a New Zealand Government affiliate), since 2011, 18,000 Indians have migrated to New Zealand.[3] In 2011, the Indian population in New Zealand was 155,000, so there are 174,000 Indians in New Zealand (2014) due to the additional immigration of 18,000.[3] Most early New Zealand Indians were of Punjabi or Gujarati descent.[4][5]

History

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Indians had been employed for a long time on the European ships trading in Colonial India and the East Indies. Many of the early voyages to the Pacific either started or terminated in India and many of these ships were wrecked in the uncharted waters of the South Pacific.[6] Indians began to arrive in New Zealand in the late eighteenth century, mostly as crews on British ships. The earliest known Indians to set foot in New Zealand were Muslim lascars who arrived in Dec 1769 on the French East India Company's ship Saint Jean Baptiste captained by Frenchman Jean François Marie de Surville sailing from Pondicherry a union territory town bounded by the southeastern Tamil Nadu state, India.[7] Their arrival marks the beginning of Indian presence in New Zealand, in which hundreds of unnamed Indian lascars visited New Zealand on European ships in order to procure timber and seal skins.

After establishment of first European colony in Sydney in Australia in 1788 by the colonial British Indian Empire under the British East India Company, the company had exclusive right on control of all trade to and from the penal colony.[8][9] These colonies multiplied and expanded to include whole Australia, various Islands in Oceania, initially colonies were established under the British Indian Empire including New Zealand which was administered as part of New South Wales until 1841.

The period of Indian settlement begins with the earliest known Indian resident of New Zealand, a lascar of Bengali descent from the visiting ship City of Edinburgh who jumped ship in 1809 in the Bay of Islands to live with a Māori wife.[7] Another took up residence on Stewart Island around the same time.[10]

Possibly the earliest non-Māori settlers of the Otago region of South Island were three Indian lascars who deserted ship to live among the Māori in 1813.[11] There, they assisted the Ngāi Tahu by passing on new skills and technologies, including how to attack colonial European vessels in the rain when their guns could not be fired.[11] They integrated into Māori culture completely, participating in Tā moko and taking on Māori names.

There were a number of Indian soldiers who served New Zealand, 17 are recorded to have served in WWI and WWII.[12] The most well documented of these soldiers being Jagt Singh who served in Gallipoli during WWI.

The late 1800s and early 1900s saw the first wave of migration of Indians arriving in the country. A number of them came directly to New Zealand but some came via Fiji and others via other British colonies such as Burma. A large number of these early migrants were Indian teenagers, mainly from Punjab and Gujarat. They were generally looked after by the Māori community, and tended to have unions with Māori women.[13]

Official policy in New Zealand to restrict non-European immigration resulted in difficulties for Indians to enter the country in the 1920s. Groups like The White New Zealand League, established in 1926, was opposed to both Chinese and Indian immigration because it was seen as a threat to the economic prosperity of European New Zealanders.[14] Racial tensions between local Indians and Pākehā/Europeans lasted for decades in Pukekohe. Until the late 1950s, Indians there were excluded from barbershops, hair salons, bars, and balcony seats in cinemas, and could not join the local growers' association.[15] At this time, a large number of Punjabi Sikhs, who often had farming experience, settled in the Waikato district and took up dairy farming.

Before the 1970s it remained difficult for Indians not related to the earlier immigrants to enter New Zealand. However, a small number of Fijian Indians and Indian-descent refugees from Uganda arrived in the country. By the 1980s, the official attitude towards Asian immigration relaxed and an increased number of Indians arrived in New Zealand.[16]

Early cultural contact theory

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In 1885, Edward Tregear published the controversial book The Aryan Maori (1885), in which he placed the Māori language in the ranks of the Indo-European language family. He further claimed, that Māori were descended from Hindu Brahmins who spread south from India.[17]

The Tamil bell may indicate contact between Māori and South India going back to the 14th or 15th century.[18] A 1954 report by V Lakshmi Pathy, published in the Journal of Polynesian Studies, hinted at similarities between the South Indian Kannada language and various Polynesian languages including Māori.[19]

Socioeconomics

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Demographics

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According to the 2018 New Zealand census, there were 239,193 ethnic Indians in New Zealand making up 4.7% of New Zealand's population.[20] This is an increase of 84,015 people (54.1%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 134,610 people (128.7%) since the 2006 census. Some of the increase between the 2013 and 2018 census was due to Statistics New Zealand adding ethnicity data from other sources (previous censuses, administrative data, and imputation) to the 2018 census data to reduce the number of non-responses.[21][22]

There were 129,123 males and 110,070 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.173 males per female. The median age was 30.0 years, compared with 37.4 years for all New Zealanders; 47,505 people (19.8%) were aged under 15 years, 71,796 (30.0%) were 15 to 29, 106,665 (44.6%) were 30 to 64, and 13,230 (5.5%) were 65 or older.[23][20]

In terms of population distribution, 64.7% of Indian New Zealanders lived in the Auckland region, 26.3% lived in the North Island outside the Auckland region, and 9.0% lived in the South Island. The Ōtara-Papatoetoe local board area of Auckland had the highest concentration of Indian people at 26.2%, with Papatoetoe in Auckland considered to be New Zealand's little India.[24] The next highest concentrations are in the Puketāpapa local board area (22.9%) and the Whau local board area (18.2%). Hamilton City has the highest concentration of Indian peoples outside of Auckland at 7.3%. The Chatham Islands and Great Barrier Island had the lowest concentrations, recording no Indian people in their respective areas.[25]

The proportion of Indian New Zealanders born overseas was 76.2%, compared with 27.1% for all ethnicities. Nearly two-thirds (65.7%) of those born in New Zealand were aged under 15.[20]

At the 2013 census, 72.0 percent of Indian New Zealanders aged 15 and over were in the labour force, of which 8.3 percent were unemployed. The large employment industries of Indians were retail trade (16.3 percent), health care and social assistance (11.7 percent), and accommodation and food services (9.7 percent).[26]

Religion

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Religion[27]
Religion Percent
Hinduism
 
 46.6%
Sikhism
 
 21.4%
Christian^
 
 15.1%
Muslim
 
 8.7%
No Religion
 
 8.1%

According to the 2018 New Zealand census, 46.6% of Indian New Zealanders identified as Hindus, 21.4% as Sikhs, 15.1% as Christians ( where 6.4% as Catholic, 1.3% as Pentecostalism, 0.5% as Anglican and 6.9% as other christian), 8.7% as Muslims, while 8.1% identified themselves as having no religion.[28]

Notable individuals

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Main category: New Zealand people of Indian descent

Academics

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Anand Satyanand (centre left) served as the 19th Governor-General of New Zealand from (2006–2011), meeting Dame Sukhi Turner (right), Mayor of Dunedin (1995–2004)
Cricketer Jeetan Patel

Business

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Entertainment

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Media

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  • Rohit Kumar Happy,[29] editor of Bharat-Darshan, Hindi literary magazine
  • Rebecca Singh, news presenter on the New Zealand television station TV3

Politics

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Sport

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Media

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TV

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APNA Television[30]

Newspapers

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  • The Indian news[31]
  • Indian Weekender[32]
  • Indianz x-press[33]
  • Indian Newslink[34]
  • Multicultural Times[35]
  • Kuk Hindi samachar[36]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "2023 Census Results Reflect Aotearoa New Zealand's Diversity". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  2. ^ "Indian population leapfrogs Chinese to become third-largest ethnicity in New Zealand". RNZ. 3 October 2024. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  3. ^ a b "New Zealand Migrants – How Many and From Where?". www.enz.org. 4 June 2013.
  4. ^ "Indians in New Zealand – Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa". Archived from the original on 10 April 2008.
  5. ^ Nachowitz, Todd (2015). Towards a framework of deep diversity: Identity and invisibility in the Indian diaspora in New Zealand (Thesis). Hamilton, New Zealand: University of Waikato.
  6. ^ Davidson, J.W. (1975). Peter Dillon of Vanikoro: Chevalier of the South Seas. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. p. 31. ISBN 0-19-550457-7.
  7. ^ a b Nachowitz, Todd (2018). Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar; Buckingham, Jane (eds.). Identity and Invisibility: Early Indian Presence in Aotearoa New Zealand, 1769–1850. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. pp. 34–40. ISBN 978-0-19-948362-4. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  8. ^ Binney, Keith R., Horsemen of the First Frontier (1788–1900) and The Serpents Legacy.
  9. ^ British East India Company in early Australia, tbheritage.com, accessed 11th February 2024.
  10. ^ Taonga, New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. "2. – Indians – Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand". teara.govt.nz.
  11. ^ a b Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar; Buckingham, Jane (2018). Indians and the Antipodes: Networks, Boundaries and Circulation. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199483624.
  12. ^ "Indian Service Personnel". Auckland War Memorial Museum. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  13. ^ Mayhew, W. R. (1977). Tuapeka: The Land and Its People. Clutha District, New Zealand: Capper Press.
  14. ^ Jamnadas, Bharat. "Our Pioneers Did Not Have It So Easy". Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  15. ^ Swarbrick, Nancy. "Indians – 1920s–1930s', Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand". Te Ara. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  16. ^ Taonga, New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. "4. – Indians – Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand". teara.govt.nz.
  17. ^ Tregear, Edward (1885). The Aryan Maori.
  18. ^ Darrah, Petrina (8 February 2023). "The Mystery of New Zealand's Tamil Bell, an Archaeological 'UFO'". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  19. ^ V Lakshmi, Pathy. "Are There Linguistic Affinities Between Maori And Kannada? Some Reflections". www.jps.auckland.ac.nz: 35–42. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  20. ^ a b c "2018 Census ethnic group summaries | Stats NZ". www.stats.govt.nz. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  21. ^ "2018 Census totals by topic – national highlights | Stats NZ". Archived from the original on 23 September 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  22. ^ "New Zealand's population reflects growing diversity | Stats NZ". www.stats.govt.nz. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  23. ^ "Ethnic group (detailed total response – level 3) by age and sex, for the census usually resident population count, 2006, 2013, and 2018 Censuses (RC, TA, SA2, DHB)". nzdotstat.stats.govt.nz. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  24. ^ "Papatoetoe in South Auckland emerges as Little India". 14 August 2019.
  25. ^ "Ethnic group (detailed total response – level 3) by age and sex, for the census usually resident population count, 2006, 2013, and 2018 Censuses (RC, TA, SA2, DHB)". nzdotstat.stats.govt.nz. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  26. ^ "2013 Census ethnic group profiles: Indian". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  27. ^ "Indian ethnic group". Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  28. ^ Gopal Krishan. "Demography of the Punjab (1849–1947)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  29. ^ Rohit Kumar Happy
  30. ^ "APNA Television". Freeview. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  31. ^ "Print Editions". The Indian News. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  32. ^ "Indian Weekender | www.indianweekender.co.nz – Meet our team". www.indianweekender.co.nz. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  33. ^ "About Us". IndianZ Xpress. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  34. ^ "About Us". indiannewslink.co.nz. 17 November 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  35. ^ "Print editions". Multicultural Times. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  36. ^ "Latest News Paper | Kuk Punjabi Samachar". Retrieved 13 November 2021.
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