Rohilla

This article is about a community in Uttar Pradesh. For the steamship, see SS Rohilla. For the 18th century dynasty in Rohilkhand, see Rohilla dynasty.

Rohilla
A sowar of the Rohilla Cavalry, c. 1820
Regions with significant populations
India (Rohilkhand), Pakistan (Karachi)
Languages
Hindi/Urdu • Pashto
Religion
Islam
Related ethnic groups
Pathans of Uttar Pradesh, Urdu-speaking people, other Pashtun tribes

Rohillas are a community of Pashtun heritage,[1][page needed][2][3][page needed] historically found in Rohilkhand, a region in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India.[4] It forms the largest Pashtun diaspora community in India, and has given its name to the Rohilkhand region.[4] The Rohilla military chiefs settled in this region of northern India in the 1720s, the first of whom was Ali Mohammed Khan.[4][5]

The Rohillas are found all over Uttar Pradesh, but are more concentrated in the Rohilkhand regions of Bareilly and Moradabad divisions. Between 1838 and 1916, some Rohillas migrated to Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean region of the Americas in which they form a subset of the Muslim minority of the Indo-Caribbean ethnic group.[6] After the 1947 Partition of India, many of the Rohillas migrated to Karachi, Pakistan as a part of the Muhajir community.

  1. ^ Gabriele Rasuly-Paleczek, Robert L. Canfield (2010). Ethnicity, Authority, and Power in Central Asia. Routledge. ISBN 9781136927492.
  2. ^ Jos J. L. Gommans (1995). The Rise of the Indo-Afghan Empire. BRILL. p. 9. ISBN 9004101098.
  3. ^ Robert Nichols (2008). A History of Pashtun Migration, 1775-2006. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-547600-2.
  4. ^ a b c Potter, George Richard (1971). The New Cambridge Modern History. Cambridge University Press. p. 553.
  5. ^ Impeaching for Imperialism, MALICK GHACHEM, Boston Review, February 20, 2020
  6. ^ "Afghan Muslims of Guyana and Suriname". Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Vol 22, No 2, 2002. 3 November 2004. Archived from the original on 23 May 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2019.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)