Tamil people

The Tamil people are an ethnic group from South Asia with a recorded history going back more than two millennia. The oldest Tamil communities are those of southern India and northeastern Sri Lanka. There are also a number of Tamil emigrant communities scattered around the world, especially in Malaysia, Singapore, Fiji, Mauritius, and South Africa, with more recent emigrants also found in Australia, Canada, and parts of Europe.

Geographic distribution

Tamils in India

Most Indian Tamils live in the state of Tamil Nadu, formerly the Madras Presidency, which includes most of the historic Tamil lands and was created as a linguistic homeland for the Tamil people after they gained independence from Britain in 1947.

Related Topics:
Tamil Nadu - Madras Presidency - Britain - 1947

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There are also Tamil communities in other parts of India. Most of these are fairly recent, dating to the colonial and post-colonial periods, but some—particularly the Hebbar and Mandyam Tamils of southern Karnataka, the Tamils of Palakkad in Kerala, and the Tamils of Pune, Maharashtra—date back to at least the medieval period.

Related Topics:
Karnataka - Palakkad - Kerala - Pune - Maharashtra

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Tamils in Sri Lanka

See also: Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka

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There are today two groups of Tamils in Sri Lanka. The first are the Ceylon Tamils, who are descended from the Tamils who lived in the old Jaffna kingdom. The second are the Indian Tamils or hill-country Tamils, who are descended from bonded laborers sent from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka in the 19th century to work in tea plantations there. Ceylon Tamils mostly live in the northern and eastern provinces, whereas hill-country Tamils largely live in the central highlands. The hill-country Tamils and Ceylon Tamils historically have seen themselves as separate communities.

Related Topics:
Jaffna - Bonded laborers - Tamil Nadu - 19th century - Tea

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Under an agreement between the Sri Lankan and Indian governments in the 1960s, around 60% of hill-country Tamils were stripped of their Sri Lankan nationality, and many were repatriated to India. However, the ethnic conflict has led to the growth of a greater sense of common Tamil identity, and the two groups are now more supportive of each other (Suryanarayan 2001).

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There is also a significant Tamil-speaking Muslim population in Sri Lanka. Unlike Tamil-speaking Muslims from India, however, they do not identify themselves as ethnic Tamils and are therefore usually listed as a separate ethnic group in official statistics.

Related Topics:
Muslim - Sri Lanka

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Tamil emigrant communities

Mass Tamil emigration began in the 18th century, when many poor Tamils were sent as bonded laborers to far-off parts of the British Empire, especially Malaya, South Africa, Fiji, Mauritius and the Caribbean. At about the same time, many Tamil businessmen also emigrated to other parts of the British Empire, particularly Burma and East Africa. Many Tamils still live in these countries, and the Tamil communities in Singapore, Reunion Island, Malaysia and South Africa have retained much of their culture and language. Many Malaysian children attend Tamil schools, and a significant portion of Tamil children in Mauritius, Reunion and Singapore are brought up with Tamil as their first language. To preserve the Tamil language, the Singapore government has made it a national language despite the fact that Tamils make up only about 4.2% of the population, and has also introduced compulsory instruction on the language for Tamils. Other Tamil communities, such as those existing in South Africa, no longer speak Tamil as a first language, but still retain a strong Tamil identity.

Related Topics:
Bonded laborers - British Empire - Malaya - South Africa - Fiji - Mauritius - Caribbean - Burma - East Africa - Singapore - Reunion Island - Malaysia - South Africa - Tamil

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A large emigration also began in the 1980s, as Sri Lankan Tamils sought to escape the ethnic conflict there. These recent emigrants have most often fled to Australia, Europe, North America and Southeast Asia. Today, the largest concentration of Tamils outside of southern Asia is in Toronto, Canada.

Related Topics:
Australia - Europe - North America - Southeast Asia - Toronto - Canada

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Many young Tamil professionals from India, particularly computer programmers, have also emigrated to Europe and the United States in recent times in search of better opportunities. These new emigrant communities tend to be better integrated with their host communities than the older ones, and many of them have established cultural associations to protect and promote Tamil culture and language in their adopted homes.

Related Topics:
India - Programmer - United States

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