BBC: In pictures: India's African communities

[CJCRANE]

"Compared to the fate of Africans taken as slaves to the New World, the history of Africans in India is still largely unknown.
There are small communities like Jambur scattered along India's west coast. They are the home to the descendants of Africans who were brought to the subcontinent as slaves. Many others travelled as mercenaries, merchants and sailors.

Sea trade between east and southern Africa, and Gujarat in India was established more than 2,000 years ago."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/06/africa_india0s_african_communities/html/1.stm

[Igel]

1. But they don't say when the slave trade

flourished.

I suspect most of it wasn't 2000 years ago, but some actual information might be nice.

At the same time, that was probably the migration route taken 50k years ago.

[bhikkhu]

2. More likely during the Mughal period

When India was under Muslim rule (during the European middle ages) which had strong cultural ties with contemporary African Islamic states. And no particular sentiments against the slave trade.

The 50k-ago migration route is probably represented in India by the Dravidians, who share a common psysiogeny with the Australian Aborigines - possibly the first Homo Sapiens to venture from Africa. The standard simplified history is that India was populated by sea from Africa then, and later by Indo-european peoples who instututed the caste system as an element of conquest. Of course a hundred other migrations, minglings and conquests are suggested by the current linguistic and ethnic diversity, both on and off the record of history.