MIGRATING COMMUNITIES AND WEAPONS Asian Presence in Africa during the XIXth Century

Thanks to research carried on in the Balochistan Archives combined with research in the British Archives, and field work conducted in Pakistani Balochistan, in the Sultanate of Oman, in the United Arab Emirates, in the United Republic of Tanzania, and in Mozambique, Baloch presence in the Indian Ocean was apparently closely historically and politically connected with military and with measures taken by the British authorities against slave trade during the nineteenth century. The level of influence on trade routes controlled by Muslim merchants in the Gulf and in the Indian Ocean was high, the major motivations to Baloch migrations were originated from environmental issues as well as from socio-economic and political conditions in their land. These conditions implied numerous consequences such as the expansion of lawless habits throughout their region, enslaving by external powerful groups, and the progressive creation of new roles in the Persian/Arab Gulf and in East Africa such as the military one.