In the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, a large Indian diaspora lived in Central Asia. The Indians settled compactly in caravanserais. If there were no caravanserais nearby, they settled down in one area, creating "Indian rows" (Old Margelan, 80s of the XIX century). and "Hindu quarters" (Namangan, early XIX century). The Indian community on the territory of Central Asia was formed from representatives of the emerging national capital, who were mainly engaged in trade and usury activities. In addition to trade and usury, natives of India were engaged in entrepreneurship. Together with Russian partners, they built two cotton gins (in 1896-in the village of Mashad, Namangan district; in 1907 - in the city of Andijan). Among the Indians there were cooks, bakers, confectioners. At the beginning of the 20th century, Indian laborers began to arrive in Turkestan1. In the second half of the 19th century, the Indian diaspora grew steadily. If in the first half of the XIX century there were about two thousand of them in the Bukhara Khanate alone, 2 then in the second half of the XIX century there were more than five thousand Indians [Logofet, 1911, p. 181]. Most of the emigrants were from Shikarpur, Sindh, Multan, Punjab, while a smaller number were from Madras, Calcutta, and Bombay [Serebrennikov, 1914, p. 142]. In the Bukhara Khanate and in the Turkestan region, Indians usually lived temporarily. Usually, they were engaged in commerce for 10-15 years, and then returned to their homeland. In rare cases, the residence of Indians in the Turkestan region was extended. As a rule, this was due to their acceptance of Russian citizenship [Nebolsin, 1855, p. 313]. Indians lived not only in such large cities as Bukhara, Samarkand, Namangan, Andijan, Ferghana, but also in small towns and even villages. There were no large Indian settlements on the territory of the Turkestan region, but rather the Indians were scattered throughout Central Asia. A significant number of ... Read more