I'm so sorry for taking a while to respond. This is amazing! I hope things go well for you. Knowledge communication is always important.

I do wonder who stands to the right of the painting's primary subjects? A sitting reference? If so, what was their name? Where were they from?

All the things we lose to time...

Sources, East Africa II:
▪ Indian and Arab Entrepreneurs, G Clarence-Smith
▪ From the Trading-Post Indians to the Indian-Africans, M. Adam
▪ The 1972 Asian Expulsion in Uganda, W Tayeebwa et, ak,

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Sources, East Africa:
▪ Asian Ugandans Still Remember Home, S. Sawlani
▪ Indians in Post-War Uganda: 1948-62, M. Kumar
▪ Revisiting the 1972 Expulsion of Asians from Uganda, N. Desai
▪ East African Indians: How Many Are They, L. Nowik

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Sources, Southern Africa II:
▪ From the Trading-Post Indians to the Indian-Africans, Michel Adam
▪ Indentured Labour in Sub-Saharan Africa (1870-1918), Ulrike Lindner
▪ Indians in South Africa, Goolam Vahed

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Sources, Southern Africa:
▪ Children of Bondage, Robert Shell
▪ Shipwreck Survivor Accounts from the 16th and 17th Centuries, Elizabeth Eldredge
▪ Indian Ocean Slaves in Cape Town, Nigel Worden
▪ Narratives of Malay heritage in gentrified Bo-Kaap, Samera Albghil

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Sources, Ethiopia II:
▪ Ethiopian Art and Architecture, K. Windmuller-Luna
▪ Indian Craftsmen in Late 19th and Early 20th-Century Ethiopia, R. Pankhurst
▪ A History of Addis Ababa from its Foundation in 1886 to 1910, P. P. Garretson (disse.)

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Sources, Ethiopia:
▪ Missionaries, Muslims, and Architecture in Gondar, S. Ranasinghe
▪ A Tale of Four Cities, R. Pankhurst
▪ Foreign Influence and Local Contribution, Fasil Giorghis
▪ Portuguese and Indian Influences, Ian Campbell
▪ The Monastery of Martula Maryam, Paul Henze

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Sources, Ancient World:
▪ The Meroitic Empire, Randi Haaland

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Things have stabilized since those days, and many Indians have returned to their African homes. For them, and for those who never left, status as Ugandan, Kenyan, and especially South African are important markers of identity.

Most infamously, Idi Amin all but expelled the 80,000 Indians of Uganda–leaving behind only around 1,000 in 1972. Constant pressure and open government hostility also caused Indian populations in Kenya and Tanzania to drop by about half, to 78,000 and 40,000, respectively.

Following independence, the relationship between Indo-Africans and their cohabitants was not without friction. Colonial policies of divided rule created barriers to shared consciousness, and new governments aiming to forge national identities often sidelined even Black minorities in their countries.

While some Indians embraced their status as second or third-class residents in Africa, above most Black Africans but below their European overlords, others did not.

Indians like Priscilla Jana used their education to fight alongside Black compatriots, whether in the courts or on the streets.

Despite their circumstances, some Indians began to enjoy economic mobility in the colonies. The response to this was swift suppression: laws like the 1896 Natal Franchise Act relegated Indians to second-class status in nearly all of British Africa.

From 1860 to 1911, around 152,000 Indians were brought to the South African province of kwaZulu Natal, and thousands more to Kenya/Uganda.

Though some were “passengers” seeking business, most were effectively trafficked to work sugar plantations, rail lines, and coal mines on 5-10 year contracts.

The enforcement of abolition created a global demand for “alternative” labour sources at the same time that colonial expansion increased labour needs.

The British, falling back on their older strategies, looked to South Asia as a source of indentured work for their growing economic ambitions.

From 1652 to 1808, Cape Colony (South Africa) imported some 31,600 slaves from South and South-East Asia for manual and domestic work. Over half were from South Asia.

Descendants of some of these slaves famously became the Cape-Coloureds; others formed a different hybrid culture: the Cape Malays.

Unfortunately, Indian arrivals to Africa did not always come by choice. As early as the 16th century, Portuguese and Dutch ships carried Indian slaves and servants to Africa’s Eastern coast.

When shipwrecked, some escaped servitude and joined African communities. Most weren’t so lucky.