List of Diasporas - S

S

• Scottish diaspora - includes the Auld Alliance and the Scottish Wars of Independence which led countless Scots to emigrate to mainland Europe to escape persecution and hardship. The Highland clearances which depopulated large parts of the Scottish Highlands and had lasting effects on Scottish Gaelic culture; the Lowland Clearances which resulted in significant migration of Lowland Scots to Canada and the United States after 1776; the Ulster-Scots, descended primarily from Lowland Scots who settled Ulster during the Plantation of Ulster in the 17th century and subsequently fled to the Americas in mass numbers throughout the 18th century due to religious and cultural persecution as well as other socio-economic factors. Other Scots and Ulster Scots went to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and a smaller but important community in Argentina. (See also British diaspora, above).
• Serbian diaspora - from Serbia, former Yugoslavia. Over 12 million of Serbian descent live around the world, historically based in Serbia, nearby Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Albania, Republic of Macedonia and Romania. The largest overseas Serbian communities are in the U.S.A (See Serbian American) and Germany, as well as Austria, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Brazil and South Africa.
• Somali diaspora - includes ethnic Somalis who live in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Yemen, Kenya, as well other parts of Africa. It also includes about 2.5 million people of Somali origin who live in the Middle East, Europe, Oceania, and North America, either as recent immigrants or as naturalized citizens.
• South African diaspora - mainly consists of South African emigrants of European descent, especially those whose mother tongue (first language) is Afrikaans. South Africans of European descent whose mother tongue (first language) is English have largely emigrated to Great Britain for the same reasons. There is also a growing middle class in South Africa of African descent, many of whom are starting to emigrate for better prospects, furthering the demographic weight of all South Africans abroad. South Africans have largely settled in Britain, Australia, the United States, New Zealand, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Argentina and Brazil.
• South Asian diaspora - includes millions of people from India, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, whose descendants live in Suriname, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Mauritius, Fiji, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Tanzania, Uganda, and other countries who left British India in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and millions more who have moved to Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates in recent decades (see Desi, British Asian, South Asian American, Indo-Canadian and Parsees).
  • Indian diaspora - estimated at over 30 million, refers to people originating from India living in other parts of the world.
  • Tamil diaspora - denotes people of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lankan Tamil origin who have settled in many parts of rest of India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Reunion, South Africa, Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, French Caribbean islands, Europe, Australia and North America (US and Canada).
  • Sikh diaspora - from the Punjab region Sikhs have emigrated to all over the world. Now there are more than a million Sikhs outside of India. The biggest community is the British Sikh community which in the last census was recorded as 336,179 people. There are also major Sikh communities in Canada with 278,000, Malaysia (100,000), East Africa (100,000), America (87,000), and 150,000 living in Europe, and 32,000 in Australia and New Zealand.
  • Chitpavan Diaspora - Hindu converts of mixed Indian and East European (primarily Jewish) descent who migrated to India centuries ago.
  • Punjabi diaspora - main regions Punjabis have migrated to include: EU (chiefly UK), Canada, USA, Malaysia and Australia, which took place in the 20th century.
  • The Roma (English terms: Gypsy, Gypsies) - a traditionally 'dispersed' people in Europe, with origins in South Asia (or perhaps, northern India) for 800-some years, are even more 'dispersed' today, following the Holocaust of Nazi Germany. (See Some names for the Roma) Over 10 million Roma live across Europe, the majority in Eastern countries (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Albania, Greece, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Macedonia), and estimates of 250,000 Roma are known to live in North America (the US and Canada).
• Spanish diaspora - Refers to the migration of millions Spanish people over the last 500 years all over the world, for a great variety of reasons, especially to America, Africa (Spanish Guinea, Spanish Morocco, and the Canary Islands), and other Spanish territories in Europe. This has resulted in the diffusion of the Spanish language and the large number of Spanish names in the places mentioned. During the 20th century, the Spanish diaspora was increased due to the political and economic emigrants who left Spain during the Francoist dictatorship (1930's but his death in 1975 brought democratic reform back to Spain). Notable communities were established in Argentina, Cuba, France, Italy, Mexico, Russia, the United Kingdom and across Latin America.
• Sudanese from the African nation of Sudan and the new independent country of South Sudan inhabited by the mostly Christian Dinka and Nuer peoples. Many Sudanese of both countries immigrated into Europe, esp. the UK and scattered across the Middle East. There has been substantial growth of Sudanese in the USA and Canada, esp. in the Midwest and Central States (see Sudanese American), and were areas of resettlement of tens of thousands of (many Southern) Sudanese refugee children known the Lost Boys of Sudan in the 1990s and 2000s (decade).
• Swedish diaspora. Large numbers of Swedes (and Swedish speaking Finns from Finland also under Russian rule) migrated to the USA in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is estimated that about eight million Americans have some Swedish ancestry. Swedish Americans constitute 10% of the population of Minnesota and other large numbers settled in Wisconsin, Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania. Large Swedish migration took place in Canada in the same time period along with other ethnic Scandinavians from Norway, Denmark and Iceland. Smaller waves of Swedish expatriates live across Europe, east Asia, Australia and Latin America, usually made up of retirees and businessmen in the late 20th century. A large colony of Swedes settled towns in the USA like Lindsborg, Kansas and Kingsburg, California in the late 19th century.
• Swiss diaspora, some 9% of Swiss citizens live across the globe. Swiss nationals and descendants live in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil and nearby nations of France, Germany, Italy and Austria. In the late 19th century, an immigration settlement program brought tens of thousands of Swiss Germans, ethnic Germans and Austrians alike into southern Chile, and the imprint of Germanic culture remains strong there. Also to note West African nations such as Liberia and Ghana are known for several thousands of Swiss expatriates.
• Syrian diaspora - The largest Arab nationality diaspora in the world.