Indian-Africans: Why do large number of Indians live in East Africa?

Question

One thing I noticed is, Indians from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania still consider themselves "Indians", when Indians in Somalia considers themselves SOMALIS. They speak Somali/Arabic, and they are all Muslims like other Somalis. However, Indians in these other African countries DO NOT. But only speak their languages the Swahili. I want to know more about this.

Answer 1

1. Your question is all confused with poorly learnt facts that have become scrambled. For example:
a) Somalia has never had an Indian community of any significance;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Somalia
b) Swahili is not an Indian language, it is a Bantu language;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swahili
c) there are no longer large numbers of Indians in East Africa;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Uganda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Kenya
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Tanzania
d) you seem to be unaware of the expulsion of the Ugandan Asians by Idi Amin in September 1972, and the exodus of Asians from Kenya in 1968.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda_under_Amin
http://www.odysseustrust.org/lectures/221_east_african_asians-sharma.pdf

2. Indians were taken to East Africa by the British in the 19th and early 20th century under an indentured labour scheme, which replaced slave labour with cheap and reliable labour for plantations, building railways etc.
http://www.wairua.co.nz/ruth/culture/africa.html