People on The Move: Punjabi Colonial, and Post-Colonial Migration

This volume brings together an important collection of research findings relating to the past century of migration in the Punjab region. The period began with the movement of Sikh farmers from the central districts to the new canal colony development in the West Punjab. Punjabi recruitment in the Indian Army also established an early tradition of overseas migration. The upheaval of the 1947 partition sparked off massive migration across the new international boundaries of India and Pakistan that now divided East and West Punjab. This represented the largest displacement of population in the twentieth century. Since independence the onset of the Green Revolution along with urbanization has encouraged further migration in the Punjab region. The colonial tradition of overseas migration has also continued on a much larger scale. By the close of the twentieth century, important overseas Punjabi diasporas had emerged in Britain and North America leading to the development of what has been termed the ‘Three’ Punjabs.