User:Mar4d/Africans

Africans in Pakistan are residents of Pakistan who are of African descent.

History
The Sheedi people are the first African community known to have settled in present-day Pakistan. Descending from the Bantu peoples of southeastern Africa, the first group of Sheedis arrived in parts of what are now southern Pakistan and western India in the 7th century as merchants, sailors or mercenaries. Several arrived in the 8th century as soldiers in Muslim armies during the early Islamic conquest in the subcontinent, and were referred to as Zanjis. The vast majority however were later brought from Africa to the subcontinent during the slave trade and as indentured servants by colonial Arab and Portuguese merchants. In addition to western India, they settled in the coastal areas of Balochistan and lower Sindh. Most of the Sheedi migrants became Muslim, ascribing to the Sufi school of thought.