# Interesting non-indigenous minority groups around the world **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 24, 2010, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-non-indigenous-minority-groups-around-the-world/530234 "2010-02-24T04:46:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-non-indigenous-minority-groups-around-the-world/530234/41 "2010-02-28T00:06:36Z")
The current commander of the Israeli Navy, [Adm. Eli “Chinee” Marom](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Eli_Marum2.jpg), is a Chinese Jew. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-non-indigenous-minority-groups-around-the-world/530234/42 "2010-02-28T03:32:52Z")
There are the [Magyarabs,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magyarab) Egyptians of Hungarian descent, the legacy of a military levy from when the Ottoman Empire ruled both countries. They were “discovered” by Lazlo Almasy, upon whom _The English Patient_ was loosely based. Another Hungarian diaspora were the gypsies who came to England in the 16th century. They were the ancestors of Charlie Chaplin, Michael Caine, and Elvis. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-non-indigenous-minority-groups-around-the-world/530234/43 "2010-02-28T17:05:54Z")
Thanks guys, these are all great. Can’t say why, but these little groups leftover from history seem so romantic and strange, they just fascinate me. Thought of two more: After King Philip’s War (in the colonial US), a number of Algonquian Indians were sold into slavery in [Bermuda](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bermuda#Demographics), where they still constitute a distinct ethnic group. The [Americo-Liberians](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americo-Liberian), American slaves who founded Liberia and are still influential in the country’s politics. > [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > There are [Greek-speaking villages](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griko_language) in southern Italy that are left over from the colony established in the 8th century BC. These people _have_ to win some kind of award for perseverance. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-non-indigenous-minority-groups-around-the-world/530234/44 "2010-02-28T17:43:55Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > There are [Greek-speaking villages](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griko_language) in southern Italy that are left over from the colony established in the 8th century BC. Yeah, I think I’m going to arbitrarily say that any group that has continually occupied an area since before the birth of Christ get to call themselves" native" :). Especially since they may predate the Latinate Italians in the south. Actually I know I’ve seen scholarly references doubting the specific antiquity of modern South Italian Greek, associating the language more likely with a reintroduction by the Byzantines. I’m sure it was in Before the Normans: _Southern Italy in the Ninth & Tenth Centuries_ by Barbara M. Kreutz ( 1991, University of Pennsylvania Press ), but I can’t find it quickly skimming the text - her stupid index is no help at all. > [@AK84](#): > > Pakistan has a small colony of people decended from [Africans](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1869876.stm). The Sidi are very interesting. References I’ve seen refer to them as Ethiopian ( Abyssinian )-origined, but I wonder if that was a general moniker. Nonetheless a Sidi polity centered on Janjira was one of the major competitors with the rising Maratha state, controlling the northern and central Konkan coast for at least a century up through the 1730’s: _In addition the strongest actual power on the Konkan coast was not these well-known European trading nations, but the Sidis of Janjira, an Abyssinian Muslim family who held sea forts and some large nearby land possessions, and maintained an extensive navy to protect its merchant shipping._ From The New Cambridge History of India, vol. II.4: _The Marathas 1600-1800_ by Stewart Gordon ( 1993, Cambridge University Press ). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-non-indigenous-minority-groups-around-the-world/530234.md?page=2)