Speaking of the most business-friendly people on earth, it is undoubtedly the Jewish people, and the Current List of The Richest People in the World, we know the founder of Facebook, Mark Lee. Zuckerberg, google's two founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, venture capitalist George W. Bush. Soros, they were all Jews.
Of course, we Chinese not far behind in doing business, especially the compatriots represented by the Wenzhou region, the Chaoshan region, and the coastal area of Fujian, whose business footprints are all over the world, and the wealth leader of the Chaoshan people is Li Ka-shing.
In fact, there is another ethnic group in the world that is good at doing business, they are like the Chaoshan Wenzhou people, as long as there is sunshine, they will appear, this ethnic group is the Tamils from India.
Just as the early Chinese immigrants were mainly Fujianese and Cantonese, Indian immigrants also had significant regional characteristics, that is, they were mainly from Tamil Nadu. The indians encountered overseas, especially the old immigrants, are overwhelmingly Tamil.
The Tamils are one of the South Asian peoples with a history of nearly 2,000 years, mainly distributed in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, which is located in the southernmost part of India. Chennai, the capital of the Tamils, was once the stronghold of the East India Company of the British Empire and one of the earliest colonial cities in India.
The Tamils have a long history and remarkable achievements. They seem to have developed maritime traffic, urban life and commercial activities very early on. The trade between the Tamils and the ancient Greeks and Romans can be attested to by literary, linguistic and archaeological sources. The Dravidian language, spoken by the Tamils, is the earliest elegant language of its time. Their literary tradition is rich, dating back to the early AD.
The Tradition of the Tamils going abroad is also attributed to their masters, the British. After the British Empire established colonies around the world, the East India Company took a large number of laborers from Chennai and distributed them to the colonies as laborers, which was somewhat similar to the early "piglets" in Guangdong and Fujian.
If we look at the geographical location of Tamil Nadu, coupled with the colonial map of the British Empire, it is not difficult to understand the destination of the Tamils.
Tamil Nadu is near the Indian Ocean, to the east is Southeast Asia, Southeast Asian Indians are overwhelmingly Tamil, in Singapore and Malaysia, Tamil is the officially recognized mainstream ethnic group, and Tamil is designated as the Chinese of Singapore and Malaysia. Tamil Hanukkah is an official holiday in Singapore.
Tamil Nadu is west of the Indian Ocean, all the way to Africa. Small islands in the Indian Ocean have also become destinations for Tamils, such as Mauritius, with a population of 1 million people, 70% of the population is of Indian descent, and the main group of Indians is Tamils. In the 19th century, Mauritius became a British colony, because of the lack of labor, a large number of Indian Tamils were constantly transported here, but also brought Indian culture, Tamils came to Mauritius, and they were particularly fond of having children, so it also caused the Indian population to occupy the country. This is similar to Singapore, which is also a predominantly Chinese country.
In Africa, in addition to Mauritius, there are Tamils, and South Africa also has a large number of Tamils. The Tamils of South Africa are the earliest hardcore supporters of Mahatma Gandhi in India, and Gandhi's non-violent non-cooperation movement began in South Africa, initially relying mainly on the support of Indians in South Africa, and then slowly growing, it can be said that the Tamils of South Africa changed the modern history of India.
In addition, Uganda in Africa is also home to a large number of Indians, and the earliest to the Past is also the Indian Tamils.
In Fiji in the South Pacific, Indians make up 38% of the population, Hindustani is still the official language of Fiji, and Tamils were the early immigrants here.
Surprisingly, the Caribbean is also home to Indian Tamils, who were trafficked by the British to the British West Indies as laborers in the 19th century. Today, Indians are the largest ethnic group in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana, and the second largest ethnic group in Suriname.
Guyana, a small South American country, has a predominantly population of Indian and African descent, and many of Guyana's presidents are Tamils of Indian descent.
In North America, there are about 4 million Indians in the United States, and the current vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris, her mother is a Tamil from India. And many of the executives of U.S. companies are also Indians, and the first female CFO (chief financial officer) in GM's history is Tiffya Suyadwara, a Tamil from Chennai, India.
In Canada, Indians are the largest immigrants, and Indians in Australia are the second largest ethnic group after the Chinese, and among these Indians, Tamils cannot be underestimated.
The Tamils have their own language and script, which is completely different from Hindi, which is different from the Chinese Chaoshan dialect, which is different from mandarin pronunciation, but the script is the same.
In China, there are southerners and northerners, as is India, tamils belong to the southerners of India, in addition to the difference in language and Hindi, their skin color is also different from the indians in the north, the ancestors of the Tamils are from Africa, short in stature, darker in skin, small and flattened in nose, thick in lips, black and thick in hair, curly. North Indians are of the Aryan race, tall, with a fair complexion and a high nose. The picture below shows North Indians on the left and Tamils on the right.
In the Tamil region, they have their own cuisine that is not the same as Indian cuisine. Just like we Chaoshan people have our own Chaoshan cuisine, in overseas Tamils, they have their own radio stations, they have their own newspapers, they have their own actors, etc.
Tamils are particularly capable of doing business, they do business all over the world, the most important thing is that they are particularly rich, and the business is particularly successful. India's third-richest man, Shiv Nadal, worth $23.5 billion, is from Tamil.
It is said that anyone who deals with Tamils knows that tamils are very sharp, very calculating, very frugal, just like the Jews, which may be related to the harsh living conditions of the Tamils in the early days, only by cutting down on food and clothing, only by calculating hard, will they survive for a long time.
Tamils, like the Chaoshan people, especially like to live in groups, strong family concepts, live in a big family, even generations do not divide the family, surprisingly, Tamil people are also pay attention to more children, like to have children, every Tamil family is a lot of children. Is it a bit similar to the Chaoshan people?
The United States has Hollywood, India has Bollywood, Bollywood produces the world's most movies every year, in fact, India also has a Collaywood, headquartered in Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, Collewood specializes in the production of Tamil films, just like the Early Years of Hong Kong, China, the Cantonese-based "Hong Kong Films", the main audience is South Indians and overseas Tamils. The tamils' most famous Tamil film is "Baahubali King", which has long been broadcast by CCTV.
The history of emigration of the Indian Tamils can be said to be full of humiliation and pain, the first was sent to the colonies of the world as slaves by the British, the fate was similar to that of the Chinese laborers in those years, on the other hand, because of life, forced to leave their hometowns and find opportunities for survival in other countries. If you are happy and self-sufficient in your own homeland, how many people will choose to work hard in a foreign country?
In terms of national cognition, China's Chaoshan people have never forgotten their roots, while the Overseas Tamils are completely different, in their eyes, they are only Tamils, not Indians.