The Sidi story begins in India as far back as the 1st century AD. In the 3rd century AD, the forts on the Konkan (Maharashtra) coast were the principal trade centers for Arab merchants. However, meaningful presence of the Sidis in India dates back to the 12th/13th centuries. The forced migration of Africans for purposes of slavery is incontestably the major reason for the presence of Africans in India. But much before the need and notion of enslavement of humans arose in the ancient societies, commercial compulsions prompted the people of those times to undertake numerous hazardous journeys across the seas.. From the 13th century, African traders operated from Jan­jira, an island off the west coast of India, and from the 16th century Janjira became a power base for Africans who ruled not one, but two states in western India. In 1948, a year after independence, when India’s princely states were incorporated into the new India, the states of Janjira and Sachin were ruled by Sidis – the name by which Indians of African descent are generally known today.