Native speakers of
are spread across
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...
. The vast majority of them are Muslims of the
Hindi–Urdu Belt of northern India, followed by the
Deccani people of the
Deccan plateau
The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by th ...
in south-central India (who speak
Deccani Urdu) and the
Muhajir people
Muhajir or Mohajir ( ar, مهاجر, '; pl. , ') is an Arabic word meaning ''migrant'' (see immigration and emigration) which is also used in other languages spoken by Muslims, including English. In English, this term and its derivatives may refer ...
of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
.
The historical centres of Urdu speakers include
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...
and
Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
, as well as the
Deccan
The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by the ...
, and more recently,
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...
.
Another defunct variety of the language was historically spoken in
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...
but centuries before the name "Urdu" first began to appear. However, little is known about this defunct Lahori variety as it has not been spoken for centuries.
Although the majority of Urdu-speakers reside in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
(including 30 million native speakers,
and up to 94 million second-language speakers),
where Urdu is the national and official language, most speakers who use Urdu as their
native tongue live in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, where it is one of
22 official languages.
The Urdu-speaking community is also present in other parts of
the subcontinent with a
historical Muslim presence, such as the
Biharis
The Biharis () is a demonym given to the inhabitants of the Indian state of Bihar. Bihari people can be separated into three main Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic groups, Bhojpuris, Maithils and Magadhis. They are also further divided into a v ...
and
Dhakaiyas (who speak
Dhakaiya Urdu
Dhakaiya Urdu sometimes referred to as Sobbasi Language, Khosbasi Language and the Language of Dhaka Nawab Family '' is a dialect of Urdu that is native to Old Dhaka and its immediate surrounding areas in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is spoken by t ...
) in Bangladesh, the Urdu-speaking members of the
Madheshi community in Nepal, some
Muslims in Sri Lanka and a section of
Burmese Indians.
In addition, there are Urdu-speakers present amongst the South Asian diaspora, most notably in the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
,
North America (notably the United States and Canada),
Europe (notably the United Kingdom),
the
Caribbean region,
Africa (notably
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
and
Mauritius
Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...
),
Southeast Asia (notably
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
)
and Oceania (notably
Australia and
Fiji).
Other communities, most notably the
Punjabi elite of Pakistan, have adopted Urdu as a
mother tongue and identify with both an Urdu speaker as well as
Punjabi identity.
History
Before the origin of the word "Urdu", Europeans used the label
"Moors dialect", which simply meant "Muslim", to describe the language associated with the Muslims in North India, such as John Ovington, who visited India during the reign of
Aurangzeb in 1689:
The language of the Moors
The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages.
Moors are not a distinct or ...
is different from that of the ancient original inhabitants of India, but is oblig'd to these Gentiles for its characters. For though the ''Moors dialect'' is peculiar to themselves, yet it is destitute of Letters to express it; and therefore in all their Writings in their Mother Tongue, they borrow their letters from the Heathens, or from the Persians
The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian.
...
, or other Nations.
In the 19th century,
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and his followers such as
Mohsin-ul-Mulk
Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk, Munir Nawaz Jang, also known as Syed Mehdi Ali ( ur, ﻧﻭﺍﺏ ﻣﺤﺴن الملک, منير نواز جنگ, ﺳﻴﺩ ﻣﻫﺩﻯ ﻋﻠﻰ) (born 9 December 1837 — 16 October 1907), was an Indian Musli ...
further advocated for the adoption of Urdu as the language of
Indian Muslims
Islam is India's second-largest religion, with 14.2% of the country's population, approximately 172.2 million people identifying as adherents of Islam in 2011 Census. India is also the country with the second or third largest number of Muslim ...
, and led organizations such as the
Anjuman-i Taraqqi-i Urdu
Anjuman-i Taraqqi-i Urdu ( ur, ; ''Organisation for the Progress of Urdu'') was an organisation working for the promotion and dissemination of Urdu language, literature and culture in British India.
After the partition of India, the separated ...
and
Urdu Defence Association
The Urdu Defence Association was an organisation developed by Mohsin-ul-Mulk, starting in 1900, for the advocacy of Urdu as the ''lingua franca'' of the Muslim community of India. The association is regarded as an offshoot of the Aligarh Movement. ...
, which won popular support in the
Aligarh Movement
The Aligarh Movement was the push
to establish a modern system of Western–style scientific education for the Muslim population of British India, during the later decades of the 19th century. The movement's name derives from the fact that i ...
and the
Deoband Movement.
See also
*
Urdu speakers by country
*
States of India by Urdu speakers
As per Government of India census data of 2011, the total number of Urdu speakers in India were 62,772,631. According to the census guidelines, "Urdu" does not broadly refer to the Hindostani language, but merely the literary-register of the m ...
Notes
References
External links
*
*
{{Muhajir communities
Muhajir communities
Ethnic groups in Pakistan
Linguistic groups of the constitutionally recognised official languages of India