Ala-Din Khilji (1296–1316) mounted a number of campaigns in the region battling the
Sumra princes whose cycle of capitulation/rebellion could be charted exactly to the perceived military stress on the metropole. Yet, the Delhi Sultans and their governor rarely resorted to invading Sumra held territories – relying, instead, on alliances with tribal elite and local power struggles. Against the Sumras, Khiljl advanced the cause of
Samma. The conflict guaranteed a rolling supply of princes and tribal chiefs wanting alliances with the center. The tussle for dominance between the Sumras and the Samma lasted until the reign of Firuz Shah Tughluq (1351–1388), when the Jam emirs of Samma were finally able to end Sumra dominance, taking over lower Sindh.
Formation of Khoja and Memon Islamic communities The community's oral history says that the decline of their community began after the death of Veer Dada Jashraj. It also says that their name derives from the city of Lohargadh (/Lohanpur/Lohkot) in
Lahore, from which they migrated in the 13th century after the establishment of Muslim rule there. In 1422, Jam Rai Dan was tribal leader in
Sindh during the
Samma Dynasty; he was converted to Islam by Sayad Eusuf-ud-Din and he adopted a new name Makrab Khan. At that time a person named Mankeji was head of 84
nukhs of Lohanas, who were in favour in court of that Samma king. He was persuaded by ruler and the Qadri to convert to Islam. However, not all Lohanas were ready to convert from
Hinduism. But 700 Lohana families comprising some 6,178 persons converted in
Thatta, Sindh. These are now known as
Memons (from
Mumins).
Post-partition After the
partition of India in 1947, Lohanas from Kutch and Sindh migrated in large numbers to
Gujarat, mostly to
Kutch,
Ahmedabad and
Vadodara. Many also settled in
Maharashtra in
Mumbai,
Mulund,
Pune, and
Nagpur.
Overseas diaspora Thousands of Hindu
Gujaratis left India between 1880–1920 and migrated to
British colonies in the
African Great Lakes region of
Uganda,
Kenya and
Tanganyika. A significant number of these came from the
Patidar and Gujarati Lohana communities. At that time, however, there was already a bustling merchant class diaspora of
Gujarati Muslims in these countries. The Lohana migrants to East Africa, of which there were 40,000 in 1970, came mainly from the Saurashtran cities of
Jamnagar and
Rajkot. Many Lohanas set up businesses in those countries, two of the most successful being those set up by
Nanji Kalidas Mehta and
Muljibhai Madhvani. In the later part of 20th century, following the independence of British colonies, and particularly after
Idi Amin's
expulsion order for South Asians in 1972, most Lohanas moved to the
United Kingdom, and to a lesser extent to
United States and
Canada. In the UK, the highest concentration of Lohanas and other Gujarati Hindu communities is around the
West London suburbs of
Wembley and
Harrow, and the city of
Leicester in the
East Midlands region of
England. ==Society and culture==