Tamil groups (especially the Chettiyars, Pillais, Muslims) emigrated as commercial migrants. They then dominated the trade and finance in Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and other places. The first Indian to own a merchant ship during the British times comes from this group. These Tamilians integrated and assimilated well with their adopted countries, and became well integrated into local populations in Mauritius, South Africa, Guyana, and Fiji. On the other hand, Karnataka Tamils of Karnataka, Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka of Sri Lanka, and Tamil Malaysians of Malaysia were evolved into distinct communities of their own with unique multilingual sub-culture and identity. Many also left to work in the possessions of the French Empire via its holdings in Pondichéry in Réunion and the French Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe (see Malabars). A small group was hired by the Dutch colonial government in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) to work in Sumatra (namely in Medan). Roughly about 40,000 (est.) descendants of these immigrants are still found in Medan. Many independent Tamil merchant guilds, such as the Nagarathar, also left for these areas in an age-old tradition of their ancestors who had traded in these areas for the last 2,000 years. Britain also hired many Sri Lankan Tamils as clerical and other white-collar workers, especially in Malaysia and Singapore. All these different streams have combined to create vibrant Tamil communities in these countries. Also, many Tamils from India and Sri Lanka migrated to the Crown colony of Singapore and British Malaya as laborers, army clerks and merchants. Twentieth century Return migration from Sri Lanka and Burma During and after the devastation of WW2, many Tamils and other Indians from Burma fled to India to Manipur, and Tamil Nadu. They established Burmese refugee colonies that still exist today and maintain an identity as Burmese returnees. In Sri Lanka the Sinhalese nationalist SLFP party disfranchised all Indian origin Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka and returned 600,000 back to India under the Srimavo-Shastri Pact signed between India and Sri Lanka. Many were repatriated to the Nilgiris region's tea estates. They too maintain a distinct identity as Ceylon returnees in Tamil Nadu. Black July has created another stream of Sri Lankan and Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka refugees in India who have languished for the last 20 years in refugee camps throughout Tamil Nadu while many others have integrated