sentences:  With respect to the Sikh diaspora, the most important political aspect of this period was the historical establishment of a Sikh homeland; the idea of a powerful Sikh state was a reality.Sikh migration from the Punjab began in earnest in the second half of the 19th century when the British Raj had successfully completed its annexation of the Punjab.The pivotal action in the British annexation was the lifetime exile of the then eleven-year-old Maharaja, Duleep Singh, thus making Singh the first (although unwilling) member of the Sikh diaspora.