Indo-Caribbean orIndian-Caribbean people are people from theCaribbean who trace their ancestry to theIndian subcontinent. They are descendants of theJahajiindentured laborers fromBritish India, who were brought by theBritish,Dutch, andFrench during the colonial era from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century.[26]
Indo-Caribbean people largely trace their ancestry back to theBhojpur andAwadh regions of theHindi Belt and theBengal region inNorth India,[27][28] in the present-day states ofUttar Pradesh,Bihar,Bengal andJharkhand, with a significant minority coming from theMadras Presidency inSouth India, especially present-dayTamil Nadu andAndhra Pradesh. Other notable regions of origin includeWestern Uttar Pradesh,Mithila,Magadh,Chota Nagpur,Madhya Pradesh,Haryana,Rajasthan,Pashtunistan,Punjab,Sindh,Kutch,Gujarat,Maharashtra, andKashmir.[29][30] Most Indians in theFrench West Indies are of South Indian origin and Indians in Barbados are mostly of Bengali and Gujarati origin.[31]
Most Indo-Caribbean people live in theEnglish-speaking Caribbean nations ofTrinidad and Tobago,Guyana, the Dutch-speakingSuriname and the French overseas departments ofGuadeloupe,Martinique andFrench Guiana. With smaller numbers in other Caribbean countries includingJamaica,Belize and the islands of theLesser Antilles. Large Indo-Caribbean immigrant populations are found inNorth America andEurope, specifically in theUnited States, theNetherlands,Canada, and theUnited Kingdom. These countries have some of the largest Indo-Caribbean populations in the world, and Indo-Caribbeans in these countries have largely congregated in urban areas such asNew York City,The Hague,Toronto,Rotterdam,London,Miami/Ft. Lauderdale/West Palm Beach,Orlando/Ocala,Tampa,Houston,Birmingham,Winnipeg,Vancouver,Montreal,Schenectady/Albany,Minneapolis/Saint Paul,Manchester,Washington D.C.,Leicester, andParis.[26]
Indo-Caribbean people may also be referred to asCaribbean Indians,East Indian West Indians,[a]Caribbean Hindustanis,South Asian Caribbean people,[39] orCaribbean Desis,[40] whilefirst-generation Indo-Caribbean people were calledGirmitya,Desi,Hindustani,Kantraki,Mulki (m.) /Mulkin (f.),[41] orJahaji (m.) /Jahajin (f.).Coolie, meaning hired laborer, was used in the plantation society of the late 19th to early 20th century, however in the present-day it is considered a derogatory way to refer to Indo-Caribbean people and is considered apejorative.[42]
Bold indicates major Indo-Caribbean subgroups.
Caribbean Islands
Mainland Caribbean
Primary Indo-Caribbean Diaspora
Secondary/Migrant Workers Indo-Caribbean Diaspora
Mixed Ethnicities of Partial Indo-Caribbean origin
From 1838 to 1917, over half a million Indians from the formerBritish Raj orBritish India andColonial India, were taken to thirteen mainland and island nations in theCaribbean asindentured workers to address the demand for sugar cane plantation labour following theabolition of slavery.
Much likecotton,sugarcane plantations motivated large-scale near-enslavement and forced migrations in the 19th and early 20th century.[43]
Following the passage of the1833 Slavery Abolition Act, many formerly enslaved people left their enslavers. This created an economic chaos for European planters in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean. The hard work in hot, humid farms required a regular, docile and low-waged labour force, which led to the creation of theIndian indenture system. Poor economic conditions in India led to many Indians to look for sources of work. In this system, Indians were taken to British, French and Dutch colonies around the world, including in the Caribbean, to work oncash crop plantations.[44][43]
The first ships carrying indentured labourers for sugarcane plantations left India in 1838 for the Caribbean region. In fact, the first two shiploads of Indians arrived inBritish Guiana (modern-dayGuyana) on May 5, 1838, on board the Whitby and Hesperus.These ships had sailed fromCalcutta. In the early decades of the sugarcane-driven migrations, the working conditions for the indentured Indian workers were abysmal, due in large part to the lack of care among the planters.. They were confined to their estates and paid a pitiful salary. Any breach of contract brought automatic criminal penalties and imprisonment. Many of these were brought away from their homelands deceptively. Many from inland regions over a thousand kilometers from seaports were promised jobs, were not told the work they were being hired for, or that they would leave their homeland and communities. They were hustled aboard the waiting ships, unprepared for the long and arduous four-month sea journey. Charles Anderson, a special magistrate investigating these sugarcane plantations, wrote to theColonial Secretary declaring that with few exceptions, the indentured labourers are treated with great and unjust severity; European planters enforced work in sugarcane farms so harshly, that the decaying remains of immigrants were frequently discovered in sugarcane fields. If indentured labourers protested and refused to work, they were not paid or fed by the planters.[43]
The sugarcane plantation-driven migrations led to ethnically significant presence of Indians in Caribbean.[45] In some islands and countries, these Indo-Caribbean migrants now constitute a significant proportion of the population. Sugarcane plantations and citizens of Indian origin continue to thrive in countries such asGuyana, formerly,British Guiana,Jamaica,Trinidad and Tobago,Martinique,French Guiana,Guadeloupe,Grenada,St. Lucia,St. Vincent,St. Kitts,St. Croix,Suriname andNevis.[43][46] By some estimates, over 2.5 million people in the Caribbean are of Indian origin. Many have ethnically blended with migrants from other parts of the world, creating a unique syncretic culture.[citation needed]
Though production was centered in the Caribbean, sugarcane production played a significant role in pre-World War II global politics and population movements. France, for example, negotiated with Britain leading to Act XLVI of 1860, whereby large numbers ofIndian indentured labourers were brought for sugarcane plantation work inFrench colonies in the Caribbean region.[47] The Caribbean colonies of the Netherlands too benefitted from the indentured laborers from India.
The ratio of female to male Indians coming to the Caribbean was for many years extremely low, 3:100 in 1938. The Indian government and the Colonial Office set up a quota system that dictated how many Indian women came to the Caribbean. In 1870, the quota called for 40 Indian women for every 100 Indian men, a quota that often was not met. In total, only 25% of all Indians who emigrated to the Caribbean were women. There were several reasons for fewer Indian women than men emigrating.[48]
It was more expensive for agents to recruit Indian women than men, because not many Indian women wanted to leave India. It was more socially acceptable in India for men to emigrate and seek work. Women were not encouraged to do the same. Another factor dissuading Indian women from going to the Caribbean was the invasive medical examination administered upon arrival, which involved inspection of genitals. Many women did not want to have to undergo this examination and many men would not have wanted this to happen to their wives.[48]
Additionally, the colonial powers present in the Caribbean were not initially interested in convincing Indian women to immigrate. Colonialists saw indentureship as a temporary replacement for the labor that had previously been done by enslaved African people. Their goal was to use Indian men for labor. They did not want Indian people to start families in the Caribbean, which would establish Indian culture and people as a lasting presence in the Caribbean, undermining the power of the indenture system to control all aspects of the laborer's lives and force them into subjugation.[48]
In the late 1800s, there was a change in policy. The late 1880s saw competition in the sugar industry from European beet sugar, and the colonial government knew that having a settled, immobile group of Indian people to exploit for labor would be highly profitable and advantageous in the competition to dominate the sugar industry. Encouraging Indian people to stay in the Caribbean also cut the costs required to bring Indian people back to India. As indentureships ended, the Indian men who had come to work as indentured laborers were given small parcels of land to encourage settlement. Another method of encouraging settlement was to encourage more Indian women to immigrate, since permanent settlement was no longer being discouraged by the colonial powers.[48]
Indian women who were recruited and immigrated to the Caribbean were for the most part married women joining their husbands, single women, women who had been widowed, women trying to escape poverty, and women prostitutes from the cities of Calcutta and Chennai, then called Madras. Under the indenture system, married Indian women were excused from work on the plantations and planters were required to give them medical care and rations. However, the colonial government did not recognize Hindu or Muslim marriages until the 1940s, so many married women were categorized as single and did not receive the few privileges given to married women. Married women who did not have to work in the fields took care of children and expenses. Women who worked were paid less than men.[48]
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The majority of the Indians living in theEnglish-speaking Caribbean came from easternUttar Pradesh and westernBihar which are mostly speakers ofBhojpuri,Hindi, andAwadhi, while those brought toGuadeloupe andMartinique were largely fromAndhra Pradesh andTamil Nadu. About twenty percent (20%) of the indentured wereTamils andTelugus particularly inTrinidad and Tobago andGuyana.
A minority emigrated from other parts ofSouth Asia, including present-dayPakistan andBangladesh.
Indo-Caribbean people comprise the largest ethnic group in Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, andSuriname. They are the second largest group inJamaica, Grenada,Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,Saint Lucia,Martinique andGuadeloupe.
There are also small communities inAnguilla,Antigua and Barbuda,The Bahamas,Barbados,Belize,French Guiana,Panama,Dominican Republic,Puerto Rico, theNetherlands Antilles andVenezuela. Small groups also exist in Haiti, where they are sometimes mistakenly referred to as "mulattos".
Modern-day immigrants from India (mostlySindhi merchants) are to be found onSaint-Martin /Sint Maarten,St. Thomas,Curaçao and other islands with duty-free commercial capabilities, where they are active in business. Other Indo-Caribbean people descend from later migrants, including Indian doctors,Gujarati businessmen and migrants fromKenya andUganda.
Indo-Caribbean people have migrated to theUnited States,Canada, theNetherlands,France, theUnited Kingdom,Ireland, and to other parts of theCaribbean andLatin America, includingVenezuela, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Panama, and Cuba.
The indentured Indians and their descendants have actively contributed to the evolution of their adopted lands in spite of many difficulties, particularly through the development of Caribbean cuisine and music.
The initial generations of indentured Indians brought severaltraditional Indian games to the region, though most of these are no longer played.[49]
In recent years, attempts to commemorate the Indian presence and contributions to the Caribbean have come to fruition:
Indian Arrival Day is aholiday celebrated onMay 30 inTrinidad and Tobago each year since the 1990s. It was first celebrated inTrinidad and Tobago and then other countries with significantIndian people whose ancestors came asindentured laborers. It commemorates the first arrivals fromIndia toTrinidad and Tobago, on May 30, 1845, on the shipFatel Razack
In 1995, Jamaica started to celebrate the arrival of Indians in Old Harbour Bay,St. Catherine Parish on May 13.
In 2003, Martinique celebrated the 150th anniversary of Indian arrival. Guadeloupe did the same in 2004. These celebrations were not the fact of just the Indian minority, but the official recognition by the French and local authorities of their integration and their wide-scale contributions in various fields including agriculture, education, and politics, and to the diversification of the culture of theCreole peoples. Thus, the noted participation of the whole multi-ethnic population of the two islands were in these events.
St. Lucia and many Caribbean countries have dedicated commemorative days to acknowledge the arrival and important contributions of their Indo-Caribbean populations. St. Lucia celebrates its Indo-Caribbean heritage on May 6. Other dates when India Arrival Day is celebrated in the Caribbean include May 5 (Guyana), May 10 (Jamaica), May 30 (Trinidad and Tobago), June 1 (St. Vincent), and June 5 (Suriname).[46]
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