Indo-Guyanese
| Total population | |
|---|---|
|
327,000 43.5% of the Guyanese population (2002) |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Guyana: Overseas: | |
| Languages | |
| Colonial Languages: Indian Languages: | |
| Religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
Indo-Guyanese are Guyanese people with Indian heritage. Linguistically they are collectively known as the speakers of the Indo-Aryan Hindustani languages such as Hindi and Urdu. Ethnically, originated from different parts of India, they were a more specifically known as the Indians or Hindi people. Indo-Guyanese are the largest ethnic group in Guyana identified by the official census, making up 43.45% of the population in 2002.
On May 5, 1838, the year of finalized abolition slave emancipation in the British West Indies and the beginning of the indentured labor system, 396 Indian immigrants popularly known as the 'Gladstone Coolies' landed in British Guiana (now Guyana) from Calcutta (now Kolkata). This was the beginning of the indenture system which was to continue for over three-quarters of a century and whose essential features were very reminiscent of slavery. Within a decade Indian immigration was largely responsible for changing the fortunes of the sugar industry, the mainstay of the economy, from the predicted 'ruin' to prosperity.
Up to the early 1860s recruits in North India were drawn from in and around Calcutta and from the Chota Nagpur plateau, a sub-division of the Bengal Presidency about two to three hundred miles from Calcutta. Those from Chota Nagpur were the 'Hill Coolies' or Dhangars. The Dhangars were in great demand by tea garden planters to clear the jungle for the expansion of tea cultivation. Consequently, recruiting operations were pushed further north-westwards and the North-Western Provinces and Oudh (Modern Uttar Pradesh) and Bihar became the main suppliers of colonial labor.
The importation of labor from the Indian subcontinent was part of a continuing search by Guianese planters for a labor force that was docile, reliable and amenable to discipline under harsh, tropical conditions. Emancipation had conferred on the Guianese laborers both physical and occupational mobility. The majority of Indian immigrants were drawn from North India with smaller batches coming from the Tamil and Telugu districts of South India. They were recruited, very often on spurious promises, by professional recruiters, largely assisted by paid local agents called "Arkatis" in North India and "Maistris" in South India.
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Wikipedia