Total population | |
---|---|
(470,518) | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Trinidad and Tobago · United States · United Kingdom · Canada | |
Languages | |
English · Trinidadian Hindustani · Bengali · Kutchi · Gujarati · Kashmiri · Punjabi · Marathi · Telugu · Tamil · Kannada · Malayalam · other Languages of India | |
Religion | |
Hinduism • Islam • Christianity • Sikhism • Jainism • Buddhism • Zorastrianism • Bahá'í • Judaism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Indo-Caribbean Indo-Caribbean American British Indo-Caribbean people Indo-Guyanese Indo-Surinamese Indo-Jamaican Indo-Aryan peoples, Dravidian people |
Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian (shortened as Indo-Trinbagonian) are nationals of Trinidad and Tobago of Indian heritage or descent. Linguistically they are collectively known as the speakers of the Indo-Aryan Hindustani languages typically Hindi and ethnically, they are more specifically known as the Indo-Aryan Hindavi people (people of Hind) an ethno/linguistic group coming primarily from the north-central Indian region of Hind which is located in the Gangetic Plain of the Ganga and Yamuna rivers in North India, between the Himalayas and the Vindhyas. They are usually categorized with multiple identities, with a more localized prioritized ethnic orientation, for example, Bhojpuri people, Awadhi people, Rajasthani people, Malvi people, Himachali people in addition to further tribal, village, or religious identities.
In his book Perspectives on the Caribbean: A Reader In Culture, History, and Representation, Philip W. Scher cites figures by Steven Vertovec, Professor of Anthropology: of 94,135 Indian immigrants to Trinidad, between 1874 and 1917, 50.7 percent were from the NW/United Provinces (an area, which today, is largely encompassed by Uttar Pradesh), 24.4 percent hailed from the historic region of Oudh (Awadh), 13.5 percent were from Bihar, and lesser numbers from various other states and regions of the Indian Subcontinent, such as Punjab, West Bengal, and South India [primarily Madras (Chennai)] (as cited in Vertovec, 1992). Out of 134,118 indentured laborers from India, 5,000 distinguished themselves as "Madrasi" from the port of Madras and the immigrants from Calcutta as "Kalkatiyas".