How Britain Used India To Replace Slave Labor
2023 ж. 17 Қаң.
624 938 Рет қаралды
After abolishing slavery, Britain looked to India to replace the labor on its plantations. The British Empire has since gone to great lengths for history to forget how it created the world’s largest diaspora.
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I am Trini. I am a product of the African diaspora and Indian diaspora. While everyone knows about the African diaspora, it's so surprising to learn that the Indian diaspora is not widely taught at all. Thank you AJ+ for telling part of my story. I am still trying to learn about my ancestors and I'm so glad other people want to learn about this too!!
They used the indentured servants in Trinidad for East Indians
@@taureanlloyd925 I think he knows that much. I grew up there myself and am of mostly African descent.
same, i had to explain this history my whole life lol since i didn't grow up in the caribbean
Yeah I'm a black trini and having lived in the us and canada ppl are always so shocked when I explain to them how trinidad is like 40% east Indian, especially ppl of east Indian descent themselves are the most shocked, I love giving them the tidbit that Diwali is a public holiday in trinidad.
Because "BLACK CULTURE" duh
Sad that even in India this topic is not covered in enough detail in our education
Yea, I think Africans suffered a lot but so have Asian countries and middle Easter countries. I don’t blame todays Caucasians. But their ancestors created todays modern world so it’s up to us to make sure how this society works for everyone.
@@pavanraj4125yeh but they haven’t apologised or acknowledged it. They NEED to acknowledge it NOW
The fact is that the Britishers have badly abused, suppressed, and killed 10s times more Indians than the Mughals did!
You know why? This is still being practiced in South Asia. Instead of the British South Asians now sign these contracts to go work in Middle East for dirty cheap labor.
Its covered. There's a whole chapter dedicated to it in 10th NCERT history books...
I am an Fiji Indian born India thank you for actually talking about what my great grand parents went through. No one really acknowledges what our people went through. Forget the apology.
No, they must apologize. They must.
Agree wholeheartedly
When will the British apologize to the Girmityas?
@@TheGuyNobodyReallyLikesthey are not going to apologise we have to grow more to show them our strength
Forgive but don't forget... Jai sri ram sis... Same to me.. ..
I'm 4th generation Indian living in Jamaica. We have always been aware of our history because my father was born in a community of mainly Indians at the time very close to the plantation on which they worked. It also helps that we have a family burial plot with some of my family members
Welcome back to India 🇮🇳🇮🇳🙏 Hope you still keep alive culture
“Three hundred years of humiliation, abuse and deprivation cannot be expected to find voice in a whisper.”― Martin Luther King Jr
😂😂😂😂
রিসোর্ট ৫০১
but it can be easily resolved with one reparations check. waiting for my opium welfare check UK. i mean u robbed an entire nation of its entire silver treasury.....i dunno how much is that in today's price but a few trillion pounds should do.
All the British astrocities need to be explored and made public. Money needs to be paid back to India from Britian. Start with the coffers of the British Royal family.
@@Jenifer_G it was the British that created a unified India 🇮🇳, It was the British that gave you democracy, your legal system, your rails. Before the British came what did you have other than burning widows and caste system.
I am from India. My great great grandfather was an indentured servant. He was shipped from one place to another and strangely ended up in a Texas cotton field working for over half his lifetime, some of his friends dying and being imprisoned there for life. He was lucky enough to come back, but all his hair was white by the time.
Woii which part in India u g/f from....
Sorry to hear it
@@Sthmohtwenty Gujarat
Legendary State of Modi ji.
Amazing and sad story. This could be a book or movie!
My great grandmother was child trafficked from India to Fiji at 14, with out her or her family’s knowledge or consent. The British govt owes so much in reparations to me and my people.
What is Nova Utopia's reparation? A sack of cash or a mansion? Not being sarcastic I wonder what you mean for yourself
$100 000 000
@@NovaUtopia hahahaha in 60 years when the Anglosphere (that means United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Britain) (Britain that means England, Wales, and Scotland) reaches Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, and get mineral resources from solid planets and harvest gas for fuel from gas planets. I'm sure with inflation they'll pay that reparations. The Anglo-Celtic descended nations will pay that. And it's networth will be 50 dollars in value in inflation. 😂😂😂 At least Germany is working on the faster than light hyperspace warpdrive technology as we speak right now
@@noahtylerpritchett2682 They wouldn't need to ask for reparations if you people didn't use specific races for slavery.
@@noahtylerpritchett2682 teach in the elementary school and high schools in your country all the garbage carried out in the colonies. Also teach about the famines induced in India that killed hundreds of thousands, and Churchill is no less of a criminal than Hitler.
Wow, I’m Guyanese Indian and I never really knew the history of my ancestors. I was more familiar with the African struggles but our experiences weren’t much different. Thank you for shedding light on this history.
Really you need to learn more about this search about "girmitia labour" always remember your roots and history
Not true, I'm from guyana, and we were taught both history. Even the boat Mv Whitby Indians came on since in primary school I knew this their is a big monument in Georgetown on camp st to commemorate Indian arrival..like I said I learn this in primary school
This is exactly why the phrase and attitude of “get over it” in terms of slavery and similar traumas is not only blunt, but also highly violent. You cannot get over trauma (inherited or not) when society is constantly trying to erase your story out of convenience while basically living off of your family’s sufferings. This is beyond sickening. Keep bringing these atrocities to the surface @AJPlus
They say get over it because it didn't happen to them or their ancestors or descendants. It doesn't affect them in any way.
@@chesterjade7630 the funny thing is even if they (white or passing) happen to have enslaved (melanated) people in their family tree they rather hide or downplay it in order to not lose privilege.
My Indian ancestors weren't treated well by the Brits. It doesn't affect me day to day though. It didn't happen to me.
@@silentstorm718 what you are basically saying is that you are unconscious.
So you can say to the Jews in regards to Nazi Germany holocaust, get over it. Along with other nations who suffered from World War II in regards to reparations. And current descendants in the present being compensated for reparations of the past, paid by people who had nothing to do with it. Of causes and effects that would last generations.
I'm of Kenyan descent and our colonial history also includes indentured Indians. They started building the first railway in Kenya in 1895. The track started at the coast moving inwards and they were exposed to harsh beatings, diseases, man-eating lions and frequent attacks from the natives who were resisting the colonialists' efforts. Today, their descendants are recognised as part of the over 40 tribes that make Kenya. This part of history is taught in schools, preserved in the national museum and archives. If there's something I've always admired Kenya for, it's putting the country's entire history out in the open. Until we have these uncomfortable conversations on what happened in the past, it's very difficult to move forward and above all, make sure it doesn't happen again.
Honest Question: How are the relations between native Kenyans and Indians today? Are the Indians there fully integrated into Kenyan culture and how do most of the native Kenyans feel about the Indians? How do they feel about them being recognized as a tribe, even though they aren’t indigenous to the area?
Did you know the term Harambee is actually from something these Indentured Railway workers used to shout out when lifting something very heavy or other ardous tasks? The religious phrase they shouted was Har Har Ambe, and is a cry to pull all strength together, and means in general terms Hail to Mother Goddess Ambe for strength. From Har Har Ambe, which even the African laboroers were chanting along with the Indians , and because of language issues it got corrupted into Harambee, but still has the same meaning to pull together. Now it is translated to Unity by some. So the history of Indians and Africans working together since days of colonisation is reflected in the term Harambee. The cultural relationship despite hurdles is deep and entwined forever. Even the Kenyan dishes are primarily of Indian cuisine like Chapatti, etc.
@@sriramiyer7402 They have intergrated well a while back they felt foreign in Kenya but now they don't, they understand all "Kenyan" jokes, I'm puting Kenya in quotes because they are also Kenyans, and people always find out they can also speak local languages when gossiped infront of them, but its like India was carried to Kenya. They keep to themselves a lot of the time because of culture and religion. If you go to there places you would think you are in India, 150+ years later everything Indian is still in them.
@@sriramiyer7402 You could ask; are black Kenyan diasporas fully integrated in their respective nations. You could ask whether white Europeans are living abroad fully integrated. But you wont, this requirement is exclusive to Indians, because it is a totally racist test, and it defines you.
@@RejectTheMoonGod101 I asked the question because the video is about Indian Indentured Laborers, not Kenyan diaspora or white Europeans. Also, the person I replied to specifically spoke about Indians in Kenya.
I am South African but my heart is emphatically Indian. We retained our core values, worked hard, and educated ourselves.The disingenuity and brutality of colonialism needs to be spoken of.
Colonial contracts ... were the contracts fair?
Welcome back to India 🇮🇳🇮🇳 Indian are changing
@@Robert_austiastop bro....India is already populated...let them live where they want
@@andrewmclaughlin2701not at all situation were totally opposite of contracts they tortured them many of them died by starvation 😢
British took Chinese as indentured labour from Southern China provinces as well. My grandfather came to British Malaya as indentured labour, endured horrible conditions in tin mines.
Yeah my family went to British Guiana this way.
And indigineous nusantara got sufferd need to share all of nature,land and animal to this incoming foreinger that brought by invader,,
Men and children working down coal mines was very common in 19th century Britain, as well as kids working inside chimneys to clean them. The past was different and working in any mine was unpleasant and dangerous. Yet people talk about this Indentured labour as proof of the evil of the wicked white man, and that he must repent and repay today. I am sure that your ancestors moved to modern day Malaysia to improve their life. They were not forced to move. Britain, on balance, did a lot to modernise and civilize the world. I think that you have far more to be happy for than ungrateful for in this regard.
@@airplane1831 Most of the Chinese are not lured by British but in late 1800's and early 1900's huge famine happen in China, together with war (either with Europeans, Japanese's or themselves). Taiping revolution (Boxing movement), fall of Qing Dynasty ... and war between warlords subsequent to that until attack by Japan. It finished only after Communist are able to outlast General Chiang and Kuomintang to Taiwan. Most of the Chinese are not working for British but with their own warlord.
@@mohdhalmymdyusoff5836 bs They were smacked around in Trinidad Hong Kong was a British colony
I'm a South African Indian descendent of the Indentured Indians who came to South Africa in 1860 to work on the sugar cane plantations. Thanks for the full story. Most of us know of the bad treatment of our ancestors and the broken promises etc. but we were always told it was nothing like slavery because they came willingly. A big big lie. I always think about it like if I have a horrible boss and he tells me I have to take up a position in one of our branches in another country and the alternative is that I'll be retrenched, I will go out of fear of losing my job. And if, when I get there, things are not what I was promised and I have no means of returning home, because I'm being paid peanuts, then that's almost like slavery.
It is slavery, or so close to it that the distinction doesn't matter, and it's currently happening still in the UAE. Loads of Africans and Indians are being lured with the promise of well paid work etc and their passports are kept by their employers. They cannot go home or even change employer without the permission of their employer.
Most of the indentured labour in SA were kidnapped children brought to Durban and abused terribly.
Indentured slavery is nothing like Chattel slavery. Not even a bit.
Feel you Bro, I live in NYC and it's all crazy in the World! Stay true to you and go to India one day for the heck of it.
I'd like to think that the poor oppressed people being described here are a result of a one off opportunity by the British empire a long time ago and something that the Indian people would abhor. However the truth of the matter is that in India for thousands of years such people were on the bottom of a caste system which used and abused them because of their family name or the darker shades of their skin much longer than the British might have done. The worst part of this truth is that it's still being practiced in India. For example anyone who watches Indian television will easily notice that none of the actors in films or advertising ever have dark skin. Only fair skinned people are used. The poor and lower castes are totally ignored in Indian society.
I'm Indo-Trinidadian, a direct descendent of these people. What an amazing and insightful vid. I'm very proud of their strength and toughness and their preservation of Desi culture in the Caribbean, though it has morphed quite a bit through interacting with other cultures.
Was it both Muslims and Hindus that were indentured?
@@cdean2789 yep. And they were all forcefully Catholicized. Some still practiced their religion in private though, which is how it survived to the present day.
I am Trini. I am a product of the African diaspora and Indian diaspora. While everyone knows about the African diaspora, it's so surprising to learn that the Indian diaspora is not widely taught at all. Thank you AJ+ for telling part of my story. I am still trying to learn about my ancestors and I'm so glad other people want to learn about this too!!👍👍👍👍👍
I’m not surprised that the British never apologised, but even if they did it wouldn’t be genuine.
No need for anapology. It was a million years ago. Charge it to the game.
@steveerossa always wanting to erase people's stories to paint yourselves as good. Shameful, deceptive people.
@@steveerossa no need for an apology, we need to fight harder for monetary reparations!!!
@@islandnessa lol. Begging again.
@@steveerossa Who cares about apologies, Britan needs to cough up the dough 💰. Britan was dirt poor prior to invading countries all over the world and committing unthinkable atrocities for monetary gain, that's how Britan got wealthy.
I am from Trinidad and we learned about it in school but I didn't think we covered the true horrors of the system (even though we were taught how brutal it was). Hopefully we can learn more about this.
There is no way Britain won't suffer divine retribution for this evil. It may tarry, but their comeuppance shall surely come.
I don't think we learn about the proper history of anything, to be honest. Half of what we learn about slavery and indentureship has been watered down and whitewashed to make both systems seem like they were livable at best and unfair at worst. But we don't learn about how insanely brutal, evil, and extensive these systems were and we definitely don't learn about their impacts on our society and culture today.
@@dejijames4516 Elisabeth is burning in hell 🔥
They used the indentured servants in Trinidad for East Indians
@@elysse.m Totally agree. We covered it when I was in high school (probably around Form 3 or the equivalent eight grade for those in the US) and we learned what it was about. I knew there were people alive who came to Trinidad because of this. I knew many of them were cheated as the promised money wasn't enough to return home. We had some idea it was hard work as many Indians continued to work in the sugar cane industry harvesting the crop, which isn't an easy job to do. We never really talked about the brutality of it all or how they were treated, which is unfortunate as there were people still people alive who came here because of the system. Not sure how to solve it other than have mandatory university courses that cover it or for us to talk about it to the general public.
I'm half Indo-Guyanese and half white-American. I was very aware of the indentured servitude in my family's history and I'm glad it's getting coverage, For me it's this type of knowledge that really gives me nuance in how I see the whole race debate here in America. I once had someone tell me to my face that I should shut up about the slavery debate because it never touched my family. While I acknowledge indentured servitude was far less abusive, it really goes to show you can never know what has touched someone who appears to be white or not black. The stories live on.
Where ever they ruled they did the same even in china... Inhuman
Are Guyanese Indian or black.
@@polishherowitoldpilecki5521 what do you think about me.. I am indian Or from congo
@@Gamingwithshubham284 you seem to be a guy from Haryana lol
@@polishherowitoldpilecki5521Semi black.
What the documentary didn't point out is that the poverty of India and the official recognition, categorisation & often the criminalisation of the Indian caste system (in a very erroneous fashion) was also done by the British. The British taxed the Indian farmers through the Zamindari & the Ryotwadi system, so much that poverty & famines became endemic in India - this resulted in poor, illiterate farmers being conned by the British to sign away their lives and become indentured labourers.
As a Guyanese descendant of indentured servants I am glad that more recognition is being given to the topic. We learnt it in our history it was mentioned that it was a brutal system but just not the graphics. The "divide and rule" policy was worst though as we still face the repercussions today. The society is ethnically divided and ethnic tensions flare up every 5 years during elections.
My families from Antigua, but I have Indo-Caribbean relatives through marriage. I wish Guyana would move on politically from this ethnic buffoonery - we were all victims of British colonialism, you don't need to be an Indian or African to know what the country does or doesn't need building or fixing. It's 2023 and we still have this nonsense. We are all Caribbean people. It's time to move on from these things.
@@corvusglaive4804 correct 💯.
What about French Guyana
WOW VERY DANGEROUS SIRR! 😠 WE INDIAN DONT LIKE THIS ! PLS DELETE !! 😠😠BUT THIS WHY IM SO LUCKY LIVE IN SUPER INDIA 🤗🇮🇳 THE CLEANEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD , WE NEVER DO SCAM AND WE GIVE RESPECT TO ALL WOMEN THEY CAN WALK SAFELY ALONE AT NIGHT AND WE HAVE CLEAN FOOD AND TOILET EVERYWHERE 🇮🇳🤗🚽, I KNOW MANY POOR PEOPLE JEALOUS WITH SUPER RICH INDIA 🤗🇮🇳🤗🇮🇳🤗🇮🇳
@@indiasuperclean6969 what are you talking about
This is the history of Fijians of Indian descent. Prospective workers were told of the riches that awaited them in Fiji. Some were told that Fiji was part of India, or near India, that the nature of work varied, and that they could return in five years laden with fortune. Recruits were produced before the local maamledaar (magistrates) who witnessed the signing of the indenture contract (as most were illiterate, they could not understand the terms under which they would be employed). The labourers were then taken to the sub-depots where they joined others for the journey ahead. Many soon realised that their freedom was lost. None could escape. Those who resisted were kept in isolation without food or intimidated into submission.
I'm an Indo-Fijian, thanks for dropping knowledge on the topic. I am in the pursuit of finding out more about what happened.
The lies continue today: education, work, health care etc...
Wow
@@mdbalkissoon364 Please give evidence when making such a claim.
@@carlabroderick5508 Read
I'm a descendent from Fiji, they sent my ancestors there too. Our people are strong, we are the survivors of many generations of hardship. Thank you for telling the world our story.
The Indian Ministry of external affairs (MEA) runs a program called Know India Program (KIP). This allows the youth after high school to below 31 of the indian diaspora to visit India. During this program 40 youth from different countries spend time (4 weeks) together in india to learn about themselves, people like them from the diaspora and india. It's bitter sweet to meet each other and acknowledge what our ancestors suffered but beautiful because we all still have somehow managed to maintain certain facets of being Indian. As a former participant of this program I can confirm on behalf of 39 other participants that even those of us who don't understand the language, listening to the Indian National Anthem gives goosebumps. Check out your local Indian High Commission about participating in this program. My trip had participants from South Africa, Fiji, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Mauritius, Malaysia, Guyana etc..
Thanks for sharing this amazing video. 📺 It's beyond sad that the world has simply forgotten and dismissed the struggle of indentured servants. This was one of the largest displacement and movements of people in the 19 century and yet they don't have a line of it in the history books we teach our kids or even talk about it much. My grandmother who is in her 90s (God bless her) told us stories of this in which her family was the indentured servants 😩. May God bless these lost souls and their descendants wherever they left us off in this world 🌏 🙏🏼 One Love 🇬🇾 🇹🇹 🇫🇯 🇯🇲 🇮🇳
The first guy talking is from Fiji 🇫🇯 it’s heartening to know our histories are gaining notice.
As a Trini this story needs to be taught in schools all over the world.
As a Guyanese I have to ask why? Are you taught the history of every country and continent? This is knowledge you have to have an interest in to look into.
It is taught in schools in Trinidad. I learned about it and now y grandchildren are learning about it too.
Unfortunately, I was schooled in the west.@@arlenephillip3292
Indians are so polite, they'll just say, "We served", instead of, "We were enslaved".
But they weren't enslaved, even though the conditions were atrocious, they "served" their time as an indentured servant and then it was over. Treated cruelly but in most cases language and culture in tact. My father learned urdu/hindi from Indians in the village where he grew up. Despite what they endured, they came out of it as a people with an identity that held them together.
I know a family whose matriarch was kidnapped in India on her way to the shop to get food for her kids and forced to sign indenture contract. She never saw her young kids again and cried about it everyday till her death even though she started a new family in our country.
She started a new family?, In which country? And this happened when?
It sounds much like what happened to many Africans where European paid local thugs who kidnapped/ abducted Africans & gave them to the horrible European animals , which part of India this poor woman got abducted?
@n nes not sure. She passed awhile back and the one who would have been able to tell passed very recently. It's sad.
The scale of destruction, devastation, robbery, and slaughter wrought by British colonialism is incalculable. It deserves its own separate discipline in history. Just like we read about the French & Russian Revolutions, Nazism, the Stone age, and Roman Empire, there needs to be a separate study of history solely dedicated to British colonial atrocities.
Wow! I agree
What about the black and brown committed atrocities?
The world has benefited from British Colonialism more than any other evolutionary event in history. Running water, sewage treatment, mass transit, mass communication, paved roads, common law leading to women owning property, hospitals, and today the Internet brought to India by the descendants of the former colonists. Amazing how many people shit on those that lift them out of poverty.
“How British looted 45 trillion from India” by Dr. Shash Tharoor's “How Britishers killed 1.8 billion Indians Chronology of British Raj's exploitative policies” by UPSC This prof deprivation death calculation is potentially a pioneer for 400 y black slavery which UN slavery remembrance policy puts as weirdly low as 12 mio trafficked, striving spain and portugal elites pushing silence over memory culture 1.8 bn is twice the 2nd WW with 86 mio dying for 200 year british india alone !!!
So we don't need to read about French, Russian and roman attrocities ??😂😂
I’m Jamaican and really happy this is being covered by a major channel. There are Indian descendants who have produced documentaries on this however, the wider world should know about this. There is a lasting legacy which has had varied consequences. Once indentureship ended, SOME were given land but the blacks were never given that which must have been a way to divide and conquer the non-white underclass. Side note: Rastafarianism has Black nationalist, African and Indian roots. There is a very good documentary detailing it.
Please share the link to the documentary
Where is de link to de documentary? I man want to see it.
🎀Can you please put the link of the documentary. Or the name of it so it can be found. Thank you. 🎀
@@autumnhomer9786 I tried but cannot find the precise documentary. There is however, Dreadlocks Story, directed by Linda Aïnouche. It specifically speaks to the link between Jamaica Rastas and Sadhus of India. I've not yet watched that one but have seen the trailer and it appears to be a well researched and reliable source.
I & I = Tat Tvam Asi. Aatma/Paramaatma; never separate and always One! I am Of Indo-Fijian decent as well. Will always be in reverence to my ancestral roots for all their sacrifice. Appreciate all your hard work and efforts in exposing this facet of our collective 'hidden' history. Thank you very much... One Love, Peace, & Blessings to all. Om Tat Sat. Shantih...🙏🙏🙏
My family came from Bihar and were send to Surinam, a former Dutch colony. The dutch and British made an agreement to borrow workers. The first indians arrived Surinam in 1857 with the boat Lalla rookh.
1857 is the year bihari sepoys rebelled against the British
The brutality, abuse and robbery done by British to India breaks my heart. They killed millions and wounded millions mentally physically financially, denied basic human rights, dignity and their culture. Exercised extreme cruelty for their own enjoyment.
And now indians are doing the same to Kashmiris
@@slowknife2873 kashmiri muslims have genocided hindus from kashmir. even today if any hindu family tries to settle in kashmir they are killed by muslims.
There is going to be equal payback, it's just a matter of time.
@@slowknife2873 where are you from bro, don't believe in false propaganda.
Lol the British did not kill and wound millions of Indians what are you people on about... Indian was oppressing itself with the caste system for 1000s of years already.
Indian and Chinese indentured servants were also sent to Jamaica in 1845 and 1854. There are still descendants of indentured servants in the island to this day. They also contributed to our vibrant present Jamaican culture 🇯🇲
The same thing in Malaysia and Singapore too, but the Chinese came as business workers whereas the Indians were were still indentured workers
When I lived in Hawaii, I met Puerto Ricans whose grandparents were bought to Hawaii as indentured servants to pick sugar cane and harvest pineapples. At the time, I thought it was strange to find so many Puerto Ricans in Hawaii.
@@atrixsauza2068 ever heard of chinese tin miners in british malaya?
Growing up in the uk I would often hear Jamaicans of African descent use the derogatory terms ' coolie' and chachaman' when referring to people of Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani origin. Yes, there are racists in every race
@@dmdm7690 In Jamaica our motto is out of many we are one people. Although majority of our population are descendants of Africans we all see ourselves as Jamaicans. We mostly have social class conflicts and not racial conflicts. Yes that word is used by Jamaicans of all background on the island, including Jamaicans of Indian descent but it's never used in a negative manner. I personally didn't understand the meaning behind the word until I got to university and that is when I desisted from using the word and I started educating other persons of it's true meaning. I can't speak for Jamaicans in the UK though.
My grandfather and other older Indians always got very angry at the word coolie. For us younger Jamaicans, it was usually seen as meaning someone of mixed Indian decent. As a teenager I finally asked my father about it and suddenly he started telling me a whole lot about our family, even the original family name. I'm still not sure of they went to Jamaica as indentured servants and in all my search for records, I've not found anything apart from birth and death records.
That’s cause indentureship contracts were mostly exaggerated and a cover for the British. A good amount of Indians were kidnapped in the same way Africans were, they just had no one to talk to that could document what happened. A lot of the Indians taken were Tribal people who didn’t have birth and death records, even today those groups face persecution because of the lack of education and government documents in India.
Yeah Jamaicans love to use that word and it's disrespectful!
The word is derived from various Asian words meaning labourer, and was also used to refer to Chinese low paid and indentured laborers. It's considered very offensive in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana
I'm really surprised some people don't know about this. Thank you for promulgating this information. I'm truly grateful that this was taught in Caribbean classrooms up to university level. Thanks to my lecturer for taking it a step further to let us know that East Indians were in fact cajoled into these agreements.
This is painful. It is equally satisfying to have my ancestors be given a voice as it is traumatizing to think of the atrocities they endured. Had I been born a few decades ago, this would have been my life.
My grandfather was 2 years old when his parents J. Seopol (M. 24yr) and N. Lagna (F. 21yr) brought him from India to Suriname on a ship named Sutlej III They were from the village Dudhana District Basti. They left on 27 November 1913 and arrived in Suriname on the 7 of January 1914 I'm writing this because they survived.
Where are their descendants now ..... our people will inherit the earth !!
My grandparents came to Suriname on the Sutlej in 1909. Their luck on surviving was indenture on a coffee plantation. Sugar plantations were just death camps.
Hi. I would like to know how you got the details of your lineage.
Bro, that is not Dudhana its DUDHARA & yes, it is in BASTI district of UTTAR PRADESH state. I live near to that District. Why don't you pay a Visit to your ancestral land.
Hii, BASTI is our neighbouring district. I'm from Ayodhya(Faizabaad), the birthplace of Shree Ram ji.
I’m from Mauritius where people can visit Apravasi Ghat (classified by Unesco as world heritage) is atestimonial of the indentured system. My ancestors contibuted in making my island’s economy prosperous. Descendents are enjoying a decent life, practising their faith and customs and learning ancestral languages. Thank you for not foegetting their hardwork and resilience.
I am from Guyana and 82 years old! My Great Grand Parents were from India & ended up in #2 Canal Polder. The problem I have is with people complaining about the British. Poor People cannot make demands they do what they are told! As a kid under British rule, life couldn't have been better. My Country fell apart when the British gave it to us, Independence, in Mid 60s. Eventually I had to get out and I ended up in Canada "Legally". I retired in 2006 & nothing to complain about.
Imo they did y’all a favor. With exemption the initial harsh treatment.
Ehh, did you forget the part where the famines were kind of created by Britishers and when Churchill literally said that let them die? They made them starve in their own land and then offered a dream that life will be better there and it was all myth. Whatever the reasons or luck you ended up having decent life but don't negate the pain of people who didn't make it, who killed themselves and the trauma they survived, only to be forgotten by the world.
The evil things they have done are despicable. Thanks to social media, the facts are slowly filtering out.
Slaverly is something you only leanred about recently?
@@spikefivefivefive not really, but most of the history books were written by colonialist countries who sugarcoat the history of their crimes in slavery and racism.
What a sad situation , it brought tears to my eyes . About 10 yrs ago, during my college reunion , I met two ladies from Jamaica , they were going all over North America where ever there was Indian gathering like college reunion , weddings and family reunion . Their great , great , grand father was one the man who was brought to Caribbean by British. They only his first name , wanted to know if anyone help them to locate the region or people where their G-G-Grandfather hailed. As you indicated those men’s offsprings are still searching their roots. People have no idea how low British stooped to “ make a buck “. They indeed brutalized these people. I admire the producer of this video.
I'm an Indo-Mauritian. I took a 23AndMe DNA test
@@varoonnone7159 So what is your results?
Yet strangely enough, almost none of these Indians have ever bothered to return to their native places in India. The Indians instead keep living in those places developed by the colonial rulers even when those same Indians have the money to go back. Many of them have even moved permanently to the native lands of those colonial rulers.
@@cg8397cause they don’t know where they came from.
@@cg8397 certainly you have empathy.
Hi ,This video was a complete lifeline to me trying to learn about my heritage when trying to learn about my indo-Caribbean roots. It's so shocking to now the mistreatment and traffiking that the British did in the past. Now ironically, I am a Teen born in the UK with friends at school confused about who I actually am when I explain that I'm Trini. You are neither considered to be Indian or carribean by many and the the legacy it leaves behind.However I am proud of my roots in africa, the Caribbean and India and celebrate this diaspora for who we are across the world. I hope that thisthype of content can be taught more often globally. 🇹🇹💙🇬🇧💙🇮🇳
Thank you for informing the public about important and ignored World history.
Thanks for sharing your report. I am a descendant of Chinese indentured persons in Cuba. My maternal grandmother. Her parents originated in Southern China. Canton. The name Celie.
wow who brought them to Cuba? Spanish?
Thousands of Indians still serve as indentured labourers in Gulf Countries. Nothing has changed really.
And people look down on them!
Yes passports taken as soon as you arrive 🇬🇧🏙️
Most are cheated into it too, told wrong details and shown dreams.
And India has become the successor state of British India and now it's trying to colonize kashmir
@@slowknife2873Kashmir was India’s, the word is derived from Rishi Kashyap. It was is and will be Hindu state.
The channel “The Present Past” has a video about this. He explores the topic starting with why Surinamese food you can eat in many restaurants throughout the Netherlands has so much in common with Indian food, despite being halfway across the globe from each other. This topic is eye opening as to how slavery continued by other means (by other means on paper!) all over the world long after it was “abolished”.
My parents are from Surinam. My greatgrandparent were human trafficked from India. I was born and raised in the Netherlands. Our bloodline has seen and lived on different continents.
I am from Mauritius. My ancestors were from India and came as indentured labourers. Actually more that half of my country's population are of indian origin.
Are You Marathi ❤
@@sachinlanjekarkokanyoutube647 Most of Them are Uttarpradesh and Bihar (Gangetic Planes) .
@@shivanshsingh7593due to the aftermath of 1857 mutiny
@@FilesdocumentsAndreposit-kr3vb And Abolition of Slavery system too
@@shivanshsingh7593 Bengal, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu as well
As an Indian, it breaks my heart learning about it. In general, brute english colonizer have destroyed many developed cultures in their ignorance. I hope they understand Karma comes around always it may not in their lifetime or understanding, but karma is fact and it will happen
That's why I always laugh to myself when I hear my Indian co worker making jokes of black people picking cotton ... I HAVE PICS OF BLACK & INDIANS WORKING ON MY GRANDPARENTS FARM
@@proudAmerican-rr2mh You need help!
@@proudAmerican-rr2mh You laugh? Over how people were battered, subjugated and their destiny rewritten, causing them generational pain? Sou!
@@proudAmerican-rr2mh don’t worry what goes around comes around.
@@kman5768 why? Because my grandfather OWNED servants I didn't do it How is it my fault.
I am Trinidadian and watching this at 4.44 the gentleman has MY FAMILY NAME!!!! We have never been able to trace back our roots, this is eerie....The saddest thing in Trinidad and Tobago is that we were not allowed to maintain our Indian languages to to the level that Fiji, Mauritius and S Africa did.
I attribute that to the fact that the Indians were from all over India and they all had different languages, like French German Italian Spanish etc, for example in a continental situation and it must have been a veritable babble where no one could understand each other but had to communicate with the Brits and so they all ended up speaking English with Welsh accents. Don't know if Hindi was the national language at that time in the sub-continent.
My Grandfather was also a refugee from Uganda Africa and became a British Citizen. E.D. Amin was the dictator there at the time. There was so much violence. Thank you for telling this story, although it was not exactly related. They are still my people. The world needs to open their eyes and ears.
The US did this too. When chattel slavery ended in the US it transformed into using indentured servitude and prison labor to keep their black freedmen. It basically was still slavery for them. And this system never ended. Indentured servitude ended technically around the 1920s if I remember correctly. The Hawaiian islands used indentured servitude for their sugar plantations. They used east asians, black people, southeast asians and native Hawaiians under this system. And technically speaking these share cropping and indentured servitude practices in the US even tho made illegal officially by the 1940s we're still in place in some rural areas of the US until the 1970s n some historians believe probably until the 1990s. Today prison labor as a form of slavery is still legal according to the 13th amendment. And still used heavily today. It's sad .
Ameriaca and india has demolish slavery systems after democracy but in india we will still found it
America used white indentured servants early in before the revolution. Rich men exploiting the poor. It was horrible
Well stated
@@cheltooktribefreethinker1028 And in theUS also, you have to dig deep.
@@kman5768 but white are put in jail if found out. I don't think it happens in india
Great video! I didn't know much about the Indian Diaspora until I dated a guy from Guyana. I didn't know that much about Caribbean culture in general let alone the history of Guyana and he really shed light on that history. The relationship didn't work out but I'm glad I came away from that experience learning more about Guyana and the history of the Indian Diaspora.
Most of them are mixed black and Indian
@@proudAmerican-rr2mh Where do you get your information from? Most are not mixed, as you claim.
@@proudAmerican-rr2mh all the Indians used in indentured servitude were coal dark
@@phylicia595 More then half of them are mixed and not full Indian by blood line also its been 100 years or more even the Caribbean blacks are of different types of mixed ancestry. The whole Caribbean islands are to some extended mixed race islands near a sizable people are mixed and still mixing.
@@kman5768 Your genetics says your mixed full blood Indians don't get native American and Latino or African and British ancestry in them. All in one go. Their are Carribbean Indians who are not mixed but also most of them are their is a equal sizable people who are among Caribbean Indian people nearly 10 to 20% in Trinidad and 20% in Gayana it's a big population also in other Caribbean country's like Suriname and Saint Lucia and Jamaica etc as well. Even some Caribbean Indians who say they aren't mixed because they don't know if they where since they have been living their for a long time do get some mixed ancestry some times even if they think they didn't mix.
I remember being taught in school how Indians and Chinese got tricked into staying in Jamaica. One way was to put them in debt and only offer seasonal work. The British don't apologize to anyone 😢.
Britain, after taking credit for abolishing slavery, But don't want to take credit for replaced legalised slavery of Indians.
Tamil Community from India still have been living in Malaysia,Singapore,south Africa, Reunion island , Guyanese, Fiji,Indonesia these have been brought to as indentured labour by British,French .I knew some of the friends from south africa, Reunion,Marititus still these tamil people's have been following tamil traditional
Tamil living in Malaysia, Singapore Indonesia have been living there for 1000 years. Chola Empire
@@akhandbharat1593 Chola? Where are their tombstones? Where are their ruins?
There are Tamils in Pakistans Karachi too
@@zafir7007 Hindus cremate
@@keeganthambiran1375 No tombstones even if cremated? No ruins? Lembah Bujang is Sanskrit/Rencong/Malay......not Tamil. Prof.Mohtar Saidin did a 20 year research on the site in Lembah Bujang and Sungai Batu. Why do you appropriate other people's history.
Well done for producing this documentary. I study this early Indian migration and would love to work with you in writing a book.
This is atrocious. Indentured labor is something people have little knowledge of. Thank you for bringing this to light!
My grandmother learned that she was Indian when she was 69 years old. She was an orphan in Arkansas who was born in 1948 and adopted by white people at the age of 10. She knew nothing of her birth parents. She had olive skin, auburn hair, and gray eyes. She was white passing. The funny thing was, when I was one or two, I named her Amma, and my grandfather Abu. (Common names for mother and father in Urdu) When I was 7 or 8, she found out through a DNA test that she was about half Punjabi/Persian kind of blood. I often wonder the story of her birth parents. Maybe one day I will write a novel about how I imagine them.
Yes please do write down their history or as a novel. As a fellow writer and historian I encourage you to do so, keep their legacy alive. We must speak for our POC🙏🏽❤️
There was zero of the northwestern races in these servant types. All the photos show coal dark skin Indians.
@@karim_wafa there was no white skin Indian types in these servants All the photos show coal dark skin Indians
You should
@@phylicia595 "there was zero of the northwestern races in these servant types. All the photos show coal dark skin Indians" I'm going to ignore the racist undertones of your comment and hope that I'm reading too much into it. But you're factually wrong. India is incredibly diverse, certainly when you compare from east to west or north to south, but also when you compare WITHIN the northern, southern, eastern or western parts. This diversity was reflected in the indentured laborers across countries such as South Africa, Mauritius, Trinidad, etc. I am directly descended from those very same Indian indentured laboureurs, some of my ancestors were very dark, some were very fair and some were somewhere in the middle. There were zero marriages outside of the "Indian indentured community" in my ancestry, so my relatives are a very good example of this diversity. My great grandfather was somewhat fair and my great grandmother was very dark. Their son, my grandfather, turned out to be somewhat fair. My grandmother was fair skinned. 2 of their children turned out to be "coal dark" as you would put it, 3 turned out very very fair skinned, and the remaining 3 are somewhat dark olive-toned (including my dad). In my extended family, some relatives are almost white-passing and some are almost-black passing. The diversity is incredible and the photographs do actually showcase this.
This system was quite infamous in and among the plains of Ganges as Girmitiya Labour. Girmit is the slang for agreement. The majority of these people were either from Behar(Bihar), United Provinces and Bengal.
Typically they were punished by both colonials as well as local landlords thank God they gain their independence even before us 😢
This makes me so sad. Thank you for sharing. 🙏🏽
Love this video. Thank you for enlightening me on this subject, I honestly never knew this before now
I respect the Indians who revolted against the British in 1857.
We Indians should not forget what these Brits has done to us. We should held them accountable for all of these.
And for Anglo-Indian hybridization? And other people of hybridization of Anglo and native population?
Brits did plenty of good for India too. There's no need to exaggerate. India had plenty of problems before the British arrived. The British were hardly worse than what Indians were already doing to each other.,
Thing is the Indian rulers (monarchs at that time), did not get along with each other. There were so many scattered kingdoms in India and while the rulers were rich the people were struggling. The kings of that time tried to use the British against other Indian kingdoms, further fracturing India. Unfortunately because of that they were very easy to manipulate for the British.
@@davidthompson4383 Here comes Brainwashed white racist lier, who believes in False history. Before British There were just fighting between the kingdoms. Another India is economically pretty much well before the arrival of British. Go & read Atrocities done by British East India company & British empire.
@@davidthompson4383 we were one of the richest couuntryyy in the world's...we will takeee revengeee.... don't u worry this century is for asiaaa
Excellent mini doc. As a Grenadian it’s great to finally get some insight on fellow westindian history. We all deserve reparations.
I am grateful for this history. Ethnically I am mixed. And African, Caucaian, Indian. Some of my history I know this is still a small mystery.
Interesting. You must visit India when you have time and resources to tour it. It's a vast land. Don't need to go to the big cities. That's not where the culture is. 😊
Thank you for the insight. This was brilliant. Never heard of yh is part of history which is strange considering I’ve lived in the UK for a vast majority of my life. It all makes perfect sense. Congratulations to the producers and everyone involved. Great peice of journalism
Yes. Glad that you covered the topic. Indians aren't the people that comes to mind when you think of $laves. Indentured labour is not much talked about form of slavery. Many countries in Africa or Americas celebrate Indian Arrival Days in their countries.
I feel like this is such an under shared aspect of Asian American history that impacted both South and North America. Familiar to descendants but unknown to a majority of the general public .
Yes it is only a footnote in history, yet vast contributions like the building of the railway are given credit to certain people. The general public does not seek to enlighten themselves
@@irememberla6460 railways were built to exploit which we converted after independence for the people.
@@subhadramahanta452 investors were making huge profits thats why railways were built. it costed 3 times more than building railways in canada. all the materials were imported from britain as well for high costs. and indian taxpayers paid for everything.
definitely
Very educatinoal indeed. Thanks for your time and efforts.
Most indentured laborers ended up in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Up to two million by the time of its independence. It has caused massive problems for both the laborers and natives in the island which is devoid of any resources and overcrowded. India refused to take them back despite many attempts by Ceylon to repatriate of them.
What are you talking about? Most of the indentured labourers in Ceylon were repatriated back to India under the Sirimavo-Shastri pact. The rest were granted citizenship...
Hundreds of thousands of Tamil Indians end up in Malayan rubber estates and were paid pittance. They couldn't afford to pay for their return passage to India.
they said they are already be in malaya for 1000 years ! Lmao
@@harry77998 The Tamil Chola Empire did conquer parts of the Malayan peninsula, Sumatra and Java around 1000 years ago, many Tamils also engaged in trade with the Malays. However those that settled there were absorbed into the local population centuries ago. The modern Malaysian Tamils came as indentured labourers from Tamil Nadu, India some others came as immigrants from Ceylon as well...
In Suriname the Dutch also relied on the system of the British, however, because they were known to be worse in the colonization strategies and punishment, many died. The British viewed this as unacceptable and demanded they provided them food, clothing and better health care, or they wouldn't send more Indians. This is interesting, because the British their actions are not excusable, they still saw another European nation as being worse than them and demanded "better care" for the indentured servants. This led to the Dutch wanting to be less dependent on the British, so they brought in thousands of Javanese from Java Island in the former Dutch East Indies, nowadays Indonesia. 10:55 she mentioned how they wanted to hold on to their traditions but couldn't because of British colonial rules making it hard for them to do so. Interestingly in Suriname the Dutch had a different policy, where they actively separated the different ethnic groups (like apartheid) and promoted the cultivation of their language and culture. They did this, so the different groups wouldn't understand each other to unite and overthrow the Dutch colonial rule and while it is also not justifiable, it did result in a lot of traditions being kept alive by the Chinese (also indentured servants), Javanese and Indo-Surinamese. One of which is the Sarnami Hindustani language, a Bhojpuri based Creole language or Surinamese Javanese a Javanese based Creole language.
Second Paragraph sounds exactly like South African history with the Dutch
@@duchesstyra yeah... luckily it didn't last as long as South Africa. It changed after world war II when universal suffrage was introduced and later in 1958 we became a self governing country inside the Kingdom of the Netherlands. However, the groups already lived in their respective regions and districts. Nowadays, you still see those remains...some districts have more Javanese, some more Indians, other more Creoles etc. But, it's more mixed now than in the past and the capital city (which is also an administrative division) is the only mixed place in the country.
@@SheldonY14 oh I see, this is interesting I would love to visit Suriname 🇸🇷 one day
The British were much more humane towards the indians in Mauritius when compared to the french
Sheldon, most people seem to want to overlook the atrocities perpetrated by other European nations. The British were not alone. They stand out because of their attempts to bring slavery to an end. They were no more brutal than their fellow Europeans. From 19th of May their will be an exhibition in London around this topic. I tried to add a link to it but it appears to have been removed.
After slavery , the British tried the Portuguese, then the Chinese and finally Indians( jackpot). Proud of my Indo-Guyanese heritage. Dr. Cheddi Jagan spoke eloquently about our history.
Thank you for highlighting this.
I learned about this when I visited Trinidad and Tobago's National Museum.
The Royal Family was all a part of it and they profited from it.
And after the "queen" died they tried to erase that.
Not just part all brit, Spain, French Royals actually sent out their military+others in these expeditions to Asia, Africa..
Still do.
Always knew I had Indian in my family as a Jamaican due to the British empire displacing people. Glad to actually see what happened. Thanks for this video
And yet the UK is lecturing the world about civilization and democrasy.
Wow, Britain is just the epitome of human rights excellence. I mean, who needs freedom of speech or fair treatment when you have the BBC to make documentaries about how other countries aren't measuring up? I mean, they have had a history of fairness and their amazing treatment for every other race, and they are still holding on it. Let's all just praise them as the shining example of human rights that they are and wish every country was as great as GB.
0:34 I speak only Hindi but I could completely understand what that man was saying.
Punjabi and the same! I understood too ❤
That dialect is called Fiji baat or Fiji Hindi and is the language of Fijians of Indian Descent.
@@MalcamPrasad Sounds like Bhojpuri or UP's Khari boli.
He is speaking Awadhi, language of Ayodhya region. its my hometown
Yep {Braj-Awadhi} was what i meant when i used the term 'Khari / Khadi boli'.
Excellent coverage, thank you, Krishna from Mauritius.
Exactly! They said they got rid of slavery "before" the US, but they really didn't.
You could almost feel BBC avoiding eye contact and whistling its way out of this uncomfortable situation.
there’s literally BBC clips in this video 🙄
I WONDERED why Britain was so willing to ban slavery when the US was willing to Civil War over keeping it. Mystery solved, thanks again AJ+!
US Civil War was not over slavery, it was an unfinished civil war left over from England. The southerners still believed in an elitist republic and was against the democratic republic form of government practiced in the north. Slavery had almost nothing to do with the war.
@@andrewmclaughlin2701Oh. So I guess we can ignore all the secession declarations by the confederate states that explicitly said that slavery was the main reason they were leaving the Union.
@@Theomite Those declarations were arguing property rights and the right for the states to secession without molestation...Yankee states transgressed the constitution regarding states rights to secession. Merely a property dispute, not terribly animating compared to the tyranny of the mob democracy was evolving into. Fast forward to the 2024 presidential election and you have a choice between two criminals seeking the throne of the republic to give themselves and their families a pardon. Southern states knew today would come and wanted no part of it.
@@andrewmclaughlin2701 it was indeed fought over slavery
@@meltedicecreamsandwich You actually believe that a bunch of white people killed white people to free black people?
We Japanese also fought the British. In 1863, the British threatened to move their warships off the coast of Kagoshima Prefecture. But we were armed and attacked the British warship. The British weapons were more powerful, but fortunately the weather was rough and Kagoshima suffered less damage.
In about a hundred years, the descendants of Starbucks employees stories of great oppression will be told.
Good on you guys for exposing the truth, not many people know about this part of history ❤😊
I'm from trinidad. we were humiliated by the British. we were forced to speak English that today only a small minority speaks hindi. we were denied education, in which Christian missionaries from Canada used education and a schooling as a means in converting hindus and Muslims to Christianity. after independence we were further discriminated against from the black population, especially in Guyana and trinidad. while in Malaysia Hindus were shunned by the malays and are the most marginalized group in Malaysia today . South African Indians had to deal with apartheid while Fiji Indians had to deal with attacks from native Fijians. in Surinam half of the Indian population fled to the Netherlands post independence. wherever we are we're always considered 2nd class citizens despite living on these lands for generations.
Come to India bro nd never forget ur culture
Seems like that wherever Indians go. My grandparents were Burmese Indians who went to labor on plantations. They faced horrible conditions and were forced back to India despite having families who'd lived there for generations.
Wonderful I back your statement 1💯 I'll add that in my experience, Indians from India treat those from the diaspora poorly as well!
@@desertrose128no bro plzz 🥺 don't say so,Gujarati Punjabis don't define whole india we PPL of gangetic plains are still curious about our brothers who got seperated from us by evil time 😭❤️
@ShubhamKumar-vd9xy thanks, btw I'm not a " bro" I'm a woman. Peace.
It's an extremely sad part of history my great grand parents was part off this
Thank you for this
Thank you so much for this video! And to think the British have the audacity to boast about how they were first to abolish slavery, conveniently leaving out the part about replacing slavery with this.
“They’re brown enough, they’ll do just fine.” They said.
Thats hilarious
"White" British people often called Indians "blacks." It's odd that Indians are now commonly considered to be "Caucasian" under academic racial classifications, when they certainly weren't considered to be "white" or treated like they were "white" for centuries.
I thought slavery was unique to the West. Found out that's not the truth.
@@X2LR8 - Did you really ever think that slavery was unique to "the West," or are you a racist troll?
@@loki2240 Which parts of the world get the lion's share of focus and which get swept under the rug?
The British wealth is built on the back of these people.
Thank you for sharing this amazing video 🙏
Good piece, i think I've heard of relatives of mine about three generations back that experience this
Britain will never apologise for this and a lot more 🙄😬🤫
Reparations. They must pay!
@@adra1380 oof
And still try to lecture us on human rights 😑
India should apologize to Kashmir first and let them choose what they want to do with their homeland instead of occupying it
@@subhadramahanta452 Of course people will lecture y'all on human rights, look what you have done to kashmiris!
Indentured servants was just another name for slavery.
I am a product of the East Indian who lives in Trinidad and Tobago and I’m fully aware of the history. We do not need somebody to come and tell us how I will feel for parents came but today the most important thing we went through a lot, but we are very, very successful people and also very educated. And still keep the culture.
Thank you for reporting on this issue.
I wish they spoke about how this impacted the development of families while being an indentured servant. Were you even allowed to have a family, marriage, children, etc.? Also, were they expected to buy goods from their boss to work the land as it was for sharecroppers and in the world of Geisha? This would have put them in further debt to their boss so that freedom was unattainable, which is part of the purpose.
There was a debt system in place in Jamaica so probably also in other countries. Some Indians were allowed to go to school and maintain religion.