Indian migration during indentured servitude in British Guiana and Trinidad, 1850–1920

Abstract

The following article analyzes the under-researched theme of Indian migration during indenture in British Guiana and Trinidad. It is understood that Indians were brought to the Caribbean under a series of restrictive colonial policies that stymied free movement. However, it is argued that some Indians resisted these very colonial regulations and exercised their individual right to migrate and subsequently dictate their own lives. Some independently took illegal action to acquire freedom while others waited until their contracts expired to migrate. While the number of those who migrated was consistently smaller than those who remained on the plantations, migration was a permanent feature of the plantation system that lasted as long as indenture itself. Indian migration during indenture can be conceptualized into three overlapping historical phases: (1) desertion from the plantations; (2) migration from the plantations to settlements (rural) to urban areas; and (3) intra-regional migration from one Caribbean island to the other.