A Comparative Analysis of Two Faild Indenture Experiences in Post-emancipation Caribbean : British Guiana (1838-1843) and Danish St. Croix (1863-1868)
By: ROOPNARINE, Lomarsh
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ArticlePublisher: Estocolmo : Institute of Latin Amercian Studies, Stockholm University, 2012Online resources: Acesso Iberoamericana: nordic journal of latin american and caribbean studies 42, 1-2, p. 203-228Abstract: The following article analyzes two failed Indian identure experiments in British Guiana (1838-1843) and Danish St. Croix (1863-1868). In both Caribbean colonies, the planters rushed to substitute the loss of indentured Indians. While the plan was to save the sugar industry from ruin, the right mechanims were not in place for the proper functioning of the identured servitude. Specifically, Indians were mistreated during recruitment, on the sea voyage from India to the Caribbean, and on the plantations. The planters tried, particulary in British Guiana, to conceal the mistreatment of the labourers. However, private inspection and investigation from interest groups such as Friends of Indian, the Anti-Slabery Society, and accounts from the labourers themselves exposed the evils of identure in both colonies. The British Crown and the colonized Indian government subsequently stopped the shipping of Indian labourers to both colonies after the first five-years experiment with indenture. The contract labour system was eventually resumed in British Guiana in 1845 but not in Danish St. Croix.
The following article analyzes two failed Indian identure experiments in British Guiana (1838-1843) and Danish St. Croix (1863-1868). In both Caribbean colonies, the planters rushed to substitute the loss of indentured Indians. While the plan was to save the sugar industry from ruin, the right mechanims were not in place for the proper functioning of the identured servitude. Specifically, Indians were mistreated during recruitment, on the sea voyage from India to the Caribbean, and on the plantations. The planters tried, particulary in British Guiana, to conceal the mistreatment of the labourers. However, private inspection and investigation from interest groups such as Friends of Indian, the Anti-Slabery Society, and accounts from the labourers themselves exposed the evils of identure in both colonies. The British Crown and the colonized Indian government subsequently stopped the shipping of Indian labourers to both colonies after the first five-years experiment with indenture. The contract labour system was eventually resumed in British Guiana in 1845 but not in Danish St. Croix.
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