GIRMITIYAS OF BRITISH GUIANA

If we talk about Indian slaves under the British, the only picture a commoner would paint would be those of the workers serving the British sahibs and memsahibs in India. But 1830s was the period when mass migration of Indians took place to various other British colonies overseas that under the pretext of 'contract workers', was actually slavery. Girmitiya, as they are commonly known as, were migrant contract workers that were transported from eastern India (hence also known as Purbiya or Baksaria) to smaller colonies such as British Guiana, Mauritius, Fiji, Trinidad and even Natal, South Africa. The racial slang 'coolie' was popularised during this time and this practice of indentured labourers continued till the late 1910s. The most popular stories are from Mauritius, Fiji and Natal, but this post shall talk about the less-known stories of British Guiana, today known as Guyana. 

Backdrop of the Guianas

The first Europeans to discover the coast of the Guyana were Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vaspucci, in 1499. But the first explorer would be an English called Sir Walter Raleigh in 1595. Interestingly, before the actual colonisation by the English, the Guyana coast was settled by the Dutch, which marked three major territories here - Berbice, Essequibo and Demerara. These three names are as important to the Guyanese history as its to Indians who would appear almost 3 centuries later. Between 1657 to 1830, the coast of Guyana was shuffled between the Dutch, French and British which ultimately was settled down with the English till 1966, when Guyana achieved independence. Another important fact that the entire region was divided into 4 'Guianas' - the Spanish, Dutch, French and Portuguese before the British carved out from the Spanish and Dutch. If one looks at early 1800s maps of this region, its hardly recognisable as Spanish Guiana would cover a disoriented circular region in today's Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil and Guyana. The Dutch Guiana would occupy the coast of Guyana and Suriname, the French would extend to Brazil and the Portuguese would expand within the Brazilian borders. French Guiana still exist but the boundaries between it and Brazil was still unclear till 1880s. Today when we compare this map with the maps of Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, its hard to believe the formation of these boundaries that changed dramatically over ages.  

Arrival of the Indians

Coming back to Guyana and how Indians arrived, this story starts in 1838 under the 'Gladstone Experiment'. After a successful indentured immigration in Mauritius, British Guiana would now become a brooding spot for the Girmitiyas which were essentially slaves to help cultivate sugar plantations. Although historical texts use the word 'migrants', but this technically was a form of slavery in which Indians were bound to work under the plantation owner till the time their contract isn't over. On 5th May 1838, the Whitby after a sea-voyage of 112 days, arrived at British Guiana from Calcutta with 249 immigrants on board. The ship disembarked near Berbice river and were spread out at Highbury, Waterloo and Belle Vue Estate plantations. The same year Chinese labourers were also recruited from Malacca, Singapore and Penang (the Straits Settlements which were at this point of time part of British India). 

Between 1838 to 1917, roughly 238,979 Indians landed in Guyana from Calcutta and Madras. By 1917, Indians constituted 42% of Guyanese population and roughly 20% of Caribbean population (there were indentured labourers in Jamaica and Trinidad as well). The migrants usually belonged to today's eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar region and were mostly landless labourers who were exploited by the Bania communities, the upper-caste landlords and were heavily under debt by them. The Sepoy Mutiny (or the first war of Indian independence) of 1857 had lead to rise in unemployment, a major factor that was exploited by the British. Among all the areas of eastern UP and Bihar, Basti became the single largest exporter of Indian labourers by 1890s. 

The Devonshire Castle Uprising 1872

On 29th September 1872, 5 Indians were mercilessly killed in what is known as the Devonshire Castle uprising. The Indian labourers who were killed had protested against the inhumane and harsh living conditions at the plantations where they were forced to produce large amount of sugar quantities with improper facilities. They weren't given proper wages, had to work for ridiculous long hours and were flogged for incompetence. More to their misfortunes, the immigration agents and stipendiary magistrates tended to take side of the planters rather that listening to the cries of the workers. Even the living conditions were despicable, overcrowded and unventilated, lacked potable water and medical facilities. The result was outbreak of diseases tended to assume epidemic proportions. This all resulted in a series of revolts that started in 1869 at various plantations - Hague, Uitvlugt, Mon Repos, Non-Pareil, Zeelugt and Vergenoegen before the violent one took place at Devonshire Castle. 

The Devonshire Castle Uprising was an important chapter in Guyanese history as for the first time Indians protested violently against the English oppressor in a land far away from India. This one incident flipped the attitude of Indians towards the planters - more rebellious, prepared to assert his rights and demand justice. The Indians who were killed were identified as Kaulica, Baldero, Ackloo, Maxidally and Beccaroo. 

The end of slavery

1917 marked the end of indentureship in British Guiana. Although it would take several decades for Guyana to be independent, but just before the end of first world war, indentureship ended in British Guiana. It was the Viceroy of India, Lord Hardinge, who after a report of 1913, urged to remove indentured labourer hirings and stop such deployment once for all. He famously stated: 

"It is not the duty of the Government of India to provide coolies for the colonies"

This was also the time when MK Gandhi had arrived to India from his Satyagraha campaign in Natal, South Africa and had questioned the plight of Indians overseas. British officials such as CF Andrews, Sir Benjamin Robertson and others pressurised the British government to look into the conditions of Indians overseas and soon matters were started to discuss ending indentureship in not just British Guiana but other colonies such as Fiji, Trinidad and Jamaica. Although this abolition lead to the downfall of sugar produces at the plantations, but both Colonial Office and India Office remained indifferent to the calls and ultimately indentureship quietly faded away post 1920s.   

The maps here are the Guianas of 1810 and 1844. The one of 1844 also lists down names of some of the plantations and parishes of which they were aligned to. Divided into three main regions - country of Essequibo, Demerara and Berbice, this was the coast of Guyana in 1844.