They
came, they saw, and made their contribution
Today
marks the 171st
anniversary of
the arrival of East Indians to the then
British Guyana from the Indian
sub-continent. After braving the torturous and
turbulent oceans for months under sub-human
conditions, the first batch of East Indians
from India, called Indentured Labourers came
to British Guiana aboard two steamships,
“Hesperus” and “Whitby” on May 5,
1838.
The steamship
that made the highest number of voyages was
the s.s.
Sutlej which made ten journeys
between 1908 and 1916. the sailing ships
Their
toil, sweat and struggles over the years later
brought recognition and today is being
celebrated as ‘Indian Arrival Day’.
Indeed
the journey was long and brutal. Many
of the Indentured Labourers
fell sick and those who could not defy death,
were unceremoniously dumped overboard. This
was what the East Indian Immigrants went
through in their blind date for fortune in the
West Indies.
We
must however salute the heroism of these
people, who for some three quarters of a
century kept coming to the shores of the West
Indies including Guyana to fill the void left
as a result of the mass exodus of slaves
following the abolition of slavery, and
especially the premature termination of the
apprenticeship scheme in 1838.
In
the period 1838 to 1917, a substantial number
of Indian Immigrants were imported to the
English speaking Caribbean, and some 238,909
of them had arrived in British Guyana up to
the time the system was terminated in 1917.
They
continued to work on the sugar plantations,
and paved the way for their off-springs today
to make Guyana their home. Indeed they worked
and lived under a harsh and cruel system which
served only the Plantocracy and their masters
in England to whose cause the Indentured
Labourers were bound.
In
his booklet: Rooting for Labour, Late
President of Guyana, Dr. Cheddi Jagan wrote
about the atrocious conditions on sugar
estates and noted: “In those days workers
lived in logies which were built in the
slavery and indentureship periods. There were
pit latrines, nothing like the ones we know
now or septic tanks and other facilities. Pit
latrines over the trench; and when the rains
came the whole compound in several estates
used to be totally flooded and people had to
move around in boats.
167 years ago Canada-civilian-award
Dhanwantie-Phulchand-chopped
“On
one such occasion, I remember going to the
compound at Lusignan to the manager: His
compound was dry. I asked him why can’t he
use the same pump that he was pumping to clear
his compound to clear also the compound of the
workers. His answer was: ‘Jagan, do you know
you are trespassing?’”
These
conditions on the plantations persisted for
years unending and the genuine workers’
struggle began with Dr. Jagan in the forefront
fighting for improved living conditions,
justice and fair-play for sugar workers which
were eventually won over time, and some
off-springs of the Indentured Labourers have
carved a name for themselves in mainstream
society today.
The
people note, for instance, that Dr. Jagan
himself was the son of Indentured Labourers
and once lived in the logies at Port Mourant
in Berbice.
The
East Indians who came to British Guiana, now
called Guyana, have indeed come a long way.
They came with their cultures, traditions,
religions and values, which have over the
years, through thick and thin, welded them
together.
They
have integrated themselves into what we call
in Guyana a plural society, a society with
diverse religions, cultures, traditions, races
and political persuasions.
Today
is a day of special significance to them and
all Guyana join in celebrating with them under
the theme: One People, One Nation with One
Destiny.
Happy Arrival Day to all!
The
Coolie Ships
By
Evan Radhay Persaud
At the beginning of the Introduction to
his notable work “Sugar Without Slaves: The
Political Economy of British Guiana,
1838-1904,” Alan Adamson posited that the
principal themes of Guyana’s
post-emancipation history have to do with
“the survival of sugar as the dominant crop,
of the plantation economy as the dominant
system of production, and of the sugar
planters as the dominant social and political
grouping”.
In
the wake of the abolition of slavery and under
the conditions of emancipation, the freed
slaves were bound as apprentices to their
erstwhile masters for four years. After the
loss of their cheap labour following the
premature termination of the Apprenticeship
System in 1838 and frustrated by the
increasing reluctance of their former chattels
to return to the plantations to work for low
wages, the desperate planters sought to avoid
ruin by importing bound labour from several
places including the sub-continent of India,
then largely under British rule.
The
arrival of indentured labourers, especially
those from India, enabled the planters to
establish sugar as a monoculture, to reap
profits over an extended period of time while
keeping wages low and to continuously
replenish the labour supply which had
decreased dramatically after 1838 and
especially in the late 1840s.
Immigration,
thus, underlies all of Adamson’s themes and
arguably can be considered the dominant theme
in the immediate post-emancipation history of
Guyana.
Approximately
239,000 immigrants (Bharatiyaa) from India
were transported in 245 ships which made 534
voyages across the Kaala Paani to British
Guiana between 1838 and 1917 during the Period
of Indentureship. Of this total, 234 were
sailing ships which cumulatively made 492
voyages while 11 steamships made 42. A total
of 103 ships of both classes made two or more
voyages while 142 made just one voyage.
COOLIE
SHIPS: CHARTERS AND SHIPPING CONTRACTS
In the early decades of Indian emigration,
ships were chartered each season as required,
either in London or in India. As the years
passed, an increasingly large proportion,
often all of it, was chartered in London. Up
to the early 1870s, it remained the rule for
shipping to be chartered separately for each
shipping season, which commenced towards the
end of one calendar year and ended towards the
middle of the following calendar year.
Then
in 1874, as a result of a very sharp increase
in the rates of freight, the colonies of
British Guiana and Trinidad and the Emigration
Commissioners agreed to try to obtain lower
rates by awarding a contract for a term of
years to a single shipping firm.
Messrs.
Sandbach Tinne and Company of Liverpool, a
firm with commercial connections in British
Guiana, were awarded a contract for three
years from 1875-76 to 1877-78. This firm was
succeeded by G.D.Tyser and Company, which held
the British Guiana contract for the following
five years from 1878-79 to 1882-83.
Until
1888 the shipping contract was the subject of
intense competition between the following
three firms: James Nourse of London, Sandbach
Tinne and Company and G.D. Tyser and Company.
In 1888, however, James Nourse secured a hold
on the contract which was never afterwards
broken.
In
the 1890s all competition disappeared and
Nourse had the field to himself to such an
extent that the colony of British Guiana
sometimes found it an advantage to negotiate a
contract with him privately rather than to
invite tenders. In fact, Sandbach Tinne and
Company agreed not to compete against Nourse
on the understanding that a number of their
ships would be employed under contract by him.
The
last sailing ship to arrive (Ems) and the last
steamship to arrive (s.s Ganges) were owned by
the firm of James Nourse and Company.
COOLIE
SHIP STATISTICS
The Whitby and the Hesperus, which sailed from
Calcutta to launch the Gladstone Experiment,
both arrived on 5 May 1838 - the first to do
so. Seven years were to pass before the next
ship, the Lord Hungerford, also out of
Calcutta, arrived on 4 May 1845. The first
ship from Madras to arrive was the Nestor
which did so on 26 December, 1845.
Between
1845 and 1848, the second period of Indian
immigration to British Guiana, 44 voyages (23
from Madras and 21 from Calcutta) were made by
34 sailing ships, ten of which made two
voyages each. The Martin Luther, the first
ship to arrive twice and in consecutive
sailing seasons, completed separate voyages
from Calcutta and Madras in 1846.
After
immigration resumed, a total of 209 ships
cumulatively accounted for 488 voyages between
1851 and 1917. Of these voyages, 463 saw
immigrants transported from Calcutta only, 18
were from Madras only, while 7 were completed
after immigrants from both Calcutta and Madras
were received aboard the same ship.
Overall,
200 ships transported immigrants from Calcutta
alone with 118 of them making only one voyage.
A total of 25 ships sailed from Madras alone
with 24 of them making only one voyage.
Fourteen ships made separate voyages from
Calcutta and Madras while five ships completed
separate voyages from Calcutta and the
Calcutta-Madras combination. One ship, the s.s.
Chenab, made separate voyages from Calcutta
and Madras as well as one voyage transporting
immigrants from both Calcutta and Madras.
COOLIE
SHIPS: TYPE AND SIZE
In the early years the ships employed were
wooden sailing vessels commonly built of teak.
In 1861, however, when James Nourse entered
this transportation field, his company began
building iron sailing ships. Sandbach Tinne
and Company, a rival shipping company, soon
followed suit. By the 1880s wooden sailing
ships had been replaced almost entirely by
iron sailing ships.
Simultaneous
with the gradual passing of the wooden sailing
ships, the world was turning from sail to
steam and the employment of steamships
naturally came up for consideration. Although
it was suggested in the 1860s that the use of
the steamships to transport emigrants would be
cheaper, that mortality rates would be
significantly lower and that the duration of
voyages would be significantly shorter than if
sailing ships were used, only 5 steamships
crossed the Kaala Paani to British Guiana
before the 1908-1909 sailing season, making a
total of 7 trips.
The
size of the ships employed increased as the
years passed, since ship owners found the
building of larger ships generally more
economical. In the mid 19th century sailing
ships generally carried between 300 to 400
emigrants. For example, during the 1858-59
shipping season the following 8 vessels
delivered 2720 emigrants: (1) Latona, 693
tons, 317; (2) Marchioness of Londonderry, 766
tons, 37 ; (3) York, 940 tons, 386; (4) Victor
Emanuel, 955 tons, 358, (5) Plantagenet, 806
tons, 334; (6) Aurora, 536 tons, 234; (7)
Ellenborough 1031 tons, 352; and (8) Simla,
1444 tons, 367.
By
the early 1870s, however, vessels of over 1000
tons and transporting between 400 and 500 were
the norm and this was illustrated by the fact
that in the 1872-1873 shipping season only two
ships of thirteen that sailed from India were
below 1000 tons. These ships, the James Nourse-owned
Ganges of 843 tons and the Gainsborough of 973
tons delivered 396 and 373 persons,
respectively. The other ships landed between
403 (Trevelyan) and 561 persons (s.s. Enmore).
By
the mid-1880s, heavier ships were transporting
between 500 and 600 Indian emigrants. For
example, during the 1883-84 shipping season
the following five ships delivered 2731
emigrants: Bann, 1667 tons, 591; Foyle, 1598
tons , 564; British Peer, 1428 tons, 559;
Ganges, 1443 tons, 490; and The Bruce, 1145
tons, 527.
By
the early 1900s, ships were generally between
1400 and 1750 tons and routinely transported
between 550 and 650 persons. With the
increasing use of steamships after 1908,
numbers transported per ship rose
significantly to between 750 and 900 persons.
For example, during the 1909-1910 shipping
season the following three ships delivered
2508 emigrants: s.s. Sutlej, 2153 tons, 844;
s.s. Ganges, 2151 tons, 847; and s.s. Indus,
2110 tons, 817.
As
the years passed, therefore, fewer but larger
ships were used to transport similar amounts
of emigrants.
COOLIE
SHIPS: IMMIGRANTS, SHIP
ARRIVALS AND STEAMSHIPS
The first sailing ship to deliver more than
500 persons was the Blue Jacket which
offloaded 522 persons from Madras on 1
February 1857. The first sailing ship from
Calcutta to deliver more than 500 persons was
the Apelles from which 503 persons disembarked
on 4 February1866. The last sailing vessel to
arrive was the Ems which offloaded 658 persons
including two (2) casuals on 8 October, 1908.
The
largest amount of emigrants to arrive on a
sailing ship was 683 including two (2) casuals
landed by the Mersey on 22 February 1895. The
largest amount to arrive on a steamship was
907 including four (4) casuals delivered by
s.s. Fazilka on 27 September 1901.
The
s.s. Far East, which arrived on 21 October
1869, was the first steamship to transport
immigrants to British Guiana even though she
only used steampower as a secondary source of
propulsion on this voyage.
The
greatest number of ships to arrive in any
sailing season was nineteen (19) in 1873-1874,
beginning with the Buckinghamshire from
Calcutta which delivered 526 persons on
November 2, 1873 and ending with the India,
also from Calcutta, which landed 382 emigrants
on June 23, 1874. The corresponding number for
a calendar year was 18 in 1869.The greatest
amount of emigrants to arrive in a calendar
year was 9,101 including one infant born after
arrival in 1878.
The
sailing ships
that made the highest number of voyages from
India to British Guiana were the Jura with ten
crossings between 1877 and 1898; and
the Foyle also with a total of ten crossings
between 1883 (arriving on January 2, 1884) and
1899. The steamship
that made the highest number of voyages was
the s.s. Sutlej which made ten journeys
between 1908 and 1916. the sailing ships
Brenda and Sheila each made nine voyages.
The
last shipment consisted of 437 persons,
originating from both Madras and Calcutta, who
arrived on April 18, 1917 aboard the s.s.
Ganges
Indentured
East Indians succeeded through resilience and
perseverence
-
Tota Mangar
Historically,
the planters were very harsh and that was
evident during slavery and it continued under
indentureship to the extent that some scholars
argue that indentureship was a ‘new form of
slavery’ – Tota Mangar
By
Priya Nauth
EAST Indians brought with them their rich
culture and traditions and no doubt a spirit
of perseverance and resilience that enabled
them to survive the harshness of indentureship
and today their descendants continue to make a
significant contribution to development in
Guyana.
On
May 5, 1838, the first set of East Indian
labourers arrived in then British Guiana on
the ships Whitby and Hesperus that landed with
936 Indian indentured workers after a
hazardous journey crossing the Kala Paani
(dark) from Calcutta.
Deputy
Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana
and historian, Mr. Tota Mangar, in an
interview, said the movement of people from
the subcontinent of India was part of a wider
immigration of Indian labourers to other parts
of the world, including Mauritius, Sri Lanka,
Fiji and even parts of the African continent.
He
said the English speaking Caribbean received
substantial numbers of East Indian indentured
labourers, and based on statistical evidence,
Guyana received about 239,000; Trinidad and
Tobago 143,000; Jamaica 36,000; Grenada over
3,000; St. Vincent about 2,500; and St. Lucia
some 4,300.
Also,
the non-English speaking areas received
indentured labourers, including the French
overseas departments like Martinique received
over 25,000; Guadeloupe close to 46,000 and
French Guiana 19,000; and neighbouring
Suriname over 35,000.
“The
movement was widespread. In terms of Guyana,
the experiment started under what is known as
the Gladstone experiment,” he recalled.
John
Gladstone was a proprietor in the West
Demerara area at two plantations--Vreed-en-hoop
and Vreed-en-Stein, Mangar stated.
“He
was the one who sought permission both from
the Indian government and the British
government to recruit Indian labourers; and as
a result, the first batch arrived in May,
1838, onboard the steamships Whitby and
Hesperus and these immigrants found themselves
on several plantations,” Mangar said.
The
indentured servants were placed on the two
Gladstone estates, as well as on Plantation
Highbury and Waterloo in Berbice; Belle Vue on
West Bank Demerara and Anna Regina on the
Essequibo Coast.
“That
started the stream of immigrants coming to
Guyana, and between 1838 and 1917, over
239,000 came. Of that figure, approximately
75,000 returned to the land of their birth,
while the remainder stayed here and made
Guyana their homeland,” he said.
HARDSHIPS
Reflecting on the years of hardships and
sacrifices endured by Indians, he said, “The
indentured labourers experienced a lot of
problems on the plantations. The environment
was extremely harsh.”
Stating
that there was a big problem in terms of
labour control, he explained, “The Europeans
controlled the indentured servants and they
were the ones who made out the contracts and
it made it very harsh.”
“On
the plantations they were expected to do task
work and invariably you find that the task
work was excessive. It caused a problem and
many times the labourers could not complete
the task and they were penalised by way of
fines or arbitrary reduction of their
wages,” Mangar further noted.
He
went on, ‘Historically, the planters were
very harsh and that was evident during slavery
and it continued under indentureship to the
extent that some scholars argue that
indentureship was a ‘new form of
slavery’.”
“You
had other forms of punishment. There were
instances where the immigrants were flogged or
whipped,” the Deputy Vice Chancellor pointed
out.
“They
were detained; they were jailed and verbally
abused and insulted. They were restricted to
the confines of the plantation where they were
assigned since the planters did not encourage
them to move from one plantation to another;
they felt that if they move they would compare
wage rates and the temptation might be to move
to plantations which offered a higher wage,”
he explained.
He
said a lot of ‘trumped up’ charges were
brought against the immigrants too, stating,
“Many times they were not allowed to give
evidence on their own behalf. At times too the
judicial system was badly skewed against them
because the interpreters tended to side with
the magistrates and so there were very many
instances where they never got justice. Many
times they were jailed - it was not easy.”
“It
was a question of survival on the plantation
and hard work; and because of their
traditions, customs and the importance of a
closely knit family, they struggled and
sacrificed and ensured in the long run that
they and their children got betterment,”
Mangar said.
“…but
throughout the system - it was a long history
of struggle against the harsh planters’
class and their subjugation of these
people,” the noted historian reiterated.
“It
was not easy - everything was a struggle for
them…,” Mangar repeated.
CONTRIBUTIONS
Noting their significant contributions, he
said, “It is clear that the East Indian
indenture labourers and their descendants
toiled very hard to ensure that the sugar
industry survived in the 19th as well as the
20th Centuries, and one can argue even in the
21st century, you find their descendants
struggling to ensure the survival of the sugar
industry because the vast majority of the
workforce in the sugar industry today are
descendants of indentured labourers.”
In
addition, Mangar noted that East Indians made
their contribution in several other areas,
including rice cultivation.
“By
the end of the 19th century, you find some
exclusive East Indian village settlements
emerging, and aligned to that was the
emergence of rice cultivation on a major
scale,” he stressed.
“So
rice development was an integral part of East
Indian village settlement,” the Professor
stated.
Also,
they became involved in cattle rearing, milk
selling, and cash crop cultivation; and close
to the turn of the century, the immigrants and
their descendants began to make their presence
felt in other off-plantation economic
activities. They became barbers, tailors,
carpenters, boat builders, charcoal makers,
sieve makers, goldsmiths, porters, small scale
manufacturers and fishermen.
“What
is also significant was the fact that the
indentured laborers and their descendants took
a serious view, especially from around the
turn of the century, of education,” he
observed.
“Getting
a western education was very important to them
in terms of upward social mobility, so you
find quite a few of them emerging as doctors,
barristers, lawyers, accountants, et cetera,
and with the passage of time, they emerged in
business, in the lumber industry, in the
mining industry, transportation industry and
many others,” he stated.
RICH
CULTURAL HERITAGE
He also noted that East Indians contributed to
Guyana’s multicultural and plural society
with their rich cultural heritage.
Approximately
83 per cent of the immigrants who came were
Hindus, about 14 per cent were Muslims while
the remaining 3 per cent were Christians, he
said.
“What
we find during the period of immigration was
that from the late 19th century, mosques and
temples began to dot the costal landscape and
related to this were the introduction of Hindi
and Arabic and other Indian dialects, along
with their holy books, the Ramayana, the
Bhagavat Gita, the Holy Quran. These are
prized holy books in many households today,”
he said.
He
observed that traditional Indian wear, such as
the shalwar, sari, dhoti, kurta have become
very popular over the years, especially at
weddings and religious ceremonies, noting,
“Some of these have taken on a nationalistic
flavour.”
Apart
from its rich legacy in terms of music,
singing, dancing and the various art forms
which have taken root in Guyanese society, he
also noted the various Indian traditional
dishes like roti, puri, curry, bara, kheer and
a number of other vegetable dishes, now
adopted by every ethnic group in the society.
Indian
festivals are widely celebrated, including the
colourful Phagwah, Deepavlai - the Festival of
Lights, Ramnavmi, Shivraatri, Youman Nabi,
Eid-ul-Fitr.
“A
few of these are today national holidays, a
testimony to their significance,” Mangar
pointed out.
“By
and large, I can say that the East Indian
immigrants and their descendants were able to
survive largely through their resilience,
their determination and their commitment to
family,” he emphasised.
He
went on, “They continue to make invaluable
contributions to the overall progress and
development of Guyana and can be found in
every sector of society,” he asserted.
Descendants
of indentured laborers continue to make
immense strides in the social, economic,
cultural, education, political and trade union
fields, and indeed they are actively engaged
in every facet of life in the Guyanese society
today and one cannot forget the sporting
arena.
“So
they have left a strong legacy and this is
important for mutual understanding, tolerance
and for national unity, because we have to
understand and tolerate each other as we
strive to improve the quality of life in
Guyana and to ensure progress and
development,” he said.
He
also pointed out that other groups such as the
Portuguese arrived in Guyana, hence the month
of May is very significant.
“We
should not lose sight of the fact that other
race groups also came here at other stages of
our history; for example later Chinese came,
and we also had a significant amount of
internal migration in the Caribbean where a
lot of Barbadians came to Guyana to work on
the sugar plantations too, because at the end
of emancipation Barbados had surplus labour,”
he stated.
Tuesday,
May 05, 2009