Indian indenture system

E239001

The Indian indenture system was a 19th- and early 20th-century labor scheme that transported millions of Indians to work on colonial plantations worldwide under long-term, often exploitative contracts following the abolition of slavery.

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Label Occurrences
Indian indenture system canonical 1

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Statements (93)

Predicate Object
instanceOf historical phenomenon
indentured labor system
labor migration system
abolishedBy formal ban on indentured emigration from India in 1917
appliesToJurisdiction British Empire
Dutch colonial empire
French colonial empire
Portuguese Empire
characterizedBy debt-like obligations
harsh working conditions
high mortality rates
long-term contracts
low wages
racialized labor hierarchy
recruitment abuses
restricted mobility
documentedIn colonial emigration records
plantation archives
ship passenger lists
endCause Indian nationalist pressure
changing economic conditions
humanitarian criticism
endTime 1920
fieldOfWork cocoa plantations
rice cultivation
rubber plantations
sugar plantations
tea plantations
followed abolition of slavery in 1833
hasCause abolition of slavery in the British Empire
demand for cheap plantation labor
hasConsequence creation of Indian South African community
creation of Indo-Caribbean communities
creation of Indo-Fijian community
creation of Indo-Mauritian community
cultural hybridization in destination colonies
formation of large Indian diasporas
long-term racial and class stratification in colonies
hasParticipant British colonial authorities
linked to: British authorities

Indian laborers
colonial plantation owners
languageOfAdministration Dutch
English
French
mainDestination Burma
linked to: Myanmar

Caribbean
Ceylon
linked to: Sri Lanka

Dutch Guiana
linked to: Suriname

East Africa
Fiji
French Guiana
Guadeloupe
Guyana
linked to: British Guiana

Malaya
Martinique
Mauritius
Natal
Natal Colony
linked to: Colony of Natal

Reunion Island
linked to: Réunion

South Africa
Southeast Asia
Suriname
Trinidad and Tobago
numberOfPeopleInvolved about 1.2 million
over 1 million
over 2 million including unofficial migrations
opposedBy Gopal Krishna Gokhale
Indian nationalists
linked to: Indian nationalism

Indian social reformers
Mahatma Gandhi
partOf global history of labor migration
history of the Indian diaspora
post-emancipation labor systems
placeOfOrigin British India
present-day Bangladesh
present-day India
present-day Pakistan
recruitmentRegion Bengal Presidency
Bihar
Central Provinces
Madras Presidency
Uttar Pradesh
regardedAs post-slavery labor regime
quasi-slavery
system of unfree labor
regulatedBy Indian Emigration Act 1842
Indian Emigration Act 1864
Indian Emigration Act 1883
replaced slave labor on many plantations
startTime 1834
temporalRelation succeeded Atlantic slavery in many colonies
typicalContractDuration 10 years
5 years

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Indian Arrival Day relatedTo Indian indenture system