When a ship with Indians docked in the Caribbean

Indian Express

08-06-2025

On May 30, 1845, after a five-month voyage from Calcutta, the Fatel Razack docked in the Gulf of Paria. The vessel carried 225 people, mostly young men and a smattering of women, from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Bengal, to work on sugar cane and cocoa plantations in the dual-island Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago after the abolition of African slavery.
This 14,000-mile journey would mark the beginning of the arrival of over 1.44 lakh Indians in Trinidad and Tobago between 1845 and 1917. Under contract for five to 10 years, these Indians were promised a free passage back home. However, at least 75% of them ended up staying back and settling in the New World colony.
Named Indian Arrival Day in 1979, May 30 was in 1994 declared as a public holiday by then Prime Minister Patrick Manning. On May 30 each year, their descendants, who now comprise about half of the Caribbean nation's 1.3 million multi-ethnic society, commemorate the arrival of their ancestors to these shores. This year marked 180 years since Indian immigrants had first arrived in the island nation.
Records provided by the National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago show that of the 225 who landed on its shores on May 30, 1845, about 85% were Hindus, 14% Muslims and the rest either Christians or from other communities, with Bhojpuri being the common tongue. Records show that 228 ships from India landed there between 1866 and 1917.
The gruelling journey across the kaala pani (the sea) saw diseases like cholera claim many lives. Upon their arrival, the labourers would be quarantined at Nelson Island, which became the Immigration Depot for Indians migrants after the system for receiving immigrants was reorganised in 1866. This involved the disembarkation of immigrants from the ship onto barges and then onto Nelson Island.
On arrival, Indian immigrants would be medically examined. Then, they would either be sent to the Marion Hospital for treatment or to the Convalescent Depot to regain their strength after the strenuous sea journey. The immigrants would then be made to sit in the assembly area, where they would be addressed by the 'Protector of Immigrants' and his interpreters. These officials would read them their contracts in Hindi and Urdu. Ten days after their arrival on the island, most migrants would be sent off to estates, bound by strict contracts.
In the early years, Nelson Island's Immigration Depot provided accommodation for approximately 450 people. By 1881, it was enlarged to hold 600 persons. In 1912, it could accommodate 1,000 persons.
But not all was hunky-dory. The indentureship system was often exploitative, with labourers bound to estates for years, receiving meagre wages and forced to live in poor conditions. Though women, comprising around 29% of the arrivals, navigated additional challenges, many still chose to migrate for economic opportunity.
Despite hardships, the girmitiyas (indentured labourers from India contracted to work on plantations) showed remarkable resilience. Of the 75% who stayed back after their contracts ended, most received or bought land to farm and build a community, complete with temples, mosques and schools, to preserve their heritage.
Indo-Trinidadians, now into their fifth and sixth generations, have become the largest ethnic community settled there. In fact, the community has come full circle now, with both the President (Christine Kangaloo) and the Prime Minister (Kamla Persad-Bissessar) having Indian roots. Earlier this year, the President was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by India.
In the late 1800s, Mahatma Gandhi initiated protests against the discrimination faced by free, professional Indians in South Africa. This protest expanded to include Indian indentured labourers and the cause was taken up by nationalists in India. It spread to Fiji and Mauritius later.
Though the recruitment of Indian labourers to work in overseas colonies was suspended on March 12, 1917, due to the military requirements of the First World War, it never resumed after the war. Till 1939, Nelson Island served as a port of departure for those returning to India. The returning immigrants would stay on the island until 300-400 of them were gathered to fill an entire ship.
Over all, over half a million Indians were transported to the Caribbean as indentured labourers after the abolition of slavery. Many of these migrants chose to settle down in the Caribbean at the end of their contracts, particularly in Guyana, Trinidad and Suriname.
In Suriname and Guyana too, Indian-origin people have become a sizeable chunk of the population. On June 5, Suriname marked the Indian Arrival Day to commemorate the docking of Lalla Rookh on the shore of Paramaribo, its capital, in 1873. On board the ship were 400 Indian indentured labourers, who became the first people of Indian origin to arrive in the then Dutch colony.
Between 1873 and 1916, nearly 34,000 Indians would arrive in Suriname. Their descendants now make up the single largest demographic in Suriname, accounting for 27.4% of the country's population.
In many ways, these indentured migrants took India with them to the Caribbean. In Trinidad, for instance, festivals like Diwali, Eid-ul-Fitr, Holi and Muharram are national celebrations, with Divali Nagar, an annual cultural exposition, in Chaguanas drawing thousands. Indian cuisine — roti, kachori and pholourie (similar to pakoda) — has become a culinary cornerstone of Trinidad. Names of places like Patna, Fyzabad and Barrackpore in the island nation are also a reflection of Indian roots.
The writer is Senior Assistant Editor, The Indian Express