Indo-Caribbean people or Indo-Caribbeans are Caribbean people with roots in the Republic of India or the Indian subcontinent.
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From 1838 to 1917, over half a million Indians from the former British Raj or British India, were taken to the Caribbean as Indentured workers to address the demand for labour following the abolition of slavery. The first two shiploads arrived in British Guiana (now Guyana) on May 5, 1838, which made 2008 the 170th anniversary.
The majority of the Indians living in the English-speaking Caribbean came from eastern Uttar Pradesh and western Bihar, while those brought to Guadeloupe and Martinique were mostly from, but not only, from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
A minority emigrated from other parts of South Asia, including present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Indo-Caribbeans are the largest ethnic groups in Guyana and Suriname and are a plurality in Trinidad and Tobago. They are the second largest group in Jamaica, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia and other countries. There are populations in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, French Guiana, Grenada, Panama, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Martinique, Netherlands Antilles and Guadeloupe. There are also small groups often called "mulatts" who are of Indian descent in Haiti.
Modern-day immigrants from India (mostly Sindhi merchants) are to be found on Saint-Martin / Sint Maarten, St. Thomas, Curacao and other islands with duty-free commercial capabilities, where they are active in business.
Other Indo-Caribbean people descend from later migrants, including Indian doctors, Gujarati businessmen and migrants from Kenya and Uganda.
However, the vast majority are descendants of the original indentured workers.
Many Indo-Caribbean people have migrated to the United States of America, Canada, The Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom, and to other parts of the Caribbean.
The indentured Indians and their descendants have actively contributed to the evolution of their adopted lands in spite of many difficulties.
Jamaica has always celebrated the arrival of Indians in Old Harbour Bay in St. Catherine Parish on May 13.
In 2003, Martinique celebrated the 150th anniversary of Indian arrival. Guadeloupe did the same in 2004. These celebrations were not the fact of just the Indian minority, but the official recognition by the French and local authorities of their integration and their wide-scale contributions in various fields from Agriculture to Education, Politics and to the diversification of the culture of the Creole peoples. Thus, the noted participation of the whole multi-ethnic population of the two islands were in these events.
There are two Indo-Caribbean newspapers based in Toronto:
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   | Indian Heritage Foundation in St. Vincent - www.svgindianheritage.com |
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