sep 8, 1870 - last up 13/5 -1870 - Groot Brittannië/Frans traktaat - Ditzelfde heeft als model gediend voor het Koelie traktaat, het zogenaamde ‘Sumatra-traktaat’ met de Nederlandse regering op 8 September 1870. Vanuit Bihar, Bengal, Bombay pres., Orissa, Jaipur, Punjab, Gwalior, Rewa werd men beloof te reizen naar het beloofde land van "Sri Ram" ...Suriname.

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3/5 gevonden link: https://www.theiii.in/ een Indiase database met afkomst plaatsen, vertrek havens, etc. alleen 6 grafieken, geen onderliggende data...zij tellen 25.941 (Hindoestanen) personen die naar Suriname zijn verscheept. daarvan kwamen 19.871 Hindoestanen uit de Noordelijke staat Uttar Pradesh.

Er was weliswaar geen sprake van eigendom van de arbeidskrachten uit India; maar hun arbeids- en leefomstandigheden waren vaak niet veel beter dan dat van de slaven. Over het algemeen sloten zij contracten voor een periode van vijf jaar. De Nederlandse overheid garandeerde dat de arbeiders met hun familie na afloop van het contract weer naar India terug konden keren. Slavernij werd omgezet in wat Engelsen ‘indentured labor’ noemen; gebonden arbeid.

BBC - A New System of Labor: The Forgotten Journey of Indian Indentured Workers
When the British Empire abolished slavery in 1833, its plantations faced a crisis: who would do the back-breaking work that had been done by the enslaved? Their solution was Indian Indentured Labor.

Between 1838 and 1917, over 1.2 million Indian men, women, and children were transported to British colonies across the globe—to places like Fiji, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, and Mauritius. They were recruited with promises of good pay and land after a five-year contract.

But the reality was often different. The journey was long and deadly. On the plantations, they faced harsh conditions, low wages, and systemic oppression in a system that many historians call "a new system of slavery." Despite this, they clung to their culture, languages, and religions.

When their contracts ended, many chose to stay, unable to afford passage home. Their resilience laid the foundations for vibrant Indian diaspora communities that continue to enrich their nations today.

This chapter of history is a crucial, and often overlooked, part of the legacy of the British Empire and the global story of labor migration.
Did you know about this history? Have you heard of the term 'Girmitiya,' which refers to these indentured laborers?

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