How Britain Used India To Replace Slave Labor

After abolishing slavery, Britain looked to India to replace the labor on its plantations. The British Empire has since gone to great lengths for history to forget how it created the world’s largest diaspora.

[takishaedwards]

I am Trini. I am a product of the African diaspora and Indian diaspora. While everyone knows about the African diaspora, it's so surprising to learn that the Indian diaspora is not widely taught at all. Thank you AJ+ for telling part of my story. I am still trying to learn about my ancestors and I'm so glad other people want to learn about this too!!

[rakshikanand]

I am an Fiji Indian born India thank you for actually talking about what my great grand parents went through. No one really acknowledges what our people went through. Forget the apology.

[tsfsoomro]

Now they cry about Indians "invading" their country.... The irony

[BanglaBhalobashi]

“Three hundred years of humiliation, abuse and deprivation cannot be expected to find voice in a whisper.”― Martin Luther King Jr

[Ssent]

Sad that even in India this topic is not covered in enough detail in our education

[nycisaacsq]

Wow, I’m Guyanese Indian and I never really knew the history of my ancestors. I was more familiar with the African struggles but our experiences weren’t much different. Thank you for shedding light on this history.

[spicytomango]

I'm of Kenyan descent and our colonial history also includes indentured Indians. They started building the first railway in Kenya in 1895. The track started at the coast moving inwards and they were exposed to harsh beatings, diseases, man-eating lions and frequent attacks from the natives who were resisting the colonialists' efforts. Today, their descendants are recognised as part of the over 40 tribes that make Kenya. This part of history is taught in schools, preserved in the national museum and archives. If there's something I've always admired Kenya for, it's putting the country's entire history out in the open. Until we have these uncomfortable conversations on what happened in the past, it's very difficult to move forward and above all, make sure it doesn't happen again.

[imjustvisiting]

I am from India. My great great grandfather was an indentured servant. He was shipped from one place to another and strangely ended up in a Texas cotton field working for over half his lifetime, some of his friends dying and being imprisoned there for life. He was lucky enough to come back, but all his hair was white by the time.

[shivaanrambally]

I'm Indo-Trinidadian, a direct descendent of these people. What an amazing and insightful vid. I'm very proud of their strength and toughness and their preservation of Desi culture in the Caribbean, though it has morphed quite a bit through interacting with other cultures.

[mabel]

This is exactly why the phrase and attitude of “get over it” in terms of slavery and similar traumas is not only blunt, but also highly violent. You cannot get over trauma (inherited or not) when society is constantly trying to erase your story out of convenience while basically living off of your family’s sufferings. This is beyond sickening. Keep bringing these atrocities to the surface @AJPlus

[WezMan]

I’m not surprised that the British never apologised, but even if they did it wouldn’t be genuine.

[rakeshvienoodj]

My family came from Bihar and were send to Surinam, a former Dutch colony. The dutch and British made an agreement to borrow workers. The first indians arrived Surinam in 1857 with the boat Lalla rookh.

[keeganthambiran]

I'm a South African Indian descendent of the Indentured Indians who came to South Africa in 1860 to work on the sugar cane plantations. Thanks for the full story. Most of us know of the bad treatment of our ancestors and the broken promises etc. but we were always told it was nothing like slavery because they came willingly. A big big lie. I always think about it like if I have a horrible boss and he tells me I have to take up a position in one of our branches in another country and the alternative is that I'll be retrenched, I will go out of fear of losing my job. And if, when I get there, things are not what I was promised and I have no means of returning home, because I'm being paid peanuts, then that's almost like slavery.

[jayyy]

As a Guyanese descendant of indentured servants I am glad that more recognition is being given to the topic. We learnt it in our history it was mentioned that it was a brutal system but just not the graphics. The "divide and rule" policy was worst though as we still face the repercussions today. The society is ethnically divided and ethnic tensions flare up every 5 years during elections.

[jaylamba]

Britain, after taking credit for abolishing slavery, But don't want to take credit for replaced legalised slavery of Indians.

[NovaUtopia]

My great grandmother was child trafficked from India to Fiji at 14, with out her or her family’s knowledge or consent. The British govt owes so much in reparations to me and my people.

[naturallivingbyenovi]

I'm 4th generation Indian living in Jamaica. We have always been aware of our history because my father was born in a community of mainly Indians at the time very close to the plantation on which they worked. It also helps that we have a family burial plot with some of my family members

[vijayghunowa]

I am from Mauritius and we are no deferent, our ancestors suffered from the British colonialism, servitude, slavery and after they changed into Indenture. But karma will be taking its course.

[chieftanke]

British took Chinese as indentured labour from Southern China provinces as well. My grandfather came to British Malaya as indentured labour, endured horrible conditions in tin mines.

[sharmilakalain]

I am South African but my heart is emphatically Indian. We retained our core values, worked hard, and educated ourselves.The disingenuity and brutality of colonialism needs to be spoken of.