"Indian indenture system — The forced migration of people" Topic

…in European colonies

"Indentureship was the system of transporting cheap labor from India and China to British colonies in the post-slavery period. As soon as the European mercantilists discovered cheap labor in India, they repurposed abolished slavery as indentured labor. The indentured labor was bonded labor where more than 2 million Indians were transported to more than 19 colonies. This resulted in the growth of Indian diaspora in places like the Caribbean, Natal(South Africa), Mauritius, Sri Lanka, and Fiji.

The desire to escape poverty and famine in British India persuaded the poor and illiterate Indians to migrate to these tropical countries and earn a decent living. Little did they know, they were bound to serve a bond of five years on the plantations with minimal wages and a small portion of land and a fake promise of return passage.

Between 1660 to 1775, some 400,000 British servants were transported to North American colonies, many to work as field laborers but not on the plantation model. They had to work for three years post which they were given freedom. But this deal could not run successfully as the Europeans could not adapt to tropical heat in the plantations. Efforts were made to migrate free Africans from the Chesapeake Bay area of Eastern USA after the Anglo-American War of 1812 but it did not work either…"
Main page
link

Armand