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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Guyana
Index
Between 1838 and 1917, almost 240,000 East Indian indentured
workers were brought to British Guiana. The indentured workers had
the right to be repatriated at the end of their contracts, but as
of 1890, most of the East Indian indentured workers had chosen to
settle in British Guiana.
Although the great majority of the East Indian immigrants
workers were from northern India, there were variations among them
in caste and religion. Some 30 percent of the East Indians were
from agricultural castes and 31 percent were from low castes or
were untouchables. Brahmans, the highest caste, constituted 14
percent of the East Indian immigrants. About 16 percent were
Muslims. The only acknowledgment the colonial government and the
plantation managers gave to caste differences was their distrust of
the Brahmans as potential leaders. East Indian workers were housed
together and placed in work gangs without consideration of caste.
Unlike the African slaves, the East Indian indentured workers were
permitted to retain may of their cultural traditions. But the
process of assimilation has made the culture of the modern
Indo-Guyanese more homogeneous than that of their caste-conscious
immigrant ancestors.
Data as of January 1992
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