Empire's Crossroads by Carrie Gibson

Author:Carrie Gibson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Published: 2014-11-06T16:00:00+00:00

Trinidad was one of the largest recipients of Indian labour in the West Indies. The island had languished in the past, and the influx of workers was considered by some, both in London and on the island, as a means of improving productivity. Even by the end of the century, after tens of thousands of Indians had arrived,there was ongoing discussion about the merits of such a scheme. Some argued there was no spare labour in the rest of the British islands, and that during cultivation season ‘the sugar estates cannot secure the necessary labour’, which was detrimental to the industry.115 Opponents of Indian immigration argued that these workers were paid far less than islanders, depressing wages, though proponents maintained that the sugar industry simply could not afford to pay any more.116 There was a cultural element as well, as one pamphlet argued:

But says the objector, you have flooded the country with hordes of barbarians, Pagans, and Mahomedans. Comparisons are proverbially odious. We will therefor avoid them by enumerating what we believe to be some of the acknowledged virtues and vices of the East Indian. He is sober, industrious, thrift[y] and provident. He is kind to animals, and children, and to his wife except in cases of jealousy when he is apt to resort to extreme measures. He is the heir of an ancient civilization and literature, and generally respects both himself and his fellow men.117

The Chinese, Javanese, and Indians brought their traditions and culture with them, which soon became woven into the fabric of the Caribbean. Muslims had been in the Caribbean since the earliest European arrivals – often in the guise of forced morisco converts – but now, both Sunni and Shia sects as well as Hindus from India were arriving in significant numbers. Hindu temples joined churches in Trinidad and Guiana, new words emerged, and island palates developed a taste for different foods. The Indians also brought with them a medicinal herb that would later become very much associated with the Caribbean: ganja, or cannabis.118 Immigration, however, was not limited to people from India, Java or China. Other groups had come to Guiana and Trinidad to try their luck, such as Madeirans, whose island was still – and would continue to be – under Portuguese rule. Also ‘Syrians’, a catch-all term that included people actually from Syria, Lebanese Christians, who also had a significant diaspora around the ports of Latin America, and other Middle Eastern people. They were often merchants and were met with acquiescence at sometimes and hostility at others – especially when members of their community grew rich.

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By the 1860s, the labour landscape in the British Caribbean had shifted significantly. Not all former slaves refused to work, but the number of people brought to the islands goes some way to illustrating the extent of the shortfall. The meaning of freedom was still to be clarified, a process that would continue throughout the decades that followed, especially with regard to what was considered acceptable treatment of the former slaves and people of colour.

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