Editing Indentured servitude (section)

==South Asia==
{{main|Indian indenture system}}
[[File:Coolie woman.jpg|alt=Indian woman in traditional dress|thumb|200px|Indian woman in traditional dress]]
The Indian indenture system was a system of indenture by which two million<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.striking-women.org/module/map-major-south-asian-migration-flows/indentured-labour-south-asia-1834-1917|title=Indentured labour from South Asia (1834-1917) &#124; Striking Women|website=www.striking-women.org}}</ref> [[India]]ns called [[coolie]]s were [[transport]]ed to various colonies of [[Europe]]an powers to provide labour for the (mainly sugar) plantations. It started from [[Slavery Abolition Act 1833|the end of slavery]] in 1833 and continued until 1920. This resulted in the development of a large [[Indian diaspora]], which spread from the Indian Ocean (i.e. [[Réunion]] and [[Mauritius]]) to Pacific Ocean (i.e. [[Fiji]]), as well as the growth of [[Indo-Caribbean]] and [[Non-resident Indian and person of Indian origin|Indo-African]] population.

[[File:Île de la Réunion, Saint-Denis, dépôt des immigrants (Comoriens).jpg|thumb|Depot of Comorian Indentured Servants in Saint-Denis, Reunion, second half of the 19th century]]

The British wanted local black Africans to work in [[Colony of Natal|Natal]] as workers. But the locals refused, and as a result, the British introduced the Indian indenture system, resulting in a permanent [[Indian South African]] presence. On 18 January 1826, the Government of the [[France|French]] [[Indian Ocean]] island of [[Réunion]] laid down terms for the introduction of Indian labourers to the colony. Each man was required to appear before a [[magistrate]] and declare that he was going voluntarily. The contract was for five years with pay of ₹8 (12¢ US){{Citation needed|date=June 2020}} per month and rations provided labourers had been transported from [[Pondicherry district|Pondicherry]] and [[Karaikal district|Karaikal]]. The first attempt at importing Indian labour into [[Mauritius]], in 1829, ended in failure, but by 1834, with abolition of slavery throughout most of the [[British Empire]], transportation of Indian labour to the island gained pace. By 1838, 25,000 Indian labourers had been transported to Mauritius.

[[File:Newly arrived coolies in Trinidad.jpg|thumb|Newly arrived coolies in Trinidad in 1897]]

After the end of slavery, the [[West Indian]] sugar colonies tried the use of [[emancipated]] [[slave]]s, families from [[Ireland]], [[Germany]] and [[Malta]] and [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] from [[Madeira]]. All these efforts failed to satisfy the labour needs of the colonies due to high mortality of the new arrivals and their reluctance to continue working at the end of their indenture. On 16 November 1844, the British Indian Government legalised emigration to [[Colony of Jamaica|Jamaica]], [[Trinidad]] and [[Demerara]] ([[Guyana]]). The first ship, {{ship||Whitby|barque|2}}, sailed from [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] for British Guiana on 13 January 1838, and arrived in Berbice on 5 May 1838. Transportation to the [[Caribbean]] stopped in 1848 due to problems in the sugar industry and resumed in Demerara and Trinidad in 1851 and Jamaica in 1860.

This system of labour was coined by contemporaries at the time as a "new system of slavery", a term later used by historian Hugh Tinker in his influential book of the same name.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tinker |first1=Hugh |title=A New System of Slavery: The Export of Indian Labour Overseas 1830–1920 |date=1974 |publisher=Oxford Univ. Press |location=London}}</ref>

The Indian indenture system was finally banned in 1917.<ref name="eco" >{{cite news|title=The legacy of Indian migration to European colonies|url=https://www.economist.com/news/international/21727896-century-after-india-ended-system-indentured-labour-its-diaspora-building|access-date=2 September 2017|newspaper=[[The Economist]]|date=2 September 2017}}</ref> Although the system was officially suspended, those who were serving indentures at that time were required to complete their terms of service, thereby extending the system into the early 1920s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sturman |first=Rachel |date=1 December 2014 |title=Indian Indentured Labor and the History of International Rights Regimes |url=https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article/119/5/1439/44606 |access-date=2024-02-09 |website=academic.oup.com}}</ref> According to ''[[The Economist]]'', "When the [[Imperial Legislative Council]] finally ended indenture...it did so because of pressure from [[Indian nationalists]] and declining profitability, rather than from humanitarian concerns."<ref name="eco" />