PETER Rohoman states in his ‘Centenary History of the East Indians in British Guiana 1838-1938’:

“It will be the author’s main purpose to prove by the incontestable evidence of facts that Indian Immigration has not only been the salvation of the colony at a most critical juncture in its history, when after the abolition of Negro slavery, there was a general trek away from the plantations, resulting in the economic structure of the Colony being shaken to its very foundations through the lack of a dependable labour supply, but that the Indians themselves have proved to be the most valuable assets to the industrial welfare of the Colony as is unaided efforts, of the rice and cattle industries.”

Emancipation Day, August 1, 1834 was followed by the apprenticeship system, which was an attempt to bolster the critically sagging viability of the plantations and save the Colony of British Guiana from economic stagnation and deterioration. This measure failed, however, and the Apprenticeship System ceased in August 1838.
In the interim, however, and even before Emancipation, there had been intermittent immigration from Europe, China, and Madeira as an experiment, and towards the same purpose.
These immigrants proved unsuitable, but hope was then engendered by the seeming success of an already existing transfer of Indian labour overseas to Mauritius and Bourbon.

Negotiations were set in motion, and in 1837, John Gladstone and John Moss, who had interests in the colony, proposed to Lord Glenelg to convey, by ship, Indian labour from Bengal to Demerara. With Lord Glenelg’s sanction, the term of indenture was agreed on for five years, on the expiration of which period the immigrant was entitled to repatriation by his employers.
Thus began the Indian exodus to British Guiana.
There is reason to believe that such immigration was enforced on the majority of labourers through deceit, kidnappings, and forcible confinement before embarkation. Also, crossing the Kaala Paani (the black water) deviated from their religious beliefs, which was a deterrent to voluntary embarkation in many instances where the labourer was either tricked or forced into a life of bonded servitude in strange lands over oceans, far away from their native land.
This enforced migration, breaking bonds of family and religion, was a disturbing aspect in the annals of the history of the Indo-Guyanese peoples. However, we are the present, moulding the future, carved out of the past, and all the various stages of our growth must be considered when examining the richness of our heritage. Of such is history made.

DEHUMANISING CONDITIONS
On May 5, 1838, after a voyage under grossly dehumanizing conditions lasting 90 days, the “Hesperus” arrived in British Guiana with its living cargo. Of the 155 men, five women, and 10 children, 14 died on the journey and were dumped at sea without traditional ceremonies, which was extremely important in the Indian cultural and religious mosaic.
The “Whitby”, after sailing for 114 days, landed the same month with 263 “items” of human cargo, amidst similar conditions as obtained aboard the “Hesperus”.
Throughout this period, when the shameful and inhuman exploitation of Indians held bonded in servility was taking place, in India there was a growing movement against British rule. This later developed into the Indian National Congress, which spearheaded the Independence struggle, led by Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohandas ‘Mahatma’ Gandhi.
During the fluctuating battles, however, the influential and powerful British-financed plantocracy always won out. Finally, the Indian Government decided to call a halt to this migration, on the grounds that indentureship of Indians was demeaning to the national pride of India, hence the cessation of the indentured labour system.
Indian indentureship in British Guiana began in 1838; was prohibited the same year; suspended in 1848; resumed in 1851; and finally ceased in 1917.
Various historical publications attest to the fact that the conditions under which the immigrations served were harsh and dehumanising in the extreme, and not in keeping with contractual obligations. Savage punishment was meted out for alleged infringements of contractual stipulations by immigrants.
In lieu of contracted repatriation expenses, money owed to the immigrants for return passage went into a repatriation fund intended to develop communities where Indians lived in squalor. (This money was appropriated by the late LFS Burnham to build the National Culture Centre).

BIG PROFITS OUT OF INDENTURESHIP
An investigative team showed findings to the effect that every 12% paid in wages to the Indian workers, 100% in profits was remitted to shareholders in Britain. Also, taking their figures from the then best managed estate, Rose Hall, it reported, according to Peter Rohoman, that “An abled-bodied man, working as a shovel man for 7 hours a day during the slack season, and 15 hours per day during the period of grinding, is able to save, after a period of 10 years of unremitting toil, not more than a sum of $162, while a male weeder saves nothing, in view of stringent living expenses, but has a debt of $37 at the end of the period. A female weeder fares even worse. Her budget, prepare on the same basis, actually shows, after 10 years, a deficit of $153. If she gets a return passage of $225, then her share of the cost of the passage money is included.”
Rohoman concluded: “Indians, by their strenuous labour, have filled the coffers of the absentee landlords. They have been unable to lay by anything for themselves from labours on the plantations, and the inconsiderable sum of 30 or 40 dollars, amassed after 20 or 30 years labour, has been the result of a systematic policy of hard thrift, achieved at the expense of their health, happiness, and physical well-being.”
Wherever they have settled, Indians have demonstrated their ability to survive with nothing but natural resources, primarily earth, and their own grit and determination. Even in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles and against all odds, the immigrants, utilising their land grants (most mere marshland) issued as an incentive to colonisation, and by dint of tremendous, almost superhuman effort and soul-searing sacrifices, created thriving industries that propelled them out of the ranks of the servile into self-respecting, respected members of their communities.

Rohoman writes: “W.E Henly has expressed the soul of the Indian immigrant in his “Invictus” when he wrote:

Out of the night that covers me
Black as the pit from pole to pole
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud
Under the bludgeoning of chance
My head is bloody but unbowed
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid
It matters not how straight the gate
How charged with punishment the scroll
I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul

(By Parvati Persaud-Edwards)