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Emancipation First, Indentured Labour After (#54567)
by Sudha Shenoy on February 23, 2005 at 11:31 AM
1. The price of slaves in Jamaica averaged just under £77 between 1808 & 1823. In 1824-27, as emancipation loomed, the price _fell_ to just under £51, a drop of one-third. Slavery was abolished in 1833.

2. It was supposed that the ex-slaves would continue to work on the sugar plantations as wage labourers. But many - most - refused to do so. Indentured labour was brought in precisely _because_ of this refusal by ex-slaves. Indian indentured labour - the overwhelming bulk of the whole - began to be taken to the various sugar colonies (both British & French)in 1835. Mauritius was the first to bring in Indian indentured labourers, followed by the West Indies, etc. Chinese indentured labour was a fraction of Indian, & also a fraction of free Chinese emigration.

3. Thus indentured labour was an _expedient_, made necessary by the unexpected decline in labour supply to the sugar plantations. Indentured labour followed _after_ slavery was abolished.

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Re: Emancipation First, Indentured Labour After (#54684)
by William Marina on February 24, 2005 at 8:22 AM
Sudha,
What you say is true, but you also mention the "free" Chinese and Indians coming in along with contract/indentured ones. Were they not also a factor early on?
Bill Marina

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Re: Emancipation First, Indentured Labour After (#54745)
by Sudha Shenoy on February 25, 2005 at 2:01 AM
1. About 78% of Indian emigration went to Ceylon, Burma & Malaya. These emigrants were all free; they left from 1843 onwards. Around 22% went to the sugar colonies._All_ were indentured labourers (except for a handful of professionals, including Gandhi.) Indentured labourers were sent first to Mauritius in 1829, & then to British Guiana in 1838. Numbers sent to the West Indies picked up from 1845 onwards, & then the numbers sent to sugar plantations in other colonies, notably Natal & Fiji. (Gandhi went to Natal.)

2. The bulk of _Chinese_ emigration was free. Around half went to the US; then came SEAsia & Australia. A small proportion consisted of indentured labour for the West Indies & the sugar plantations of South America. These were brought over after 1835.

3. It was the need for labour _after_ emancipation, which led to the import of indentured labour, overwhelmingly from India.

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