The Impact Of The Indian Immigrants On Colonial Trinidad Society
The purpose of this article has been to educate us on the impact of Indian immigration in Trinidad. The author explains that the impact itself has been the massive change in population, our social relationships and the development of the economy.
Impact of Population, Size and Composition
The population of our Indo-Trinidadian relatives increased massively over the years. They were brought to Trinidad as indentured laborers, also to replace the previous African slaves. At the point in time of their arrival, Indians who got married were recognized as illegal marriages. They would have to register with the District Immigration Agent in order to be a legitimate married couple. With these unions it caused the population to grow, also it increased the mixed culture. Although Indo-trinidadians over populated the country, there were still some of our African culture as well. According to the article, the creole mix up of our culture was influential in the size of our island, in which, foretold one day it would become the majority of our country’s population.
Nature of Trinidad’s Immigrant Society
Immigrants contribute a lot to our society. They are influential in the development of our country. They contribute economically. This is because, immigrants in most countries have a high labour force and also their employment rates are off the charts compared to the country’s natives. There are many advantages to this, such as, the immigrants are willing to work to keep their job, the jobs are done quickly and precisely on time.
Position of the Indians
Indian cultural influences also tended to erect barriers between Indians and the rest of the population. Hinduism to which the majority of Indian immigrants adhered, involved a hierarchical system which had influenced the status, occupations and social contacts of its members in India. As a social system it restricted social intercourse between fellow Hindus of different classes, and would implicitly have discouraged social mixing as far as possible, and intermarriage with non-Indians. Observance of Islam enjoined marriage within the faith to a certain extent, and this implied marriage within the ethnic group, since few non-Indians were Muslims during that period. In comparison with other groups Indians in Trinidad remained unintegrated. Differences between them and other groups were seldom softened by intermarriage, and they preserved relative racial homogeneity by Caribbean standards. According to the Census Reports, numerous marriages reportedly occurred 'between all sections of the foreign-born population and native women', excepting the Indians who were usually married to women of Indian birth or descent. Similarly, the number of children produced by unions between Indians and non-Indians was a relatively small proportion of the total number of Trinidad-born Indians. The Indians differed greatly from the other social groups in respect of religious affiliation since relatively few Indians were converted to Christianity.
Social Impact of the Indians
The Indians' early impact was that of a work force of mainly single adult plantation labourers, employed to serve the sugar estates. As contract workers, with restricted freedom of movement and leisure, and limited social contacts with other groups, they remained relatively isolated, and non-competitive with other groups in the society, and therefore they aroused little apparent resentment. After 1869 land grants schemes and opportunities for independent purchases encouraged the Indians to become a more settled population, aspiring to residence and occupation outside the estates, as did the Creoles. Instead of remaining in their original social position as 'indentured' and 'immigrant', the Indians became more self-assertive. On the estates, Indian labourers reacted defiantly and even violently though sporadically, to deteriorating industrial conditions. One organised group, made representations to the West Indian Royal Commission of 1897, on behalf of Indian groups. Others demanded similar privileges with other British subjects in Trinidad. These articulate groups included persons who had acquired property and education in Trinidad in which they were staking a claim to consideration as settlers. Their upward economic mobility and the prospect of political involvement in Trinidad made some Creoles apprehensive.
At the beginning of the 20th Century Trinidad remained an immigrant society, divided by ethnic and class differences, and mutual group prejudices. Single political and economic systems had become relatively well-established, but the social patterns were more complex. Contemporary accounts emphasised the continued flow of migrants and transients, and the diversity of social groups and activities. Within the limits of a colonial society sectional groups enjoyed a measure of freedom to preserve cherished cultural vestiges. The French Creoles successfully defended their religious denomination and denominational systems of education in the 19th Century, and most Indians retained their religious affiliations, and practised customary endogamy as far as possible. This tolerance diversity - together with British political control, and occupational and residential differentiation - may have been the essential key to the relative absence of group hostility in Trinidad.
Economic Impact of the Indians
The Indians' most considerable impact was on the sugar industry, which was able to increase production greatly, mainly through the availability of immigrant labour. This industry benefited most directly from utilising the services of 80 to 90% of the indentured immigrants down to the closing years of the system. A considerable part of the expense of this importation was borne however by other industries which used relatively few indentured immigrants, and by the General Revenue of the Colony. After the depression of the 1880s, the sugar industry reduced its contribution to the cost of immigration. The cocoa and coconut industries on the other hand increased their contribution from 20% to 40%, although they used no more than 10% of these indentured immigrants until the 20th Century, and only about 20% at most, in the last ten years of the system.
