Lalla Rookh brings the first large Hindostani contract-worker group

On 8 September 1870, the Netherlands and Britain signed an agreement for recruiting workers from British India to Suriname. Its terms described voluntary contracting and return passage after five...

The treaty enabling recruitment of workers from British India was ratified on 10 February 1872, allowing recruitment to proceed. Workers were promised return passage, medical care, and limits on...

On 10 February 1872, the Netherlands ratified its 1870 agreement with Britain governing the emigration of so-called free workers from British India to Suriname. This legal framework made it possible...

The ship Lalla Rookh left Calcutta on 26 February 1873 carrying the first group of British Indian contract workers and their families bound for Suriname. Their migration followed Dutch planning to...

On 5 June 1873 Lalla Rookh arrived with 399 surviving passengers, including men, women, and children, who were assigned to plantations. Their arrival helped form the Hindostani Surinamese community....

On 1 July 1873 the state-supervision period ended and formerly enslaved people gained full civil rights under colonial law. During the interval after formal emancipation, adults aged 15–60 were...

The Bengal arrived on 8 July 1873 with the next recorded group of Hindostani contract workers. The colonial immigration registers assigned the arrivals serial contract numbers, connecting people to...

On 25 August 1873, the Yorkshire brought another group of contract workers from British India. The National Archives ship list associates this arrival with hundreds of contract numbers. Read together,...

The Mangalore arrived in Suriname on 8 November 1873 with a further group of Hindostani workers. Their registration numbers became an enduring administrative identity, and records continued to be...

The ship Calcutta arrived on 25 November 1873, completing five recorded ship arrivals from British India in the first year of the main migration system. The contract numbers run sequentially across...