On 12 March 1917, the Government of India prohibited further recruitment and shipment of indentured workers to overseas colonies. The measure followed years of criticism and organizing in India and the Caribbean against a system that bound workers to plantation contracts and punished breaches through criminal law. This decision ended new recruitment, but it did not immediately cancel every existing contract or stop people already at sea from arriving in British Guiana. Its effects must be distinguished from the later end of outstanding contracts.
On 13 October 1896, Indian indentured workers at Non Pareil on the East Coast Demerara struck over low wages, increased tasks, attempted transfers and abuse, including sexual violence against women...
On 28 November 1905, workers at Sandbach Parker’s wharf in Georgetown began a strike over low pay and exhausting conditions. Dockworkers worked long hours, lacked overtime compensation for night work,...
On 1 December 1905, police opened fire during mass protest in Georgetown after days of waterfront strike and rising public action. The unrest involved workers across sectors, including women whose...
On 13 March 1913, colonial police shot and killed fifteen Indian indentured workers at Rose Hall estate in Berbice; about forty more were seriously wounded. The confrontation followed weeks of labor...
On 4 January 1917, Georgetown wharf workers began a ten-day strike for higher wages, a shorter working day and overtime pay. Wartime inflation had sharply raised the cost of basic foods. Led by Hubert...
👉 India halts recruitment for indentured labor in British colonies
Current
12 March 1917
On 12 March 1917, the Government of India prohibited further recruitment and shipment of indentured workers to overseas colonies. The measure followed years of criticism and organizing in India and...
On 18 April 1917, the SS Ganges arrived in Georgetown carrying 437 men, women and children, the last ship to bring Indian indentured migrants to British Guiana. The group was distributed among 24...
On 1 January 1920, outstanding indenture contracts in British Guiana were officially brought to an end, according to Guyanese historical accounts. This legal closure followed India’s 1917 ban on...
On 3 April 1924, colonial police opened fire at Ruimveldt on a large march of sugar workers from East Bank Demerara estates. The marchers were traveling toward Georgetown in support of the striking...
On 16 February 1939, police opened fire during a strike at Plantation Leonora on the West Coast Demerara, killing four workers, including a woman, and seriously injuring four others. Workers were...
On 22 April 1948, about 1,200 sugar workers from seven East Coast Demerara estates began strike action against the cut-and-load harvesting system and unfair measurement of work. The method required...
