Indentured by the Numbers
“You must be from India/Pakistan/Bangladesh!”
“Actually, I’m from South Africa!” — cue flabbergasted look. Not many people in Germany seem to be aware of the fact that my hometown, Durban, has the largest city population of Indians outside of India. Our history is nuanced with tragedy, suffering and triumph. While most people in South Africa are aware of the first Indian indentured laborers coming over to South Africa in the 1860s, very few know that the first Indians were brought over as slaves as early as the 1600s. These people were brought over by Dutch merchants on their way back home and sold to Dutch settlers as farm laborers or domestic servants.
The next chapter begins in the then British colony of Natal, in 1860. The first indentured laborers were brought over from India by the British. These indentured laborers were identified by a number. My great-grandfather was one of these numbers when he came to South Africa in 1890, at 11 years old. Their Indian names were often changed, as these were difficult to pronounce for the British — ours was changed from Govender to Gounden.
Since slavery was banned throughout the British Empire at this point, these people were given the term “indentured laborers”, though their actual lifestyle showed little difference to slavery. They worked on sugarcane plantations from sunrise to sunset, seven days a week. They were often given just enough food to stay alive and were physically tortured if they did not obey their masters.
About half a century and a generation later, conditions for the Indians were greatly improved. When my grandfather entered the sugarcane industry, he and his family were given a house, with cooking gas and electricity, and monthly food rations.
All in all, South African Indians place much value on two things: education, and working hard towards a better life. My grandfather was the first person in his family who finished high school. All four of his children went to university, and my aunt was the first female in the family to go to university. Despite the harsh effects of colonization, and later the apartheid, South African Indians have always shown a strong determination to persevere and be successful, and this is evident in the development through the generations of my family.
My professor asked us what evidence we have seen of the British Empire in previously colonized countries. My answer is that we, the South African Indians are part of that evidence.
Sources:
Personal accounts and histories
