Hindustans
Hindustans are a ethnic group of Indian descent in Suriname and the Netherlands . The first Hindustans came to Suriname as contract workers in 1873. Most of them came from the Ganges region in the north of what was then British India , which corresponds to today's states of Bihar and East Uttar Pradesh . Since Suriname gained independence in 1975, many Hindustans emigrated to the Netherlands.
Contract workers
After the abolition of slavery on July 1, 1863 and the end of the subsequent ten-year state supervision (compulsory labor) in Suriname, the Netherlands feared that a large number of former slaves would migrate from the plantations. In order to create replacements, the Dutch government signed an agreement with Great Britain in September 1870 , which included the recruitment of contract workers in British India.
On June 5, 1873, the first British Indian contractors entered Surinamese soil. The 399 passengers had left their homeland on the sailing ship Lalla Rookh from Calcutta , and they knew next to nothing about their destination.
The employment contracts had a term of five years. After that time, the Hindustans were able to return to India at the expense of the Dutch government. The minimum wage was 60 cents a day for a man and 40 cents a day for a woman. In 1916, under political pressure from nationalists in British India, England ended the emigration agreement with the Netherlands. In the period from 1873 to 1916, around 34,000 people were shipped from Calcutta to Suriname. Around 70% of these were men and 30% women. Again, 36% of the women were married and 64% single. About a third of the contract workers made use of the right to paid return travel to the country of birth.
term
Hindustan is a term for the area of origin of this population group, from which the terms for the most important Indian language ( Hindi ) and the most widespread beliefs ( Hinduism ) are derived. About 86% of the Hindustans recruited were believers of Hinduism and 14% of Islam (see also Islam in India ).
cenotaph
To mark the 120th anniversary of immigrants from British India, the Baba en Mai monument was unveiled in 1994 by the Hindustan Immigration Foundation .
The inscription on the memorial is translated: “Baba and Mai, June 5, 1873, Monument of Hindustan Immigration, June 5, 1993. Where I am well, is my fatherland. Unveiled on Saturday, June 4th 1994 by the Stichting Hindostaanse Immigratie . "
The people Baba and Mai are symbolic of the first immigrants from British India. The monument in honor of the immigrants was erected on the Kleine Combéweg in Paramaribo .
number
At the 8th census in 2012 , 148,443 people said they were of Indian origin. This corresponds to a share of 27.4% of the total population of Suriname.
Hindustanen in the Netherlands
Before and after Suriname gained independence on November 25, 1975, many Hindustans emigrated to the Netherlands. A large part of this population group was against the separation from the Netherlands and feared an uncertain future in sovereign Suriname. Of the approximately 345,000 Dutch people with Surinamese roots, the Hindustans form the largest group with around 151,000 people (as of January 1, 2011). Most of them live in The Hague , Rotterdam , Zoetermeer and Almere . Hindustan homosexuals took part in the Amsterdam Gay Pride Canal Parade for the first time in 2011 .
literature
- CFA Bruijning and J. Voorhoeve (main editors): Encyclopedie van Suriname. Elsevier , Amsterdam and Brussel 1977, ISBN 978-94-6022377-8 , pp. 275-284.
- Chandersen ES Choenni: Hindostaanse Surinamers in Nederland 1973-2013. LM Publishers, Arnhem 2014, ISBN 90-10-01842-3 .
- CJM de Klerk: De immigratie der Hindostanen in Suriname , Urbi et orbi. Amsterdam 1953 [a reprint of this work was published by Amrit in The Hague in 1998].
Individual evidence
- ↑ Centraal Bureau voor Statistiek, Omvang en spreiding van Surinaamse bevolkingsgroepen in Nederland , PDF document, Dutch, accessed on May 27, 2016.