girmitir

Girmitir, also written as girmitiya, is the term used for Indian indentured laborers who signed contracts to work in British colonial territories after the abolition of slavery. The word girmit derives from the English word “agreement,” adapted into Indian languages, and girmitiya means a person bound by such an agreement. The term is especially associated with the indenture system that brought large numbers of Indians to colonies in the Caribbean, Africa, the Pacific, and elsewhere.

From the 1830s to the early 20th century, hundreds of thousands of workers were recruited from various regions of the Indian subcontinent, including present-day India and Pakistan, to work on plantations and in other colonial labor projects. Common destinations included Fiji, Mauritius, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica, and parts of South Africa. Laborers were typically contracted for five to seven years, with families often not accompanying them at first. Conditions on ships and plantations were harsh, with low wages, strict overseen discipline, poor housing, and exposure to disease.

The indenture system gradually declined in the early 20th century, with formal recruitment ending around 1916–1917 in most colonies. Some indentured laborers chose or were able to settle locally after completing their contracts, while others returned to the Indian subcontinent. The Girmit era left a lasting demographic and cultural imprint, most notably in Fiji where Indo-Fijian communities formed from the descendants of girmitirs, and in Caribbean and Pacific diaspora communities. The term continues to evoke memories of the indenture experience in these communities.