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      Changing Caribbean geographies: connections in flora, fauna and patterns of settlement from Indian inheritances

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            Abstract

            There can be no doubt that Indian immigration to the plantation colonies changed the geography of those colonies. However, most analyses have dealt with the sugar industry in the colonies after the abolition of slavery. This paper will argue that, apart from the sugar industry, Indian labour and ingenuity made other significant contributions to plantation economies. The girmityas (agreement signers) were well aware that they were going to agricultural occupations so they took with them an amazing array of dried fruits, seeds and cuttings, which survived the long crossing, adding to the flora of the plantations. Armed with this foreknowledge, the jahajis packed these items into their jahaji bundles alongside the Tulsi Ramayan and the Holy Qu'ran. Animals too formed part of this international trade. Sheep, goats and poultry which were not eaten on the outward voyage were sent to the estates, where they multiplied. When dangerous snakes threatened plantation security, cages of mongoose were dispatched to the Caribbean where they bravely tackled venomous creatures. At the urging of Indian labourers with long experience in the sugar industry, the plantations' owners imported Brahma bulls and Zebu cattle, which revolutionised transport on the estates and provided leather, manure and meat to the wider population.

            There is also the amazing story of the importation of hundreds of water buffaloes ( bhaisa) from the Indo-Gangetic plains. Some nine breeds were imported and in the twentieth century Caribbean bio-geneticists were able to blend the best qualities of those Indian animals and created a new hybrid, the buffalypso, which combined the scientific name with Trinidad's fame as the land of the calypso. The buffalypso became a prized animal for haulage, meat, milk and leather and an item of export to Venezuela, Colombia, Miami and the wider Caribbean. Indian cultivars were continuously exported to the botanic gardens in the Caribbean and Indian forestry experts were sent to the region to advise on forest rehabilitation in the wake of large-scale deforestation, which sugar cultivation required. In these and other ways the physical character of the Caribbean underwent permanent change, which manifests itself today.

            Content

            Author and article information

            Contributors
            Journal
            10.2307/j50022885
            jofstudindentleg
            Journal of Indentureship and its Legacies
            Pluto Journals
            2634-1999
            2634-2006
            1 September 2021
            : 1
            : 1 ( doiID: 10.13169/jofstudindentleg.1.issue-1 )
            : 16-35
            Affiliations
            Brinsley Samaroo is professor of history (emeritus), University of the West Indies
            Article
            jofstudindentleg.1.1.0016
            10.13169/jofstudindentleg.1.1.0016
            f5904339-782d-4056-933f-e19ca57bf958
            © 2021 Pluto Journals

            All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

            History
            Custom metadata
            eng

            Literary studies,Arts,Social & Behavioral Sciences,History
            buffalypso,Indian animals in the Caribbean,seeds in indenture,Qu'ran in indenture,Ramayana in indenture,Girmityas,Jahaji bundle,Caribbean geographies

            Notes

            1. Department of Agriculture Bulletin (Trinidad), 18 (1919).

            2. British National Archives (BNA) CO 295/381. 22154 Memo by C. Warner, Emigration Agent, Calcutta.

            3. BNA CO 295/446. 7711 Jerningham to Chamberlin, 27 September 1897.

            4. CO295/381. C.O.Note. 19 October 1897.

            5. Agri-News (Trinidad), 1(8) (August 1902).

            6. CO295/446. File 47711. Kay to Colonial Secretary, 25 November 1908.

            7. This section is based on the records of Caroni (1975) Ltd. Also Rastogi and Rastogi 2004.

            8. Faculty of Agriculture, UWI., St. Augustine. 2017.

            9. This paragraph is based on Gould 2004 and the author's own observations.

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