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History
Assignment
1&2
Miss. T. Thomas

Selah Diamond
3/16/2018
Selah Diamond
Form 4 Arts/ Technical
Friday 16th March, 2018

Assignment 1 (40 marks)

Colonial Secretary of State,

Britain

Dear Sir. Richard Roberts II,

I am a planter in Trinidad. The purpose of this report is to inform you

of the various immigration schemes.

1. European Labour
European labour was primarily imported by Jamaica with the
intention of providing plantation labour and at the same time,
increasing the white population. A total of 5200 immigrants came
between the years 1834-1841, thousands of Scots and Irish and a few
hundred Germans went to Jamaica. This scheme failed because the
majority of the immigrants died soon after due to tropical diseases
and others refused to work when they saw the work they were
expected to do and understood that it was considered as the work of
the blacks. They sought other employment or asked to be repatriated.
This finally convinced the Jamaican government that plantation
labour from northern Europe was hopeless.

2. Madeirans and Maltese

The labourers in Madeira, a Portuguese island off the coast of
Morocco, were only paid three to four pence per day and were
attracted by the probability of higher wages in the West Indies. Private
importations occurred during 1835 and 1882, 36000 Madeirans came
to the West Indies: 30000 to British Guiana, 2000 to Antigua, virtually
1000 to Trinidad and only 100 to Jamaica. The rest were dispersed
among Grenada, St Vincent, St Kitts and Nevis. The scheme was
substandard as it was irregular, the death rate of the arrivals was
high and most of the Madeirans went into trading as soon as possible.
A few hundred people from Malta entered the British West Indies,
mainly British Guiana and Grenada. The Maltese disliked the
conditions and asked to be sent back home. Malta could never have
provided enough immigrants to solve the labour problem on the West
Indian sugar estates.

3. Free African immigration

The importation of Africans from Sierra Leone, the Kru Coast and the
Atlantic island of St Helena and the Africans rescued from save ships

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Selah Diamond
Form 4 Arts/ Technical
Friday 16th March, 2018

began. Most of them were freed slaves or descendants of freed slaves.

Altogether, almost 36000 free Africans came to the West Indies under
this scheme; 14000 to British Guiana, 10000 to Jamaica, 8000 to
Trinidad, and the rest to Grenada, St Vincent, St Lucia and St Kitts.
The scheme, which occurred between 1841-1862 was very popular at
first, but weakened for two reasons. Firstly, private ships were hired
to carry emigrants from Africa and it convinced the Africans that it
was slavery all over again. Secondly, the Africans were enticed into the
Caribbean by false promises of money and land. When the news of the
true conditions in the West Indies were leaked, it was difficult to
acquire more Africans.

4. Chinese immigration
These schemes lasted for long periods but not very large numbers
came to the British West Indies. Far more went to Cuba. Earlier in
1806, Trinidad attempted to import some Chinese. Very few arrived
and they either refused to work or were found entirely unsuitable for
the labour required. British Guiana also attempted to attract Chinese
who had previously emigrated to Malacca, Singapore and Penang.
However, These Chinese were content where they were and were
unwilling to come to the West Indies. Large scale immigration began
in 1852 from the Portuguese colony of Maçao. The immigrants were
convicts or prisoners of war and there were no women amongst them,
which had unhappy consequences for the scheme in British Guiana.
The scheme was considered successful but the agents undeniably
practised some deception in recruiting because they did not inform
the Chinese the nature of work they were going to and made false
promises about repatriation. As a result of the Chinese immigration,
there were many problems: Therefore, this scheme proved to be
unsatisfactory and unreliable as a permanent labour force on the
sugar plantations. It is difficult to assess the total numbers of Chinese
immigrants into the British West Indies, but a round figure of 20000
in the period 1852 to 1893.

5. Indian immigration
1838-1917
The father of the British Prime Minister, John Gladstone and owner of
two plantations in British Guiana, applied to the Secretary of State for
the Colonies in 1837 for the permission to import Indian labourers.
The great flood of immigration began in 1838 with the arrival of 396
Indians. It was immediately claimed a success in British Guiana but

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Selah Diamond
Form 4 Arts/ Technical
Friday 16th March, 2018

an investigation by the Anti-Slavery society revealed that many of the

immigrants had died quickly. Some had been flogged and wrongly
imprisoned. Emigration was suspended in July 1838 but official
resumed in 1844. The demand for Indian immigrant was strong. BY
1917, roughly 416000 Indian immigrants had entered the British
West Indies. 239000 to British Guiana, 134000 to Trinidad, 33000 to
Jamaica and 10000 west to the islands of the eastern Caribbean, St
Lucia, Grenada, St Vincent and St Kitts. Even though the scheme
seemed successful, in many ways it didn’t live up to expectations. It
had many failings: the immigrants did not have freedom for long
periods of their lives; there was great suffering among the immigrants
and grave social problems. However, today the Indian descents would
not view the scheme as a failure as they make up a large percent of
the population.

The schemes above influenced several social and economic changes in the
British Caribbean like:

1. Immigration encouraged outdated methods of production as

planters were not motivated to implement labour saving devices.

2. Encouraged the creation of rice industries in British Guiana and

Trinidad as the larger East Indian population in those countries
started growing rice to supplement their diet. This production of
rice helped to diversify Trinidad and British Guiana economy.

3. Immigration increased the population in the Caribbean because of

the large amount of immigrants to come seeking employment.

4. Brought about a general increase in sugar production in some

islands like Trinidad, British Guyana. In Trinidad the sugar
production was four times greater than that produced during the
pre-emancipation period.

5. Immigration created competition for jobs in the Caribbean forcing

the price of wages down.

6. Increased the availability of labourers coming to the British West

Indies. This allowed for the labour problem on some islands to be

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Selah Diamond
Form 4 Arts/ Technical
Friday 16th March, 2018

solved and once there are labourers there will be an increase in the
production and the economy from the money that would be earned.
7. The East Indian immigrants were responsible for the gold mining
industry in Guiana as they often decorated themselves with gold
jewellery in India.

8. Immigration created a multi ethic society as there as number of

new races in the Caribbean introduced to solve the labour
calamity.
Sincerely,
Selah Diamond,

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Selah Diamond
Form 4 Arts/ Technical
Friday 16th March, 2018

Assignment 2 (60 marks)

a. Most of the immigrants recruited were peasant farmers from the cities
Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Agra, Oudh and Bihar.

b. Five push factors of Indian Immigration:

 The enterprise of British factories in India destroyed India’s

domestic industries and created a population likely to migrate.
 Indian residents were forced to migrate in order to support
their families because there were limited jobs.
 Indian convicts escaping police mostly migrated.
 Labourers going through seasonal


Five pull factors of Indian Immigration:

 The wages were higher in the British West Indies.

 There were jobs available in the West Indies.
 Freedom was promised; therefore they would be able to plant
crops and make a living.
 Fertile land was available. They wanted to acquire some land to
cultivate crops to maintain their families.

c. The Indian immigrants had to sign the contracts at the port of
embarkation because there were previous cases where they refused to
sign upon confronted with the hard conditions of plantation labour.
The British government allowed contracts of only one year. It was
extended to three years and the planters finally got what they had
been pressing for from the beginning- five year contracts signed at the
port of embarkation. The contracts specified the number of days to be
worked, the number of working hours in a day, the daily wages and
conditions about return passages. For example, a labour contract in
British Guiana would run for 5 years from the day of arrival in the
colony, everyday of the year except Sundays and public holidays, and
days spent in prison had to be made up at the end of the contract. A
field labourer on a plantation had to work seven hours per day, and a
factory labourer ten hours. The wages were 1s per day (later 1s 6d) for
a man over sixteen, provided that he was healthy, and 8d per day for
woman or boy under sixteen. For the first three months after arrival,
food would be supplied to the immigrant and 4 dimes would be

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Selah Diamond
Form 4 Arts/ Technical
Friday 16th March, 2018

deducted from his wages for this. They were to be housed in

‘barracks’, this was rent free and they would receive free medicine and
hospitalisation. The contracts did not state that the work would be on
sugar plantations.

d. Ways in which Indian immigration resembled slavery: (15 marks)

 The immigrants and the slaves were both expected to work
every day except Sundays and public holidays.
 Both types of workers were denied the natural freedoms of
human beings outside their hours of labour.
 They were confined to their estates and could be fined if found
off their estates.
 They were denied the chance to lead normal family lives.
 They were both sometimes flogged and imprisoned due to
minor issues.
e. Reasons for the introduction of the immigrant schemes in the
Caribbean. (10 marks)
i. To provide a stable labour force and reinstate planter
authority over workers.
ii. To reduce wages by setting up competition for jobs because
when here is a larger group of people seeking one job they
tend to accept low wages.
iii. To make the proportion of blacks to whites equal.
iv. To keep expand sugar economy and increase the sugar
output.
v. For immigrants to work land in colonies where land was
unused in an effort to balance land and population.