Indo-Surinamese
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Indo-Surinamese, Indian-Surinamese or Hindustani Surinamese are people of Indian origin who are nationals of
Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...
with ancestry from
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and the wider
subcontinent A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...
. Their ancestors were Indian
indentured workers Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract, called an "indenture", may be entered "voluntarily" for purported eventual compensation or debt repayment, ...
brought by the Dutch and the British to the (then) Dutch colony of Suriname during the mid-19th to the early 20th century. Per the 2012 Census of Suriname, 148,443 citizens of Suriname are of Indo-Surinamese origin, constituting 27.4% of the total population, making them the largest ethnic group in Suriname on an individual level.


Etymology

Indo-Surinamese are also known locally by the
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
term ''Hindoestanen'' (), derived from the word '' Hindustani'', lit., "someone from
Hindustan ''Hindūstān'' ( , from '' Hindū'' and ''-stān''), also sometimes spelt as Hindōstān ( ''Indo-land''), along with its shortened form ''Hind'' (), is the Persian-language name for the Indian subcontinent that later became commonly used by ...
". Hence, when Indians migrated to Suriname they were referred to as Hindustanis, people of Indian origin. Since 1947 the official name for the ethnic group in Suriname has been ''Hindostanen'' (“Hindostanis”). As the term ''Hindoestanen'' was mostly associated with followers of Hinduism, ''Hindostanen'' also includes the Muslim and Christian followers among the Indian immigrants in Suriname. Nowadays the term ''Hindoestanen'' and ''Hindostanen'' are interchangeably used in common Dutch language, and with that the meaning of ''Hindoestanen'' came to be more inclusive. They were also known as
girmityas Girmitiyas, also known as Jahajis, were indentured laborers from British India transported to work on plantations in Fiji, Mauritius, South Africa, and the Caribbean (mostly Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname) as part of the Indian indenture ...
, a term referring to the Agreements that the labourers had to sign regarding the work and the period of stay, and meaning "Someone with an Agreement."


History

During the
British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
, many Indians were sent to other British colonies for work. After the abolition of slavery in the Dutch colony of Suriname, the Dutch government signed a treaty with the United Kingdom on the recruitment of contract workers. Indians began migrating to Suriname in 1873 from what was then
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
as
indenture An indenture is a legal contract that reflects or covers a debt or purchase obligation. It specifically refers to two types of practices: in historical usage, an indentured servant status, and in modern usage, it is an instrument used for commercia ...
d labourers, mostly 75% from the modern-day Indian states of
Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
, and in smaller numbers
Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
,
Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land a ...
,
Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
and
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
. However, among the immigrants there were also labourers from other parts of South Asia, such as
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
and
Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
. The first ship transporting Indian indentured labourers, the ''
Lalla Rookh ''Lalla Rookh'' is an Oriental romance by Irish poet Thomas Moore, published in 1817. The title is taken from the name of the heroine of the frame tale, the (fictional) daughter of the 17th-century Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. The work consi ...
'', arrived in
Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's ...
. Newly freed slaves in Suriname who witnessed Indian workers disembarking at the harbour, reportedly stated, "''Jobo tanbasi''", meaning "The white man is still the boss", suggesting that they viewed the development as a continuation of the slave trade. Initially, the transport and living conditions of Indian labourers in Suriname was worse than it had been prior to the abolition of the Dutch slave trade. The British Viceroy of India described it as "a new system of slavery". In 1870s, conditions were improved greatly following the passage of new legislation to protect the Indian workers. The Government of the United Kingdom and the colonial British Government in India feared comparisons to slavery would hurt their reputation, and enacted several legislations to make transportation of Indian workers safer and improve working conditions in plantations. The Dutch government, which had signed the agreement to recruit workers with the British after long and difficult negotiations, also feared jeopardizing the arrangement and meticulously followed the regulations imposed by the British. The Dutch were also concerned that they would be accused of reviving the slave trade. In order to reduce the mortality rate among workers being transported from India, the colonial British government required the presence of at least one doctor on every ship. As regulations required the doctor to be of European-origin, the regulations also required that one Indian indentured labourer be appointed as a translator and that he would be paid for his services at the end of the journey. Other regulations mandated that every ship have distilling apparatus with a capacity to produce at least 500 litres of drinking water from seawater daily, and also required ships to have a sickbay, male and female nursing staff, adequate food and medicine, and artificial ventilation in the passengers' quarters. Another regulation prohibited any ship transporting Indian indentured labourers from setting sail between the end of March and the beginning of August. Any shipping company that violated the regulations would be prohibited from transporting contact workers in the future. While the mortality rate among slaves working on plantations between 1680 and 1807 averaged 50.9 per thousand people, following the passage of the regulations post-1873, it dropped to 7.1 per thousand among Indian workers. Indo-Surinamese made up 37.6% of the population in the 1972 Census. Following the independence of Suriname on 25 November 1975, a significant portion of the Indo-Surinamese population migrated to the Netherlands, thereby retaining their
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
passport.


Religion

The majority religion among the Indo-Surinamese is
Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
, practiced by 78% of the people, followed by
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
(13%),
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
(7%), and
Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current ...
. Among the
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
s about 63% follow orthodox, traditional
Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
that they call
Sanātanī ''Sanātanī'' () is a term used to describe Hindu duties that incorporate teachings from The Vedas, The Upanishads, and other Hindu religious texts and scriptures such as ''The Ramayana'' and ''The Bhagavad Gita'', which itself is often describe ...
to differentiate themselves from the 15% who belong to the reform movement Arya Samaj, started by Dayananda Saraswati. Among the Indo-Surinamese
Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
s, 75% follow
Sunni Islam Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagre ...
while 25% identify as Ahmadiyya, of either the
Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement for the Propagation of Islam The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement for the Propagation of Islam, ( ur, , translit=Aḥmadiyyah Anjuman-i Ishāʿat-i Islām Lahore) is a separatist group within the Ahmadiyya movement that formed in 1914 as a result of ideological and administrati ...
or the
Ahmadiyya Ahmadiyya (, ), officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ, ar, الجماعة الإسلامية الأحمدية, al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmīyah al-Aḥmadīyah; ur, , translit=Jamā'at Aḥmadiyyah Musl ...
community.


Notable Indo-Surinamese people

*
Ashwin Adhin Michael Ashwin Satyandre Adhin (born 10 June 1980) is a Surinamese educator, politician, and was the Vice President of Suriname between 2015 and 2020. He is a member of the National Democratic Party. At the age of 35, he became the youngest vice p ...
, Surinamese Vice President *
Errol Alibux Liakat Ali Errol Alibux (born 30 November 1948 in Paramaribo) is a Surinamese politician historically associated to the PALU. Career From 1967 to 1973 he studied sociology at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. He was Prime Minister of Surina ...
, politician, former prime minister of Suriname, suspect in the
December murders The December murders (Dutch: ''Decembermoorden'') were the murders on 7, 8, and 9 December 1982, of fifteen prominent young Surinamese men who had criticized the military dictatorship then ruling Suriname. Thirteen of these men were arrested on De ...
trial *
Robert Ameerali Robert Ameerali (born 16 August 1961) is a Surinamese politician who was the Vice President of Suriname from 2010 to 2015. Previously he was the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce (''Kamer van Koophandel en Fabrieken''). He was nominated by the ...
, politician * Kiran Badloe, windsurfer *
Kiran Bechan Winand Kiran Madhankumar Bechan (born 12 September 1982), simply known as Kiran Bechan, is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Bechan was a product of the Ajax football academy, which he joined at under ...
, football player *
Paul Bhagwandas Paul Bhagwandas (30 November 1950 – 9 July 1996) was a Suriname battalion commander. He was one of the sergeants who participated in a military coup in Suriname on 25 February 1980 (during the period of the military command of Suriname between ...
Military officer, Football Coach, Suspect of December Murder 1982 * George Hindori, Surinamese politician *
Tanja Jadnanansing Tanja Malti Jadnanansing (born 26 April 1967) is a Dutch politician and former television presenter and communication employee. As a member of the Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid), she was an MP from 17 June 2010 to 7 September 2016. She was ...
, Labour Party politician * Ricardo Kishna, football player *
Ismene Krishnadath Ismene Shakuntal Debi Krishnadath (born 25 January 1956) is a Surinamese writer. Biography Krishnadath was born in Paramaribo, Suriname, and, as a child, lived both there and in Utrecht, Netherlands. She studied education at Utrecht University ...
, writer *
Jagernath Lachmon Jagernath Lachmon, also Jaggernath Lachmon, (21 September 1916 – 19 October 2001) was a Surinamese politician. He was one of the founders of the Progressive Reform Party (VHP), an Indo-Surinamese party founded in 1947 of which he served as Pre ...
, politician, ex-Speaker of the
National Assembly of Suriname The National Assembly (''De Nationale Assemblée'', ''The Assembly'', commonly abbreviated "DNA") is the Parliament, representing the legislative branch of government in Suriname. It is a unicameral legislature. The assembly has been situated in ...
*
Vinoodh Matadin Inez van Lamsweerde (born 25 September 1963) and Vinoodh Matadin (born 29 September 1961) are a Dutch-American fashion photographer duo, whose work has been featured in fashion magazines and advertising campaigns. They also produce independent art ...
, fashion photographer *
Fred Ramdat Misier Lachmipersad Frederik "Fred" Ramdat Misier (28 October 1926 – 25 July 2004) was a Surinamese politician who served as the 3rd President of the Republic of Suriname, serving from 1982 to 1988. Early life He was born on 28 October 1926 in Paramar ...
, politician * Sandeep Oemraw, Surinamese tv anchor * Luciano Narsingh, Dutch footballer *
Prem Radhakishun Prem Shivram Shaw Radhakishun (Paramaribo, 4 February 1962) is a Dutch-Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern A ...
, lawyer, columnist, actor and radio and television producer. *
Pretaap Radhakishun Pretaapnarian Shawh Radhecheran Radhakishun (also known as Pretaap Radhakishun; 3 September 1934 – 6 January 2001) was a Surinamese politician. He was Prime Minister of Suriname from July 1986 to April 1987, and Vice President of Suriname from ...
, former
Prime Minister of Suriname This article lists the prime ministers of Suriname from 1949 to 1988. In 1988 the position of Prime Minister of Suriname was abolished and replaced by a Vice President, who chairs the Council of Ministers ex officio. List of prime ministers ;P ...
* Anil Ramdas, columnist, correspondent, essayist, journalist, and TV and radio host * Chan Santokhi,
President of Suriname The president of the Republic of Suriname ( nl, President van de Republiek Suriname) is, in accordance with the Constitution of 1987, the head of state and head of government of Suriname, and commander-in-chief of the Suriname National Army ( ...
, ex-chief of police, Progressive Reform Party politician *
Ram Sardjoe Ramdien Sardjoe (born 10 October 1935) is a Surinamese politician and served as Vice President of Suriname from 2005 to 2010. He is a member of the Progressive Reform Party (VHP). He was born in the District of Suriname. Before vice presidenc ...
, politician, ex-Speaker of the National Assembly of Suriname *
Ramsewak Shankar Ramsewak Shankar (born 6 November 1937) is a Surinamese politician who was the 4th President of Suriname, serving from 1988 to 1990. His government was overthrown by Dési Bouterse leading a bloodless military coup. Shankar had previously served ...
, politician * Aron Winter, football player * Anjali Paragsingh, badminton player


See also

* Arya Samaj in Suriname *
Baithak Gana {{unreferenced, date=June 2014 Baithak Gana is a form of music originating in Suriname by the Indian community. Baithak is a social gathering. It is a mix of Bhojpuri folk songs with other Caribbean influences. It is similar to Chutney music that ...
* Surinamese Immigrants' Association *
Indians in the Netherlands Indians in the Netherlands are residents of Indian origin in the Netherlands. The majority of the people of Indian descent in the Netherlands are of Indo-Surinamese origin. More recently the flow of emigrants from India has increased, especially i ...
* Indo-Caribbean * Lalla Rookh Museum, a museum about the Indo-Surinamese history and culture * India–Suriname relations


References


Further reading


Sandew Hira ''The legacy of 135 years of Indian Immigration in Suriname''

Indian Diaspora in Suriname

Indian Diaspora in Netherlands
{{Ethnic groups in Suriname Ethnic groups in Suriname Indo-Caribbean