Indo-Caribbean American

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Indo-Caribbean American people are Americans who trace their ancestry ultimately to India, though whose recent ancestors lived in the Caribbean, where they began migrating in 1838. There are large groups of Indo-Trinidadians and Indo-Guyanese, and Indo-Jamaican especially in New York City.

California, Texas and Georgia have small numbers of Indo-Guyanese and Indo-Trinidadians. Since the 1980s, the Indo-Caribbean population has grown rapidly in the Floridian cities of Tampa, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Coral Springs, Margate, North Lauderdale, Sunrise, Plantation, Pompano Beach and Pembroke Pines. Jamaicans of Indian or mixed Indian descent live in moderate numbers throughout Fort Lauderdale and Miami. Indo-Surinamese tend to migrate to the Netherlands, but have started to settle in Florida in small numbers.

South Florida has become a destination for roti shops, annual religious Diwali and Phagwah events and for Indo-Caribbean artists. The Florida Melody Makers are the most well known Indo-Caribbean American band for years and continue to perform around the Southeastern US. Other local artists include Mala Samaroo, Dimensionz Band, Vidya Gosine, Ashaay and Natty. 980 AM hosts musical programming weekly every Saturday and features community leaders like Bhagwan Singh and Peter Ganesh. The Shiva Mandir of Oakland Park, was built in the 1980s by the Florida Hindu Organization. The Krishna Mandir of Hollywood and Shiv Lingam Temple of Margate are largely attended by Indo-Caribbeans.

The size of the Indo-Caribbean community in America is uncertain, as many were classified as either black or Asian Indian. Approximately 400,000 Americans were born in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, the former having an Indian plurality, and the latter being 40% Indian and 18% mixed-race (many of which are part-Indian and part-African). The percentage of these who are of Indian origin, however, is uncertain.

For more information about Caribbean migration, please see Holger Henke, The West Indian Americans, Westport: Greenwood Press, 2001.

[edit] See also

• Indian American people
• Indo-Caribbean people
• Desi
• Tamil diaspora

[edit] References

• Chhaya Community Development report
• The importance of being counted
• US Census 2000 foreign born population by country

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