British Indo-Caribbean community

The British Indo-Caribbean community consists of residents of the United Kingdom who are of Caribbean origin and whose ancestors were indigenous to India. The UK (along with Canada and the United States), is a non-Caribbean nation with a significant population of Indo-Caribbean residents.^[2]

Background

Indian people were first introduced to the Caribbean by the British government in the 1800s after the abolition of slavery and when cheap labour was needed. The majority settled in Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and smaller but well established population in Jamaica. The Indian communities in these countries have now become extremely well established and currently have a very successful diaspora. With the strong links between the Caribbean and the UK, as well as the large Indian community in the UK, it has proven a popular destination for Indo-Caribbean emigrants. In 1990 between 22,800 and 30,400 Indo-Caribbeans were estimated to be living in the UK, it is unknown how many of the 1.6 million Britons of Indian origin are also linked to the Caribbean.^[3]

Sub-groups

Indo-Guyanese

Notable Britons of Indo-Guyanese descent include Waheed Alli, Baron Alli, Shakira Caine, David Dabydeen and Mark Ramprakash.

Indo-Jamaican

Notable Britons of Indo-Jamaican descent include Omar Lye-Fook.

Indo-Trinidadians

Indo-Trinidadian people are thought to number well over 25,000, which is even more than the number of people born in Trinidad and Tobago living in the UK according to the 2001 Census.^[1] Notable Britons of Indo-Trinidadian descent include Waheed Alli, Baron Alli, Chris Bisson, Vahni Capildeo, Krishna Maharaj, Shiva Naipaul, V. S. Naipaul, Lakshmi Persaud, Raj Persaud and Ron Ramdin.

See also

• Indo-Caribbean
• British Indian
• British African-Caribbean community
• British Asian
• Indo-Caribbean American

References