The Indenture Experiment in Mauritius: A Comparison Between the Administration of British and French Plantations 1839–1872

Mauritius was the first British colony that began to experiment with indentured labour in the nineteenth century, with the largest numbers of emigrants being from India. After the abolition of slavery, workers needed to work on the plantations of both the English and French planters. The Indians were known to be laborious, and as cultivators, their knowledge of agriculture was the main attraction for the planters. Men, women, and children went in large numbers to work on these plantations. Their emigration was a result of socioeconomic pressures and natural calamities, which at times forced people to move with their families to look for greener pastures. The planters perhaps were looking for people they could subdue and impose their terms and conditions upon. The planters were to provide the Indian emigrants with a board and lodging. There were strict rules that the Indians had to abide by on the plantations. Their main interest was to keep the Indian labourers for more than the stipulated time period for their economic self-interest. In many cases, they succeeded in maintaining decorum by employing coercive measures upon the Indians. However, at times, the Indians succeeded in getting their voice heard by the higher authorities. Recorded versions of the Indian labourers, both men and women, who either complained to the higher officials in Mauritius or upon their return to British officials in India, offer us a peep into the plight of the Indian indentured labour on the British and French plantations. These different versions offer comparisons into the kinds of administrative differences that might have existed on French and British plantations in Mauritius as well as the inherent nature of the planters. This chapter attempts to shed light on those differences in the administrative methods adopted by British and French planters, which made some Indians agree to re-indenture and even take their kin to the new land, while others were unwilling to return on any account.