Tamil Diaspora - British and French Indentured Workers and Others

British and French Indentured Workers and Others

Another stream of Tamils left during the British colonial period as indentured workers to the far flung corners of the British Empire. Their descendants are found in Malaysia, Burma, Singapore, South Africa, Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana and Trinidad in large numbers.

Many also left to work in the possessions of the French Empire via its holdings in Pondichéry in Réunion and the French Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe (See Malabars). A small group was hired by the Dutch colonial government in Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) to work in Sumatra (namely in Medan). Roughly about 40,000 (est.) descendants of these immigrants are still found in Medan.

Many independent Tamil merchant guilds such as the Nagarathar also left for these areas in an age old tradition of their ancestors who had traded in these areas for the last 2,000 years. Britain also hired many Sri Lankan Tamils as clerical and other white collar workers, especially in Malaysia and Singapore. All these different streams have combined to create vibrant Tamil communities in these countries.