Indo-Martiniquais
Encyclopedia
Indo-Martiniquais are residents of the French Overseas Department of Martinique
who have Indian
descent. A majority are descendants of indentured labourers from India
who were brought to the island in the nineteenth century. Between 5 and 10% of the population is of Tamil
Indian origin.
The past two decades have seen Indo-Martiniquais people increasingly asserting the distinctively Indian aspects of their heritage (a phenomenon known as "indianité"). People of Indian descent have paid renewed attention to the history and culture of India, and local groups have established contact with peoples of Indian descent from throughout the Caribbean and further afield. One token of this has been the recent revival of a traditional Hindu annual mela
on the island, sustained by the Hindu temples and shrines that were introduced by the migrant labourers and remain operational today.
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
who have Indian
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
descent. A majority are descendants of indentured labourers from India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
who were brought to the island in the nineteenth century. Between 5 and 10% of the population is of Tamil
Tamil people
Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...
Indian origin.
Migration history
In 1851 the Martinique authorities, seeking to replace former slave labourers who had abandoned plantation work on being given their liberty, recruited several thousand labourers from the Indian French colonial settlements of Madras, Pondichéry, Chandernagor and Karikal. Workers were offered free passage and pay in exchange for serving a five-year period of labour. Despite initial experiences of racial discrimination and labour exploitation, many of the immigrants were subsequently well-integrated into the population, and by the late 20th century the labourers' descendants were broadly assimilated into Martiniquais culture.The past two decades have seen Indo-Martiniquais people increasingly asserting the distinctively Indian aspects of their heritage (a phenomenon known as "indianité"). People of Indian descent have paid renewed attention to the history and culture of India, and local groups have established contact with peoples of Indian descent from throughout the Caribbean and further afield. One token of this has been the recent revival of a traditional Hindu annual mela
Mela
Mela is a Sanskrit word meaning 'gathering' or 'to meet' or a Fair. It is used in the Indian subcontinent for all sizes of gathering and can be religious, commercial, cultural or sports. In rural traditions melas or village fairs were of great importance...
on the island, sustained by the Hindu temples and shrines that were introduced by the migrant labourers and remain operational today.
Cuisine
One of Martinique's most famous dishes, the Colombo, derives from Indian cuisine. The dish is a unique curry of chicken, meat or fish with vegetables, spiced with a distinctive masala of Tamil origin, acidulated with tamarind and often containing wine, coconut milk, and rum.Notable people
- Serge LetchimySerge LetchimySerge Letchimy is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the island of Martinique, and is a member of the Socialiste, radical, citoyen et divers gauche. Letchimy is a member of the Martinican Progressive Party , or Parti progressiste martiniquais...
- President of Martinique Regional Council - Lord KossityLord KossityLord Kossity is a hip hop mogul and rapper from Martinique, French Antilles, in the West Indies. His family is originally from Martinique but he was born in the suburbs of Paris, France and moved back to the French Antilles with his family when he was 11 years old.He began his career in the 1990s...
- Ragga-zouk musician - Jimmy Ramasammy - Zouk music singer
- Viviane Rangon- Zouk music singer
See Also
- Asian Latin American
- Indo-CaribbeanIndo-CaribbeanIndo-Caribbean people or Indo-Caribbeans are Caribbean people with roots in India or the Indian subcontinent. They are mostly descendants of the original indentured workers brought by the British, the Dutch and the French during colonial times...
- Indians in French GuianaIndians in French GuianaIndians in French Guiana are mostly descendants of indentured labourers from India who now lives in the French Overseas Department of French Guiana. They are often referred to as Indians or East Indians...
- Indians in GuadeloupeIndians in GuadeloupeTamils in Guadeloupe are mostly descended from indentured workers who came from Tamil Nadu in the late 19th century. There are currently about 55,000 people of Indian origin living in Guadeloupe making it home to one of the largest Indian communities in Latin America.-History:Tamils in Guadeloupe...
- Tamil DiasporaTamil diasporaThe Tamil diaspora is a demographic group of Tamil people of Indian or Sri Lankan origin who have settled in other parts of the world. Significant Tamil diaspora populations can be found in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Middle East, Réunion, South Africa, Mauritius, Seychelles, Fiji, Guyana,...