  | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 297,493 (2012 census) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Guyana:
Overseas: | |
| Languages | |
| Colonial Languages: South Asian Languages: | |
| Religion | |
Majority:  HinduismMinority:  Islam ·  Christianity · Others | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
Indo-Guyanese or Guyanese Indian, are Guyanese nationals of Indian origin who trace their ancestry to India and the wider subcontinent. They are the descendants of indentured servants and settlers who migrated from India beginning in 1838, and continuing during the British Raj. They are a subgroup of Indo-Caribbean people.
The vast majority of indentured labourers in Guyana came from North India, most notably the Bhojpur and Awadh regions in the Hindi Belt of the present-day states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. A significant minority also came from Southern India.[1] Among the immigrants, there were also labourers from other parts of South Asia. The vast majority of Indians came as contract labourers during the 19th century, spurred on by political upheaval, the ramifications of the Mutiny of 1857 and famine. Others of higher social status arrived as merchants, landowners and farmers pushed out of India by many of the same factors.[2]
A large Indo-Guyanese diaspora is also found in countries such as the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.[3]
- ^ "The Indian presence in Guyana". Stabroek News. 28 May 2009. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
- ^ Roopnarine, Lomarsh (2011). "Indian migration during indentured servitude in British Guiana and Trinidad, 1850–1920". Labor History. 52 (2): 173–191. doi:10.1080/0023656X.2011.571473.
- ^ Roopnarine, Lomarsh (2009). "Indian social identity in Guyana, Trinidad, and the North American diaspora". Wadabagei: A Journal of the Caribbean and its Diaspora. 12 (3): 87–125.