Indo-Caribbean or Indian-Caribbean people are Indian people in the Caribbean who are descendants of the Jahaji Indian indentured laborers brought by the British, Dutch, and French during the colonial era from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century. A minority are descendants of Indians or other South Asians who immigrated as entrepreneurs, businesspeople, merchants, engineers, doctors, and other professional occupations beginning in the mid-20th century. Most Indo-Caribbean people live in the English-speaking Caribbean nations, the Dutch-speaking Suriname and the French overseas departments of Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana, with smaller numbers in other Caribbean countries and, following further migration, in North America and Europe. Indo-Caribbean people may also be referred to as Caribbean Indians, East Indian West Indians, Caribbean Hindustanis, South Asian Caribbeans, or Caribbean Desis, while first-generation Indo-Caribbeans were called Girmitya, Desi, Hindustani, Kantraki, Mulki (m.) / Mulkin (f.), or Jahaji (m.) / Jahajin (f.). Coolie, meaning hired laborer, was used in the plantation society of the late 19th to early 20th century, however in the present-day it is considered a derogatory way to refer to Indo-Caribbeans and is considered a pejorative. Sub-groups Bold highlights major Indo-Caribbean subgroups Caribbean Islands Indians in Barbados Indians in the Dominican Republic Indo-Grenadians Indo-Guadeloupeans Indo-Haitians Indo-Jamaicans Indo-Martiniquais Indians in Saint Kitts and Nevis Indo-Saint Lucian Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian Indians in the United States Virgin Islands Indo-Vincentian Mainland Caribbean Indo-Belizeans Indo-Guyanese Indo-Surinamese Indians in French Guiana Primary Indo-Caribbean Diaspora Indo-Caribbean Americans Indo-Caribbean Canadians British Indo-Caribbean people Indians in the Netherlands Secondary/Migrant Workers Indo-Caribbean Diaspora Indians in Venezuela Indians in Panama Indian immigration to Brazil Indians in Argentina Indians in Colombia Mixed Ethnicities of Partial Indo-Caribbean origin Anglo-Indian (mixed Indian and British) Asian Latin Americans (a.k.a. Tegli; mixed Indian and Hispanic/Latino) Asian Hispanic and Latino Americans (mixed Indian and Hispanic/Latino in the U.S.) Chindian (mixed Indian and Chinese) Dougla (mixed Indian and African) Eurasian (mixed Indian and European) Luso-Indian (mixed Indian and Portuguese) Indo-Amerindian (mixed Indian and Amerindian) Migration history From 1838 to 1917, over half a million Indians from the former British Raj or British India and Colonial India, were taken to thirteen mainland and island nations in the Caribbean as indentured workers to address the demand for sugar cane plantation labour following the abolition of slavery. Sugarcane plantations in the 19th century Much like cotton, sugarcane plantations motivated large-scale near-enslavement and forced migrations in the 19th and early 20th century. Following the