Concerned about the plantations' shrinking labor pool and the potential decline of the sugar sector, British authorities, like their counterparts in Dutch Guiana, began to contract for the services of poorly paid indentured workers from India. The East Indians, as this group was known locally, signed on for a certain number of years, after which, in theory, they would return to India with their savings from working in the sugar fields. The introduction of indentured East Indian workers alleviated the labor shortage and added another group to Guyana's ethnic mix. A majority of the Indo-Guyanese workers had their origins in eastern Uttar Pradesh, with a smaller amount coming from Tamil and Telugu speaking areas in southern India. A small minority of these workers came from other areas such as Bengal, Punjab, and Gujarat. The indenture service in Guyana, which began with arrival of 396 immigrans from India known as the "Gladstone Coolies" in May 1838, would not end until 1917.
Concerned about the plantations' shrinking labor pool and the potential decline of the sugar sector, British authorities, like their counterparts in Dutch Guiana, began to contract for the services of poorly paid indentured workers from India. The East Indians, as this group was known locally, signed on for a certain number of years, after which, in theory, they would return to India with their savings from working in the sugar fields. The introduction of indentured East Indian workers alleviated the labor shortage and added another group to Guyana's ethnic mix A majority of the Indo-Guyanese workers had their origins in eastern Uttar Pradesh, with a smaller amount coming from Tamil and Telugu speaking areas in southern India. A small minority of these workers came from other areas such as Bengal, Punjab, and Gujarat. The indenture service in Guyana, which began with arrival of 396 immigrans from India known as the "Gladstone Coolies" in May 1838, would not end until 1917.