The abolition of the slave trade in…

The abolition of the slave trade in 1807 had left Trinidad with a severe shortage of labor, which become more acute after the abolition of slavery in 1833.

To deal with this problem, Trinidad imports indentured servants from the 1830s; the practice will continue until 1917.

Initially Chinese, free West Africans, and Portuguese from the island of Madeira had been imported.

In addition, numerous former slaves migrate from the Lesser Antilles to Trinidad to work.

In 1839, the British government begins a program of recruiting Indian laborers (or coolies) in Calcutta to be sent to Trinidad and British Guiana (now Guyana).

They bind themselves to work as indentured laborers for a set number of years on the plantations.

The mostly Hindu and Muslim laborers are compelled to work seven and a half hours a day, six days a week for three years, receiving about thirteen cents a day for their work.

At first, half of the recruits are women.