This podcast will focus on Indian indentured labor, and the experience of the middle passage and how this compared to transatlantic slavery.

The Chronicles of the past. 

Episode 7. 

Hey everyone, and welcome back to the Chronicles of the past, the podcast that will help you on your journey through GCSES and A-Levels. 

I'm Beth and I'll be presenting today's episode. 

This week will focus on Indian indentured labor, and the experience of the middle passage and how this compared to transatlantic slavery. 

So put your iPhones away and get ready for your journey to the past. 

The plantation fields need working because Europeans still crave their sugar. 

Attempts at getting emancipated slaves to work the fields have failed. 

The answer? Indian indentured laborers. 

Indian people were recruited for work on the plantations for a 5 or 10 year contract. As the Royal History Society explains, they would sail from three major port cities, Calcutta, Bombay and Madras, to their destination in the Caribbean. However, everything was not as it seemed. 

A lot of the workers were mistreated, with a large portion of them never making it to the Caribbean. 

By looking at the other middle passage, the journey from India to the Caribbean, we can understand why the death rate was so high and see clear comparisons between this journey and that undertaken by African slaves from Africa to the Caribbean. 

The main similarities between these experiences this podcast will highlight are a high death rate, suicide, disease, rape and surprisingly, the refusal of medicine. 

We must remember this was a time before airplanes and speedboats. 

Both middle passages took a long time. 

The journey from Africa to the Caribbean could take three months and eight days, which roughly translates into 92 days. 

And as the historian Shepherd explains, the journey from India to the Caribbean could take 108 days. This means the conditions Indian and African people were forced to suffer was for an extended period of time. 

So why were death rates so high for both journeys? 

Pause the podcast and make a note of any ideas you have. 

Well, one of the reasons was suicide for African slaves who were stolen from their country and being taken unwillingly to an unknown place and being forced to work, saw this as their only way out. 

People willingly starved to death andrefused food because of ill real treatment andthe deep sadness of their situation. 

As well as the refusal of food to commit suicide, ill slaves refused medicines, saying they wanted to die. Similarly for the indentured laborers,  

Many who are sick and afraid refused to take medicines. We can see the fear of the white man and his strange medicine was so great that death was the better option. 

In the article Mortality on the Clarence, it's explained that some Indian indentured laborers at this time named coolies threw themselves overboard to avoid death from disease on the ship. 

Which brings us to our next reason for high death rates - disease. 

The historian Smallwood explains in her book saltwater slavery that for African slaves, crowding, poor hygiene and often contaminated food and water supplies together made the slave ship a breeding ground for airborne pathogens as well as those spread via fecalto oral pathways or by direct physical contact. 

This means the ship was rife with diseases such as smallpox, cholera, and diarrhea, which often ended in death. 

Mirroring this, the conditions on indentured labour ships were also the cause and reason for disease. 

As noted in Captain Swinton’s Journal, the common causes for death were diarrhea, cholera and dysentery, all illnesses caused by poor conditions and lack of sanitation. 

Food, or the lack of it, was another cause of death on board. The ships for the African slaves there were strict rationing of food and water. 

And as previously mentioned in our quote from Smallwood, these Russians were often contaminated which results in little food and that which was received often caused illness. 

Comparing this to the Indian indentured laborers, it must be said that the historian Shepherd notes that the Indian laborers did have better quality of food than the African slaves. 

However, the food provided was still not safe. 

Mission, as we hear in Captain Swinton’s Journal: 

26th - a little orphan girl, four years of age, died in a state of emaciation. It appears they are sinking for want of food suited to them. 

So, it is clear that although indentured laborers’ food was a slight improvement to that of the African slaves, both food rations were unsuitable for sustaining life on board the ships. 

So to recap, the main reasons for high death rates on board the ships with suicide, disease and starvation, how many of you wrote them down as your answers? 

Aside from high death rates, were there any other similarities in personal experience between the two voyages? 

Both African and Indian women experienced rape on board the ships. 

As the historian Redeker explains, break was an example of the daily barbarity and despotism of the slave trade, and Shepherd explains that female Indians were sexually abused by the crew. 

It's also noted that black or high caste Indian men were also raping the Indian women. 

This meant that no part of the ship was a sanctuary from the sexual assault. 

African and Indian women lived their days on the ship in constant fear of being assaulted. 

As Shepherd explains, lower caste women from India, as African women enslaved in the Americas had been, to be regarded as loose and promiscuous and incapable of being raped. 

This quote demonstrates the thought process and culture at that time and the sheer lack of empathy for the African slaves and Indian laborers. 

Another commonality between the two voyages was the complete control of the daily routines of the enslaved and indentured peoples, even to the point of forced exercise. 

This was often done in both cases by forcing them to dance on deck. 

Some enslaved Africans were made to dance on deck for an hour every day. 

And demonstrated in Captain Swinton’s Journal with an entry from Mrs Swinton stated: We found exercise such as their native dance is useful in keeping a good state of health. 

And in this same journal, the Captain made note of three days in a row in which he had the laborers dancing on deck, showing that although the Indian laborers came into the agreement willingly, their control and freedom was gone when they embarked on their journey across the Atlantic. 

So how was the controlling enforced?  

For both enslaved Africans and the indentured Indians,by the use of physical punishment. 

We are aware of the whippings and floggings that happened on the plantations, but the same brutality was administered on the ships. 

Redeker, in his book The Slave ship, tells the experience of an African woman who was tied to the captain's bed and whipped as a punishment for accidentally knocking over the nest tub. 

Even worse than this, on some ships slaves were decapitated or had limbs amputated in order to show displays of power. 

But what about the Indian indentured laborers? 

They were not chattel, not owned by anyone. 

They willingly signed a contract to enter employment. 

They were still mistreated and physically punished. 

As the Royal History Society tells us, Indian laborers also complained of mistreatment and corporal punishment on board ships. 

As they were free people, unlike the enslaved Africans, shackles should not have been used however they were as a punishment. 

On the voyage of the main, Indian laborers were shackled as punishment. 

For one woman, this was done because she smoked her pipe. 

Others were shackled to stop them from committing suicide. 

So we could say that the Indian laborers were not treated as harshly as that of the African slaves. 

But were they treated as free people and were their punishments just? 

And of that what you would expect to be administered to willing laborers? 

Before this episode ends, let's have a quiz to summarize what we've learned today. 

You'll have 10 seconds for each answer. 

Question one. How long were the indentured labor contracts for? 

The answer is 5 or 10 years  

Question two. How long was the Voyage from India to the Caribbean? 

The answer is 108 days 

Question three. What were the main reasons for high death rates on board the ships? 

Dance with suicide, disease, lack of food, or starvation 

Question four. Name one similarity between the experience of enslaved Africans and indentured Indians on board the ship. 

You could have answered one of the following - physical punishment, rape, forced exercise, being shackled, or death. 

Thank you for listening to today's episode of the Chronicles of the Past. Make sure you subscribe to our channel so you don't miss next week's episode on plantation life.