Indians did not join Africans to attack Portuguese in Guyana
Contrary to a claim in an article (by Dr. Nigel Westmaas) in Guyana Stabroek newspaper (April 8) that Indians joined Africans in rioting against Portuguese businesses in Guyana in 1856 in the so called Angel Gabriel riots. the Indians lived far away from Portuguese and Africans for such attacks to take place.
Other historians, myself included, are curious about the source of the claim. The trust of Westmaas article is Africans rioted against Portuguese because of the work of Angel Gabriel, a mixed Scottish-African preacher. Westmaas wrote a fine essay on an important aspect of our history and the writer is applauded for his work. The Portuguese were attacked by Africans, not Indians.
Westmaas only made passing note of Indians joining the Angel Gabriel riots. But still, this is a claim that needs verification or authentication and readers I have spoken with are not satisfied with his source of information.
In no written record is there any mention of Indians being involved in riots against Portuguese. Profs Tota Mangar, Basdeo Mangru, Pat Dial, Peter Ruhoman, have no mention of Indians being involved in the Gabriel riots. There is no colonial government Primary Source authentication. Dwarka Nath’s seminal work on Indians in British Guiana also made no mention of the claim. Thus, we would like the evidence supporting a claim that Indians were involved in riots against Portuguese retailers. It is not an effort to “prise out” information for contemporary use on historical race relations. It is a genuine query. The information presented by Dr. Westmaas must be authentic because it is important aspect of our history.
According to Westmaas, the information (a quotation of Indian involvement in the violence) came from one Mark Doyle who in turn cited one Monica Schuler for the information. Monica Schuler in turn claims she got it from a message sent by one Rattray to Tidman and another message by Scott to Tidman, affiliated with the Council for World Mission in UK.
The sources or citations presented by Prof Westmaas are problematic – they do not specify date of Indian involvement in the violence, exact location, size of Indian participation, extent of involvement, how widespread, whether it was ongoing or a lone incident. We do not have access to the sources to answer these questions. Doubts linger on Indian role in the violence.
Ravi Dev raised some very important points that raised doubts about Schuler’s claim of Indian involvement in the violence. The center of the riots were in Georgetown where there were hardly any Indians. There was violence elsewhere also but away from areas where Indians habituated. Indians were confined to their estates and they were subjected to heavy fines for leaving the estates and flogging for minor offenses. A riot would have been a major offense.
We also need to look at the numbers and the distribution of Indians among the plantations to support the claim made by Westmaas. Indians came in May 1838 and after a few ship loads, the indentureship experiment was suspended. It was resumed in 1845. Assuming service for 10 years, there were few free Indians to leave the estate by 1856. The freed Indians would have been very small in number. They remained on the plantations developing marsh land to eke out a living and there were too few of them to start a riot against Portuguese.
According to Nath, by 1851, some 12,754 Indians were brought to the colony but their population stood at 7682 (suggesting a high mortality or return rate) – accounting for 6.00% of the total population. The numbers for 1856 are not available. But by 1861, the total number of Indians brought to Guyana was 39,355 with actual Indian population in that year at 23,196 (very high mortality or departure rate) or 15.68% of the population. One can interpolate or extrapolate that the number of Indians in the colony in 1856 at around 15,000. All were confined to estates. By 1856, the African population had moved away from the plantations or estates. Many had bought small estates and established African villages. There was hardly any co-mingling between Indians and Africans during the 1850s; there was almost total segregation. The Portuguese were involved in retail shopping. The Indian buying power was limited as they did not have much cash to spend with daily basic needs provided by the plantation. Africans had purchasing power. Portuguese established their retail shops largely in African areas. The Portuguese opened shops later in Indian communities – including rum shops.
Indians had no reason to riot against Portuguese. Why would Indians risk their safety and welfare, violating restrictions placed on their movement, to engage in riots knowing the harsh penalty from the plantation owners – jail, flogging, and deportation? It is an impossible kind of involvement of Indians in riots. The Indians would have had to be organized. In 1856, there were no de facto Indian leaders or organizers. And the riots were in African villages and in towns not on the estates where the Indians dwelled.
Also, there is another factor that raised doubt about Indian role in violence. Angel Gabriel was involved in anti-Catholic sermons. Indians were overwhelmingly Hindus, with about 10% Muslims, a few Christians, and virtually no Catholics. The Portuguese were Catholics. Why would Indians involve themselves in anti-Catholic riots? How would Indians benefit?
No official documents (Gazette, colonial report, newspaper report) included Indians as being involved in the riot. There was always a bad feeling between Africans and Portuguese. And African-Portuguese conflict was strong and violence intermittent continuing thru the end of the century with the cent bread riots. Portuguese-Indian animosity did not emerge until years after the end of indenture when Indians competed with the Portuguese in retail business.
More research has to be done on the validity of the citations referenced reference by Dr. Westmaas.
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