East Indian in Belize

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East Indian in Belize The first group of East Indians had arrived in the West Indies in 1838 as indentured servants, to fill a gap in the labor force created when the freed slaves left the plantations after the abolition of slavery. The "East Indians" as they were referred to, perhaps in order to distinguish them from the original "Maya Indians” came as indentured workers. In which they were encouraged to come to the Caribbean to work, under a signed contract, for about five years; after which time they were free to return to India, or remain in the Caribbean as laborers on their own terms. The East Indians that came to Belize again in the 1880s were from Jamaica, and were brought mainly to work on the sugar estates established by rich Americans who had settled in the Toledo District after fleeing the Civil War in the United States. Some East Indians, who had previously been employed in Guatemala planting coffee, also settled in Toledo at that time. The early East Indians had long black hair and dark smooth skin. Females are of average height, have sharp noses, narrow faces and shiny black eyes. In many cases they are beautiful women. Few of them are buxom. They are shy and gentle. Hair is usually parted down the center and braided. Males are generally tall and thin with high noses, heavy eyebrows, and shiny black eyes. Interestingly enough, by the turn of the Twentieth Century, some East Indians had also settled in Calcutta and San Antonio in the Corozal District in northern Belize. They lived on their own farms cultivating a variety of fruits and vegetables for sale. Today, they live mostly in secluded communities in the Toledo District in places like Forest Home and Mafredi; in the Corozal District with place-names like San Antonio, Carolina, and Calcutta; and in Belize City they are more diversified, although areas like Queen Charlotte Town still exist today.
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