The Indian community in Saint Kitts and Nevis is made up of Indo-Kittitians, Indo-Nevisians, non-resident Indians and persons of Indian origin. Indo-Kittitians and Indo-Nevisians are nationals of Saint Kitts and Nevis whose ancestry lies within the country of India. The community originated from the Indian indentured workers brought to Saint Kitts and Nevis by the British in 1861 and 1874 respectively. By 1884, most of the community had emigrated to Caribbean nations with larger Indian populations such as Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname.
In recent years, the Indian population of Saint Kitts and Nevis has witnessed a gradual increase, as a result of immigration by Indo-Caribbeans particularly Indo-Guyanese. Some Indian Sindhi businessmen have also moved to the country recently. According to the 2001 Census of Saint Kitts and Nevis, the population of Indian people in the country rose from 0.7% in 1991 to 1.5% in 2001. They were the third largest ethnic group in country, after Africans (92.4%) and people of mixed race (3%). The 2001 Census recorded 443 East Indian males and 266 East Indian females in the country.
Indenture
Following the abolition of slavery in the British West Indies on 1 August 1838, plantation owners in the region sought to find an alternative to African slave labour. The British began transporting indentured workers from India to work on plantation estates in Saint Kitts and Nevis, which had become British colony in 1713. Saint Kitts and Nevis were the last among British and French colonies to introduce Indian indentured labour. Nevis received 315 Indian indentured workers, the smallest among all the colonies that employed indentured labour. Saint Kitts received the third smallest number (337 workers), after the Dutch colony of St. Croix which received 321 Indian workers. Limited information exists on indentured workers in Saint Kitts. A register that kept records of indentured workers was lost in a fire at the Court House in Saint Kitts in 1982. Some documents related to indentured workers are held at the National Archives in Saint Kitts.
Saint Kitts
The only ship that carried indentured workers from India to Saint Kitts, the Dartmouth, departed from Calcutta on 26 February 1861 and arrived in Saint Kitts on 3 June 1861. The details of the passengers on the ship at the time of departure were recorded in an entry made in the report by Captain Eales, the Protector of Emigrants in the Protector's Office at Fort William in Calcutta, India. The entry, dated 28 May 1861, records that the ship had departed with 361 Indians on board - 192 men, 113 women, 17 boys, 24 girls and 13 infants under the age of two. The report also notes that four Indians died of cholera around the time of departure. However, it does not account for two passengers. The St. Christopher Advertiser and Weekly Intelligencer reported that the Dartmouth docked at St. Kitts on 3 June 1861 with 337 Indians on board - 186 men, 103 women, 13 boys, 10 girls and 10 male and 15 female infants. The difference between the figures indicates that 20 Indians died during the voyage.
Eales' report provides information about the origin and age of the passengers. According to the report, the passengers came from the areas of Sahebgunge or Gya Jharkhand (85 immigrants), Ranchi Jharkhand (84), Pooroolea Bengal (40), Hazareebaugh Jharkhand (33), Arrah or Shahabad Bihar (25), and Patna, Azimabad, Jellasore or Monghyr Bihar (22). The report records that 139 passenger were aged between 20–30 years, 71 were aged between 30–40 years, and the remaining 151 immigrants were either below the age of 20 or above the age of 40.
Upon arriving in Saint Kitts, the indentured workers were assigned to estates except for six who were directly admitted at the Colonial Hospital. Five of the admitted workers died at the hospital. The largest group of workers, around 29, were sent to Dewar Estate, and the smallest group of four workers was assigned to Mansion Estate. The West Farm, Dupuys, and Golden Rock estates received more female Indian workers than males. West Farm received 10 females and 8 males, Dupuys got 6 females and 5 males, and Golden Rock received 4 females and 3 males. On average, the 25 estates received an average of 13 indentured Indian labourers each. Shortly after the assignments, around 7 Indian workers died - 2 adults from Con Phipps estate, 1 person from Stone Castle estate, 1 child from Needsmust estate, and 1 child and 1 infant from Dewar. An infant that had been born during the voyage, and assigned to Helden estate, also died. During the same period, four Indian children were born on the island.