Indo–Trinidadians and Tobagonians or Indian Trinidadians and Tobagonians are people from Trinidad and Tobago whose ancestors are of Indian origin that came from India and the wider subcontinent beginning in 1845 during the period of British colonial rule and East Indian indentureship.
Indo–Trinidadians and Tobagonians are a subgroup of Indo-Caribbean people, which is a subgroup of the wider Indian diaspora. Most Indo-Trinidadians can trace their ancestry back to North India especially the Bhojpur and Awadh regions of the present day Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, two states located in the Indo-Gangetic Plain of the Ganga and Yamuna rivers. However, some Indo-Trinidadians may trace their ancestry to other parts of South Asia, notably South India, such as the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Indians first arrived in Trinidad and Tobago as indentured laborers from India through the Indian indenture system from 1845 to 1917, and some Indians and other South Asians, along with their families, later came as entrepreneurs, businesspeople, religious leaders, doctors, engineers, and other professional occupations beginning in the mid-20th century. Indo-Caribbean people from many other Caribbean nations, such as Guyana, Grenada, Martinique, and Saint Croix, also immigrated to Trinidad and Tobago.
Indo–Trinidadians and Tobagonians are the largest ethnic group in Trinidad and Tobago, identified by the official census, accounting for about 35.43% of the population in 2011.
History
Of 94,135 Indian immigrants to Trinidad, between 1874 and 1917, 50.7 percent were from the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, 24.4 percent came from Oudh State, 13.5 percent were from Bihar Province and lesser numbers from various other parts of the British Raj, such as the Madras Presidency, Bengal Presidency, Central Provinces, Chota Nagpur Division, Bombay Presidency, and Punjab Province.Vertovec, 1992 Out of 134,118 indentured labourers from India, 5,000 who left from the Port of Madras distinguished themselves as "Madrasi" and the immigrants who left from the Port of Calcutta distinguished themselves as "Kalakatiyas".
Many were people who were escaping poverty in India and seeking employment offered by the British for jobs either as indentured labourers, workers or educated servicemen, primarily, between 1845 and 1917.Under colonial rule, India's population provided the British Empire with a ready source of cheap and mobile labourers. Many Indians agreed to become indentured labourers to escape widespread poverty and famine in the 19th century. Some travelled alone; others brought their families to settle in the colonies they worked in.
The demand for Indian indentured labourers increased dramatically after the abolition of slavery in 1834. They were sent, sometimes in large numbers, to plantation colonies that produced high-value crops, such as sugar, in Africa and the Caribbean.
Culture
Music Indo-Trinidadians have played a foundational role in preserving Indian musical traditions in Trinidad and Tobago. Indian indentured labourers brought instruments such as the tassa, dholak, tabla, harmonium, sitar, and bansuri from the Indian subcontinent. Tassa became particularly important to Indo-Trinidadian culture and remains prominent at weddings, Hosay, religious celebrations, and other cultural events.
Tassa developed into a distinctive Trinidadian form of Indian-derived drumming, combining musical traditions brought by Indian immigrants with the cultural environment of Trinidad and Tobago. Groups of tassa drummers perform together using multiple drums, creating interlocking rhythms that have become strongly associated with Indo-Trinidadian celebrations and public cultural events.
Chutney music also developed within the Indo-Trinidadian community from Indian folk-song traditions adapted to the social and cultural environment of Trinidad. It later developed into chutney soca, a fusion of East Indian musical traditions with Trinidadian soca. Chutney soca incorporates Indian-derived melodies, rhythms and lyrical traditions with the rhythms and instrumentation of soca, contributing to the broader multicultural character of Trinidad and Tobago’s popular music.
Together, these traditions form an important part of Indo-Trinidadian cultural expression and demonstrate how Indian musical traditions were preserved, adapted and transformed within the Caribbean environment. Indo–Trinidadian and Tobagonians have retained their distinctive heritage and culture, while also functioning in a multicultural society. The South Asian languages of their ancestors have largely been lost, although a number of these words have entered the Trinidadian vernacular language (Trinidadian Creole). Indian movies, music, and cuisine have entered the mainstream culture of Trinidad and Tobago. Chutney and chutney soca music rivals calypso and soca music during the Carnival season.
Sports
Cricket has a particularly strong historical and cultural association with Indo-Trinidadian communities, especially in central and southern Trinidad. The sport was introduced to the Caribbean during the period of British colonial rule and had become established in Trinidad by the 19th century. The first recorded first-class cricket in the West Indies dates to 1864–65, while Trinidad, British Guiana (present-day Guyana) and Barbados became the principal participants in the early inter-colonial cricket competitions. The first Inter-Colonial Tournament involving the three colonies was held in 1891, establishing an important regional cricketing tradition linking Trinidad and British Guiana.
The development of Indo-Trinidadian cricket occurred within the wider history of Indian indentureship in the British Caribbean. Between 1845 and 1917, approximately 147,592 Indian indentured labourers arrived in Trinidad, primarily to work on sugar plantations, with the majority eventually making Trinidad their home. Indian communities also developed in British Guiana, where cricket became an important part of social and community life. By the early 20th century, Indian communities in both colonies were organizing their own cricket clubs and competing against established clubs. In 1914, the British Guiana East Indian Cricket Club was established in Georgetown, and the club invited the established Oriental Cricket Club of Trinidad, which was composed of Indo-Trinidadians, to participate in its inaugural celebrations. The Trinidad club defeated the newly formed British Guiana Indian side, demonstrating that organized cricket had already developed within Trinidad's Indian community.
Cricket subsequently became particularly prominent in the Indo-Trinidadian communities of central and southern Trinidad, where sugar estates and surrounding villages provided important settings for the development of clubs and competitions. Indian cricket teams were organized on sugar plantations and in villages, while predominantly Indo-Trinidadian clubs increasingly participated in the wider Trinidadian cricket structure. One example was the Wanderers Cricket Club, established in 1951 at the Brechin Castle sugar estate in central Trinidad. Cricket also provided a route for social mobility and greater participation in the institutions governing the sport, as Indo-Trinidadian clubs and administrators became increasingly influential in Trinidad and Tobago cricket during the 20th century.
The connection between Indo-Trinidadians and cricket became especially visible at the international level with Sonny Ramadhin, who in 1950 became the first Indo-Trinidadian to play Test cricket for the West Indies cricket team. Ramadhin took 158 wickets in 43 Tests and became one of the leading spin bowlers of his generation. He was followed by numerous Trinidadian cricketers of Indian ancestry, including Inshan Ali, Daren Ganga, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul and Sunil Narine. Trinidad and Tobago has therefore played a significant role in the development of Indo-Caribbean cricket, producing players who have represented the West Indies as well as, in some cases, other national sides.
Cricket has also contributed to the broader cultural identity of Trinidad and Tobago rather than remaining exclusively associated with one ethnic community. Trinidadian-born players such as Brian Lara became internationally renowned figures in West Indian cricket, while later Trinidadian players such as Joshua Da Silva continued the country's presence in international Test cricket. Lara scored 11,953 Test runs for the West Indies and held the Test record for an individual innings with 400 not out, while Da Silva made his Test debut for the West Indies in 2020.
Holidays and festivals Diwali, Eid ul-Fitr, and Indian Arrival Day are national holidays, and Phagwah/Holi, Maha Shivratri, Hanuman Jayanti, Ram Naumi, Sita Naumi, Navratri, Vijayadashami, Krishna Janmashtami, Radhastami, Saraswati Jayanti, Raksha Bandhan, Vivaha Panchami, Guru Purnima, Ganesh Chaturthi, Kartik Snan, Ratha Saptami, Karagam Puja, Kalbhairo Jayanti, Mesha Sankranti, Makar Sankranti, Tulsi Vivah, Gita Jayanti, Datta Jayanti, Ratha Yatra, Gurpurab, Buddha Purnima, Ramadan, Hosay (Ashura), Eid al-Adha, Mawlid, Shab-e-barat, Chaand Raat, Islamic New Year, and other Hindu and Muslim holidays are widely celebrated.
Cuisine Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian cuisine is mostly derived from the Bhojpuri and Awadhi cuisines of North India. It has considerable South Indian, especially Tamil and Telugu, influence on preparation and ingredients in the tropical environment of Trinidad and Tobago, which was similar to the tropical environment of South India, where a significant minority of Indians came from. There is also influence from other ethnic cuisines on the island such as Creole, Chinese, West African, Indigenous, French, British, North American, Portuguese, Arab, and Latin American cuisines. It is unlike the mainstream Indian-South Asia cuisines, which are mostly based on Punjabi, Rajasthani, Mughlai, Gujarati, Bengali, Udupi, and Tamil cuisines. This "mainstream" Indian cuisine was brought to the country by more recent immigrants and is termed as East Indian cuisine in Trinidad and Tobago, and is contrasted with the local Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian or local-Indian cuisine.
Breakfast A traditional Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian breakfast consists of sada roti, a type of bread made with flour, baking powder and water. The dough is rolled out and cooked on flat, cast-iron skillet, called a tawa. The cooked sada is cut into quarters and served with a variety of fried vegetables, tarkaris or chokhas. Sometimes fried bake is eaten instead and is made using with flour, baking powder and yeast and is then fried in oil. Usually breakfast is vegetarian, however salt fish is sometimes added. Some breakfast dishes include baigan chokha (roasted and mashed eggplant), damadol chokha (roasted and mashed tomatoes), pepper chokha (roasted and mashed peppers), aloo chokha (boiled, roasted, and mashed potatoes), karaili chokha (roasted and mashed bittermelon), murtani or upar ghar (combination of roasted and mashed eggplant, tomato, pepper, and okra), fried or curried bodi (long beans), fried or curried aloo (potatoes), fried or curried ochro/bhindhi (okra), fried or curried seim (hyacinth beans), fried or curried karaili (bittermelon), pumpkin or kohra tarkari (pumpkin simmered with spices and seasoning), fried or curried saijan (drumstick), fried or curried lauki (bottle gourd), bhaji (made with young dasheen bush (taro) leaves, spinach leaves, saijan (drumstick) leaves, or chaurai (spiny amaranth) leaves), and/or fried plantains.
Street foods