Gallery
*Some images and descriptions include or are taken from original images and may contain terminology that is no longer acceptable in contemporary discourse.
Please feel free to send us photographs, illustrations and other visual materials.
We would like to thank Pooran Bridgelal for sharing the collection of images shown above. The slideshow of postcards show scenes from Trinidad. The images below the slideshow are all engravings showing scenes from across the Caribbean.
Indian Woman, Trinidad, 1890-1896. DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University.
East Indian girls preparing rice, Jamaica, date unknown. National Library of Jamaica.
“A Chinese strawberry garden. Proprietor and coolie” 1900-1920. Library of Congress.
Indentured Labourers preparing rice, Jamaica, 1890-1899. DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University.
East Indian Temple, Trinidad, 1907. Internet Archive.
“Chinese coolie on a tobacco plantation of the Amsterdam Deli Company” Medan, Sumatra, circa 1900. Wikimedia Commons.
Newly arrived indentured labourers from India, Trinidad, 1897.
East Indian man smoking, Port of Spain, Trinidad, 1890-1896. DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University.
“Children are being pulled by a Chinese coolie through the streets of Kuching in the Raj of Sarawak” Malaysia, 1919. The National geographic magazine.
“Chinese coolies on the streets” Tianjin, China, 1900. Library of Congress.
“Coolies carrying the equipment through jungle” Borneo, 1921. The National Archives UK.
Japanese labourer, identified as a "coolie", 1867-1869. National Library NZ.
“Coolies sawing logs into boards.” Borneo, 1921. The National Archives UK.
Indian women go shopping in the Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, 1945. The National Archives UK.
Stanley Field Expedition to British Guiana, 1922. The Field Museum Library.
“Group of Ooriya Coolies” constructing the Hardinge Bridge over the lower Ganges River at Sara, Bangladesh, 1912. DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University.
East Indian Girl, Trinidad, 1914. Internet Archive.
“Coolie Women”, India, 1855-1862.DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University.
Indentured labourers, Jamaica, 1899. The New York Public Library.
“A Canton Coolie” from “John L. Stoddard's Lectures”, before 1897. The British Library.
“Coolies on arrival from India, mustered at Depot”, Trinidad and Tobago, date unknown. The National Archives UK.
Tadjahs in British Guiana
“Two Chinese coolies”, 1871-1872. Wikimedia Commons.
“A Group of Coolies from the South of India”, Sri Lanka, before 1897. The British Library.
“Colored children of many races… In the suburbs is the large East Indian coolie village of St. James” Trinidad, 1912. Internet Archive.
East Indian men holding a child named Elsinia Sunday Singh, Trinidad and Tobago, 1949. The National Archives UK.
“Children of Indian parents in Trinidad”, 1963. The National Archives UK.
“Quite a few people walk along a busy street, including a young boy and a coolie… The coolie, or laborer, carries a full bale of hay”, South Korea, 1904. Cornell University Library.
East Indian Women, Men and Children, Trinidad, 1890-1896. DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University.
“The Emigrants at their meals”, Guyana, 1870-1931. The National Archives UK.
“Chinese coolies carry their burdens” before 1898. Wikimedia Commons.
Indian Man, Trinidad, 1890-1896. DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University.
“Chinese coolie”, Peru, 1881. Wikimedia Commons.
East Indian Immigrants, and an indentured immigrant; the beads and coins around his neck are gold, and are the result of his savings. Guyana, 1870-1931. The National Archives UK.
Indian Woman, Trinidad, 1890-1896. DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University.
“Rickshaw with coolie and servants”, Japan, 1860-1888. The National Museum of Denmark.
“Coolies arrived from India at Depot”, Trinidad and Tobago, date unknown. The National Archives UK.
“A Hindu woman, native of Trinidad”, Trinidad and Tobago, 1949. The National Archives UK.
“Young Fiji-born Indian women in Suva” Fiji, date unknown. The National Archives UK.