Indian, Chinese, and Kongo “Koulies”
First of all, it is advisable to re-establish the definition of the word "Kouli" because today this term is used in Martinique only about the hair. Today, a "kouli" in Martinique is a Black with smooth hair, such as can be seen in Indian populations or descendants of Indians. At the same time, it designates straight hair. So if you hear this term today, know that it has no relation to its initial meaning because indeed a "Kouli" designates a person engaged in a contract of a specific period and a salary, during the various campaigns of immigration that took place at the end of slavery. Consequently, the Indians, Chinese, and Kongos who arrived to work in the sugar cane fields as early as the 1850s are all Koulis.
The Kongo woman
After slavery, the new freemen refused to resume work in the fields and work for those who were once their executioners. The planters put pressure on the colonial government to force the former slaves to return to the fields, but the latter had no means of pressure to bring them back. They are therefore forced to look to the outside, and therefore, an immigration of foreign workers.
It is a little logical that they turn to Africa, this continent having provided a significant workforce during the slave trade. However, this will involve recruiting free workers for a fixed period, against a salary with the guarantee of repatriation at the end of their contract. This recruitment will be done in two phases.
The first, from 1854 to 1856, was to be done with young free Africans willingly agreeing to go to work in Martinique, the second, from 1857 to 1862, will be done on the redemption of slaves who became free once recruited. Slavery and the slave trade having been abolished, it was forbidden to force employees to do forced labor. According to figures, between 9,000 and 10,552 Africans arrived in Martinique. They were called the Kongos because they came mainly from the region of Central Africa (Gabon and the two Kongos).
By statute, they remain "immigrants" and do not have French citizenship such unlike the descendants of former slaves could have. The repatriation that they had been promised was taxed on their salary, and few (two cases recorded) had the opportunity to return to their native country once their contract ended. The salary was not the same for the employees. The Indians, followed by the Chinese, received more money than the Kongos. These African immigrants had their language, sometimes different languages depending on the ethnic groups from which they came.
They arrived very young in the West Indies. Recruitment was carried out on young people between 10 and 24 years old. They were therefore mainly adolescents, which explains their faster assimilation into Creole culture. Be careful, however, in a "skin whitening" system, the White skin of the Chinese and the straight hair of the Indians were more factors of inclusion than in the Kongos, who had black skin and frizzy hair. At first, even the local population, the Black Creoles, despised and mocked them, calling them new slaves at the boot of the Béké (Whites descended from the old masters).
The main reason for immigration from Africa was that planters viewed Africans as better workers on plantations. They feared, however, that they would become part of the local population who had wage demands and ally with the local population, thus increasing social tensions. The mortality was high because two years later, there were only 7,000 Kongos in Martinique out of the 10,000 who arrived on the island. An epidemic of yellow fever had struck the Martinican population, causing many victims.
Little is known about Kongo women and their role in the plantation and their families. What we know is that they were the favorites of Creole planters and Europeans:
Doesn't the African seem to be the man that nature has fashioned for working the land under the sun? from the tropics? By giving birth to him in hot regions, she made him insensitive to the heat of our climates... Africa alone could provide women in sufficient numbers and working on equal terms with men, unlike Indian women. of delicate complexion and cramped forms. The women needed to come, because more docile, they could easily bow to the demands of a new position.
They were scattered all over the island, even though there were more of them in the south of Martinique.
Kongo women and men have integrated the sugar cane plantations. They worked 12 hours a day with two breaks.
The Indian woman
As with African immigration, the Indians came to Martinique as employees to fill the labor shortage following the abolition of slavery. It was in 1853 that it would have started and would have taken place in two stages. The first stage, until 1870, with Indians from the region of the South of Madras were Tamils. Then they came from Calcutta and northwest India. Thus, between 1853 and 1885 year of the end of Indian immigration, 25,509 men and women arrived on the island.
They were generally engaged on five-year contracts, for a salary (12.50 francs per month for men and 10 francs for women) with the promise of repatriation to their country of origin at the end of their contract. After long journeys of almost two months, they arrived in the plantations where the living conditions were very harsh. In addition to exhausting working days, they lived in deplorable hygienic conditions: the old huts left free by the slaves, 9 square meters, and without light.
In addition, the food they had as a daily portion was low. It consisted of a few roots and starches, salted fish, but no meat, oil, or other condiments, let alone milk. Some employers forced their employees to work day and night by paying them late. They were also victims of ill-treatment by the planters. In addition, their repatriation at the end of their contract was far from systematic. The planters used their power of conviction to force the hired people to sign a new contract.
Indian women were employed as servants in the houses of the planters.
The Chinese woman
The Chinese arrived in Martinique just after slavery. Unlike the Indians and the Kongos, they would have worked little or nothing in the sugar cane plantations. They quickly turned to commerce and opened several stores in Fort-de-France. Initially, they had come for work in the fields on eight-year contracts, but very quickly, not supporting the intensity of the work and the tropical heat, they preferred to desert and turn to commerce. The first wave of arrival took place between 1858 and 1860. Only three ships (the Fulton in September 1859, Admiral Baudin in September 1859, and the Galilée on July 3, 1860) were assigned to transport Chinese to Martinique.
At the time, 10,000 Chinese had been promised to planters in need of labor. It will not be. In total, only 978 Chinese have arrived in Martinique, with a very small number of women.
They came from Shanghai for the first two "convoys" and Canton for the last. Only one of these immigrants will benefit from repatriation at the end of the contract. During the voyage on the Galilée in 1860, a doctor and schoolmaster named Yung-Ting undertakes "in return for the advantages which one has promised to make him obtain in Martinique" to treat the sick emigrants during the journey. Thanks to him, the new Chinese arrivals will be exempted from working in the cane fields, for the most part, and will naturally turn to towns and commerce.
At the time, the very high mortality that struck the island claimed many victims in their ranks. In addition, their small number compared to the local population, their openness to mixed marriages meant that their contribution to Creole culture was much less important than the Indians, whose number was nearly 12 times greater!