Indian labourers, who had proved their worth in similar conditions in Mauritius, were sought by the British Jamaican government, in addition to workers coming from China.
This, along with fundamental cultural and linguistic differences and a tendency to not mix with the local population, caused the Africans as well as the British to look down on them.
The Indian Government appointed a Protector of Immigrants in Jamaica, although this office tended to protect the interests of the employers rather than the workers.
[4] In the mid-20th century, smaller numbers of Indians from the Sindh, Gujarat, Kutch, Bengal and Punjab regions came to Jamaica not as labourers but as merchants conducting business alongside Chinese and Arab immigrants.
[5] Some Indians have married into the local population of Africans, Creoles, Chinese, Hispanics-Latinos, Arabs, Europeans, and Jews.
The numbers arriving increased to 2,439 three years later, at which point the Indian Government halted the scheme to examine its working.
The programme resumed in 1859 and continued until the outbreak of World War I, although by the 1870s stories of the hardships suffered by Indian indentured workers were causing disquiet on the subcontinent.
[citation needed] Two shillings and six pence were deducted from their meagre wages for the rice, flour, dried fish or goat, peas and seasoning which constituted their rations.
Once arriving in Jamaica, in order to assimilate easier into Jamaican society, they often took Anglo/British originated family names due to those being the majority in the country.
Some Jamaican Indian surnames include Mangaroo, Babooram, Sirjue, Partab (Pratap), Bhoorasingh, Mykoo, Jaghai, Maragh, Ramlall, Ramdas, Rampersad, Singh, Harrisingh, Beharry, Bandoo, Siew, Santokie, Persad, Ameer, Amair, Mahabeer, Baboolal, Gopaul, Gopie, Kissoon, Bridgmohan, Setal, Badwah, Rambaran, Coomar (Kumar), Ali, Mohammed, Baccus, Hussaney and Lala.
Gradually workers left the plantations for Kingston and took jobs that better utilized their existing and newly learned skills.
[17] Despite being a small percentage of the population, Indians have made an outsized impact on their adopted island nation by significantly contributing to its culture.
[18] Indian jewellery, in the form of intricately wrought gold bangles, are common in Jamaica, with their manufacture and sale going back to the 1860s.
Hindu use of ganja for spiritual and medicinal purposes, including religious practices and sometimes recreation were adopted into Jamaican culture.