Malbars

Malbars is derived from the word Malabar, a term which was used often by the French and other Westerners to refer to all Southern Indians, including the Tamils, Malayalees, Telugus and Kannadigas.

Indian workers came to Réunion from Southern India, mostly from the current-day Tamil Nadu as well from Andhra Pradesh (the first indentured workers who came to Réunion were Télingas),[6] and to a lesser extent from the lower Gangetic Plains in Northern India (current-day Central and Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal), the latter ones being known as the "Calcutta".

[6] These migrants where recruited and boarded through the French settlements of Pondicherry (Pondichéry) and Karaikal (Karikal), but also from the ports of Madras, Yanam (Yanaon) and Calcutta.

[9] The Malbars desire to learn their ancestors' culture, and started studying their language and religions especially from Tamil Nadu.

[10] A genetic study has shown that the majority of the Indian origins of Malbars lie in the South-east of India.