About Coolie (2024)
Coolie () is a term historically used for low-wage labourers, typically those of Indian descent in the Caribbean and parts of Africa. The term was first used in the 16th century by European traders across the Indian Subcontinent. In the 18th century, it more commonly got passed down and referred to the generation who migrated as Indian indentured labourers to the Caribbean in the 19th century. During the British colonial era, the term was adopted and officially used during the transportation and forced employment of Indian labourers via employment contracts on sugar plantations formerly worked by African slaves.
The word has had a variety of negative connotations. In modern-day English, it is usually regarded as offensive. In the 21st century, coolie is generally considered a racial slur for Indians in Oceania, Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Americas (particularly in the Caribbean (varying)).
The word originated in the 17th-century Indian subcontinent and meant "day labourer"; starting in the 20th century, the word was used in British Raj India to refer to porters at railway stations. The term differs from the word "Dougla", although in Jamaica and parts of the Caribbean the term can be used for those of fully Indian decent and dougla decent. Coolie is mostly used to refer to people of fully-blooded Indian descent whose ancestors migrated to the British and Dutch (as koelie) former colonies in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. This is particularly the case in South Africa, the Eastern African countries, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica, other parts of the Caribbean, Mauritius, Fiji, and the Malay Peninsula.
In modern Indian popular culture, coolies have often been portrayed as working-class heroes or anti-heroes. Indian films celebrating coolies include Deewaar (1975), Coolie (1983), Coolie (1995), Coolie (2025) and several films titled Coolie No. 1 (released in 1991, 1995, and 2020).
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