East Indian Slaves in Colonial America

The objective of this project is to identify (forced) immigrants from India & Madagascar to Colonial America. Please start discussions, share resources, build trees, and add profiles to the project. Please create "related" projects for the Madagascar slave trade in other locations. And please ... invite collaborators to join in and contribute.

background

From Indian Slaves in Colonial America Francis C.Assisi • Published on May 16, 2007.

The seeds of what was to become modern America were planted on May 13, 1607, when British colonists arrived at an island that they would come to call Jamestown in what is now Virginia.

This first permanent English settlement in the New World would eventually become "the rightful birthing ground of America"; its soil sprinkled with the blood of Native Americans, European settlers, and their African slaves.

To this racial mix we must now include people from the Indian subcontinent.

That’s because, while preparations are underway for a grand commemoration of Jamestown’s 400th anniversary in May-June 2007, we have uncovered compelling evidence of the presence of people from the Indian subcontinent going as far back as 375 years in Virginia: people identified in American court documents of the time as "East Indians," "East India Indians," or "Asiatic Indians.". ....

arrivals

From HISTORICAL NOTES: MADAGASCAR - AMERICA RELATIONS

From 1719 to 1725 more than 1,000 Malagasy slaves arrived to the Commonwealth of Virginia through the ports of Rappahannock and York rivers:

• The Prince Eugene of Bristol came into York River district of Virginia on May 18, 1719 carrying 340 Malagasy;
• the Mercury of London arrived at the district of Rappahannock River on May 17, 1720 with 466 Malagasy; and were followed by
• the Rebecca Snow,
• The Gascoigne Galley entering at York River with 133 slaves, on May 15, 1721
• the Prince Eugene (on a second trip) entering at York River with 103 slaves in June 1721
• the Henrietta at York River with 130 slaves later in June 1721
• the Coker Snow.

Platt states that the total number of Malagasy brought into Virginia between 1719 and 1721, comes to 1, 231 when the 340 slaves brought on the Prince Eugene's previous voyage and the 466 brought by the Mercury in 1720 are counted in. (Platt: 1969:567)

resources

• "Pirates, Slavery and Kings in Madagascar"
• Free African Americans: East Indians
• "The East India Company & the Madagascar Slave Trade" The William and Mary Quarterly. Third Series, Vol. 26, No. 4 (Oct., 1969), pp. 548-577. Published by: Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.
• Trans Atlantic Slave Trade - Madagascar & the Malagasy People
• "Madagascar: Slavery and early state formation (1642-1750)"
• HISTORICAL NOTES: MADAGASCAR - AMERICA RELATIONS
• "New York Slave Trade, 1698-1741: The Geographical Origins of a Displaced People" Jeanne Chase. Histoire & mesure, XVIII - 1/2 | 2003 : Varia
• "Got Roots in Madagascar?" last updated 3 December 2014.
• "Finding Lucy Ann: Professor uses oral traditions to trace Madagascar ancestors"