A day in Fiji Museum

Story of Indo - Fijian Experience 

Girmit - The Agreement

Life in India for many people at the time was tough. Babies born during that time could expect to live, on average, for just 24.5 years. Lack of rain and poor management of resources by the British Government resulted in widespread famine. Food and jobs were scarce.



The Indo-Fijians arrived in Fiji in 1879 with 463 laborers, and between 1879 and 1916, over 60,000 Indians landed in Fiji for Girmit. The agreement was for five years of indentured labor, and after five years with many choosing to remain in Fiji and become their home, leased land from iTaukei and developed their own sugarcane fields or cattle farms. 








 

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