1908 Asiatics Ordinance in Perspective

Seminar: UNIVERSITY OF RHODESIA : DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY HENDERSON SEMINAR NO.27 THE 1908 ASIATICS ORDINANCE IN PERSPECTIVE b y ALI MOHAMED HASSAM KALSHEKER fmm TJe latter half of ^ 19th century witnessed large-scale emigration from the Indian sub-continent to lands across the seas. A large measure of this outpouring spilt itself into eastern and southern Africa. The two a * East Africa ^ South Mrioa. Rhodesia was very much a state in the South African orbit and was deeply influenced by the Indian lnfiUX int° Natal' ^ Transvaal and the Cape Colony. This 19th century S S Uf hwas by any weans o n ly manifestation of India's relationship SJ? seaboard and interior territories of Africa. Evidence of ?Ji3 relationship stretches back to the beginnings of the Christian era and, to a very great extent, concerns the land new called Rhodesia. The evidence consists of sane archaeological material of Indian manufacture unearthed at various sites in Rhodesia. The evidence unravelled so far is not very conclusive but makes for interesting speculation. The most reliable authority for these early Indian links with Rhodesia is Roger Sumners.1 He bases his theories about the Indian connection on his thorough study of ancient mining methods in Rhodesia as well as on a few archaeological discoveries. He argues that the history of ancient mining in Rhodesia has been a record of systematic exploitation? consequently, 'it seems unreasonable to consider ancient Rhodesian mining as having been locally evolved, rather must we expect to look abroad for its origins1.2 By means of a comparative examination of ancient mining in Zambia and Katanga, Northern Mozambique and Malawi, East Africa, Sudan and Egypt, and West Africa, Summers concludes that 'since it appears that Rhodesia owes very little, if anything, to African methods for its gold mining techniques, it is necessary to look further afield and to turn to overseas contacts'.3 Among these overseas models, Sumners studies Arabian, Persian and Indian techniques, and it is in the Indian workings that he finds a great similarity to Rhodesian conditions; 'There are a large number of ancient workings all of them in the present state of Mysore, and they are so like Rhodesian workings that it is worthwhile examining them at length.'4 In addition to the similarity of mining techniques, Sumners advances archaeo logical evidence, admittedly scanty, to support his Indian theory. These archaeological remains, consisting of three coins and a few pieces of Indian brassware, were found at D. Troop Mine and Sally Mine, the former being located on the Angwa River and the latter near Gwanda. The earliest of these coins has been dated back to the fourteenth century. 5 The 1. See Roger Summers, Ancient Mining in Rhodesia and AdJacent Areas. {The Trustees of the National Museum of Rhodesia, Salisbury, 1969) 2. Ibid., p.115. 3. Ibid., p.116 4. Ibid,, p.116 5. Ibid., p.122 - 2 - archaeological remains are valuable for postulating a more recent Indian connection but do not help much to solve the mysteries of the first millennium A.D. For this periodf Summers relies on his comparative mining study as well as on speculation. He admits that there is no direct evidence as to who the early prospectors in Rhodesia were or when they began their work, but we can deduce their identity. Since ancient Rhodesian mining methods differed from those used elsewhere in Africa but were very close to those used in Southern India, we may postulate a connection. Indian mining was, however, more efficient than Rhodesian, and it began to decline after 300 A.D. Few, if any, mines were worked after 1000 A.D. whereas there was not much Rhodesian mining before 600-700 A.D. 'We may therefore conclude that Indian preceded Rhodesian mining and that it seems probable that Indian prospectors came to Rhodesia about the sixth or seventh century A.D. to find an alternative source of gold to the then rapidly diminishing ore reserves in Mysore.' ^ If summers' theories are valid, then it can be argued that India's connection with Rhodesia has been a long, though often interrupted process stretching over Just under two millennia. After the first millennium A.D., the next great period of Indian participation in the economic life of the country was during the Portuguese era, when Indians were again involved in mining. Towards the end of the 17th century an interesting incident apparently occurred in Dambarare. This Portuguese settlement was surprised and attacked by the then Changamire, Dorribo, and its 40-man garrison was destroyed. 'All European and Indian civilians living in the settlement were mercilessly hunted down and their bones subsequently ground up to be used as medicine by the witch-doctors.'2 These unfortunate Indians were presumably Goans. Most of these Indian visitors did not ccrne independently but rather in the wake of Portuguese initiative. It must be stated that even in the late 17th century the Indian presence was not always welcomed, especially when Indians seemed to be moving towards ccrmercial preponderance. In 1678, for example, the Portuguese captain of Zimbabwe, Antonio Lobo da Silva 9 urged that Indian traders in his domain be deported and replaced by white Portuguese settlers Indians were tolerated as long as they were useful, but the moment they threatened to became dominant and to deprive Europeans of trade and employment opportunities, calls were made for their expulsion or, at the least, restriction. This theme was to re-surface during Company rule. The early Indian contacts with Rhodesia were based mainly on ccmnercial intercourse and the need for Indian labour. The early Indians were predominantly transients who came in small nuirtors; this is what distinguishes them from the later 19th century movement, which evolved into Indian settlement. Although permanent Indian settlements may not have been consciously envisaged, they nevertheless matured. Tentative movements gradually crystallised into permanent settlements. The motives for the 19th century Indian migration to Africa in general and Rhodesia in particular, were complex and varied. Poor economic Ibid., p.151. - , Oliver Rans£ord, The Rulers of Rhodesia - From Earliest Times to the Referendum, London, 1968, p.75. This incident is also, referred to in L.h . Garin, A'Historv of Southern Rhodesia; Early Days to 1934, Chatto and VJindus, 1965, p.25. , Eric Axelson, Portuguese in South-East Africa, 1600-1700, witwatersrand 3. University Press, 1960, p.151. - 3 - conditions and opportunities in village India, the hope of escaping from domestic and marital crises, the prospect of a higher standard of living in Africa, and, to a limited extent, the desire to expand business operations helped to prompt emigration from India. No universal dominant motive can adequately explain the exodus, and it is more likely that a combination of motives was involved. The establishment of Indian settlements all over the globe in the 19th century was 'prompted by a social and economic revol ution in the western world, and helped by certain supporting factors in the Indian situation'.1 The revolution referred to was the abolition of slavery and the need for efficient, substitute labour in the plantations in the West Indies, the Indian Ocean and South Africa. India was capable of solving the labour shortage. The decline of handicraft industry caused by the introduction of machine-made cotton goods and the steep rise in population resulting from improved medical and sanitation facilities created a mass of unemployed particularly in Bengal and Madras, thereby precipitating emigration from those parts of India. While it is relatively easy to assess the reasons for the 19th century outward movement from India, it is a much more complicated affair unscrambling the motives for Indian immigration to Rhodesia. There is a lack of evidence to suggest that the early Indians came to Rhodesia solely or even mainly with the intention of entering conmerca. The simple fact is that they lacked the capital and know-how, although their cultural back- ground, with its emphasis on planning for the future by saving today,1 2 34 furnished the Indians with the prerequesites for their later penetration of commerce. Dotson and Dotson believe that their motives for coming to Rhodesia were not apparently any different from those of other 'passenger Indians' coming to Africa.1 They came in the wake of catmerciai and employ ment opportunities created by European initiative. The most distinctive feature of the first Indian immigrants who came to Rhodesia mainly in the 1890s and 1900s is the almost total absence of the indentured class. Most of these Indians were "free Indians" from the GuJarat central region of western India and most have had direct ties of kinship, friendship and personal history with other passenger Indians in East and South Africa.^ Indians settled in South and East Africa earlier than in Central Africa and the former territories thus set the socio-cultural pattern for the latter.5 This raises the interesting question of Rhodesia's relationship to the Indian questions in East and South Africa. No comprehensive study has yet been made of inter-regional political, social and cultural links among the Indian communities settled in East, Central and South Africa, but, as will be shown later, Rhodesia's -white and Indian leaders had close contacts with their respective counterparts in South Africa in the matter of "Indian policy . This factor clearly puts Rhodesia in the South, African orbit. The motives of the passenger Indians who came to South Africa were similar to those of the same class of Indians that came to Rhodesia. In Hilda Kuper's view, this migration was 'a selective process in which certain individuals and categories of people, reacting to specific pressures 1.

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