Enslaved Lives?

An introduction to the fundamental changes in 19th-century India which contributed to the flow of labour out of the subcontinent, this book focuses on the nature of labour mobilization/immobilization and the reorganization of the Indian labour market in the colonial period, and the consequent Indian diaspora. The story begins in the mid-18th century, outlining the change in society and political economy of early-colonial India that helped to create the labour force required by the plantation and other capitalist enterprises which grew up after 1840.