From 1838 to 1917, over half a million Indians from the former British Raj or British India, were taken to the Caribbean as Indentured workers to address the demand for labour following the abolition of slavery. The first two shiploads arrived in British Guiana (now Guyana) on May 5, 1838, which made 2008 the 170th anniversary. The majority of the Indians living in the English-speaking Caribbean c
ame from eastern Uttar Pradesh and western Bihar, while those brought to Guadeloupe and Martinique were mostly from, but not only, from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. A minority emigrated from other parts of South Asia, including present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh. Indo-Caribbeans are the largest ethnic groups in Guyana and Suriname and are a plurality in Trinidad and Tobago. They are the second largest group in Jamaica, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Martinique and Guadeloupe. There are also small populations in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, French Guiana, Panama, Dominican Republic, Haiti and the Netherlands Antilles . There are also small groups often called "mulatts" who are of Indian descent in Haiti. Modern-day immigrants from India (mostly Sindhi merchants) are to be found on Saint-Martin / Sint Maarten, St. Thomas, Curaçao and other islands with duty-free commercial capabilities, where they are active in business. Other Indo-Caribbean people descend from later migrants, including Indian doctors, Gujarati businessmen and migrants from Kenya and Uganda. However, the vast majority are descendants of the original indentured workers. Many Indo-Caribbean people have migrated to the United States of America, Canada, The Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom, and to other parts of the Caribbean. In Guadeloupe and Martinique, French West Indies, the commemoration of 150 years of Indian presence was celebrated officially by Indians and non-Indians during the whole year of 2003 and 2004 respectively.