Indian Caribbean Immigration Museum Set to Open in Trinidad

May 3, 2006

Source: Hinduism Today

http://www.hinduismtoday.com/hpi/2006/5/3.shtml#2

On May 3, 2006 Hinduism Today reported, "Located near the famous Temple in the Sea at Waterloo, Trinidad, the Indian Caribbean Museum is the only one of its kind in the world. No other museum is dedicated to the preservation of the material history of over one million descendants of East Indians/South Asians in the Caribbean. The first Indian immigrants came to the Caribbean from India to work as indentured labourers from 1838 to 1917 after the abolition of slavery... The museum's large collection has been obtained through field trips by administrators of the institution. Most items have been acquired as gifts, bequests and loans by interested individuals, families, priests, historians, scholars and collectors of the island community... The Indian Caribbean Museum also houses an art gallery, a reference library and a computerised genealogical database. Soon to be established in the museum's outdoor space is a botanical garden with some of the rare endangered plants of Indian origin like the satputiya (angled loofah), poi bhaji (Indian spinach), urdi (mung bean), and khakri (wild cucumber). There is a large permanent screen in a recessed wall of the museum for the screening of historical films and documentaries."