The Indians: Classification, origins and social organization
Indian labourers at an estate in Klang, Selangor c. 1910.
Indian merchants traded in the Malay Archipelago as early as the first century CE, and established a settlement in Melaka in the 15th century. However, it was only in the 19th and 20th centuries that large numbers of Indian migrants, mainly from South India, arrived in the Peninsula, brought as indentured labour primarily to work on the rubber plantations. Since Independence, the Indian community, consisting of various ethnic sub-groups, has integrated with other ethnic groups in Malaysia and contributed to national development.
- Information in the full article includes
- Early Indian migration
- Migration in the 19th century and beyond
- Social organization