Areas indentured Indians came from

Finding the area ones ancestors came from is a daunting task. To assist the searcher, the table below has been created. The table distinguishes between the taluk ( which often has the same name as the town/village or district) (Column 2), the district proper (Column 3) and the presidency/State (Column 4). These three subdivisions are not to be confused with the three place names that accompany each indenture entry (with name, age, sex, caste, height, place names etc). The indenture entries lists place names that are villages, thanna (police circle) and zillah (district). Hence, one needs to find the district first before finding the village/town etc. In the table below a clear indication is given where a taluk or district falls and the presidency/state involved. Use the map of India 1900 to ascertain the relative location of the district (Column 3) and the presidency/state in India (Column 4). Once the district is found with the assistance of the table below, the village/town/taluk may be ascertained. Separate maps for the Madras Presidency (South : Tamil speaking), Madras Presidency (North : Telugu Speaking ), Province of Agra and Oudh, Bihar is provided to assist in the location of the districts within these presidencies/states.

The three principal areas that contributed to over 2/3 rd's of Natal immigrants were the Madras Presidency, Provinces of Agra and Oudh and the Bengal Presidency (Behar features prominently). It is interesting to note that immigrants were drawn from as far as the Punjab, Champarun and other states like Mysore as well as Mauritius and Reunion Island (probably those who already served indenture there). In the table below an * signifies Taluks/tahsils (column 2) that may have the same name as the District (Column 3) or in themselves be districts. Hence, some smaller districts (Column 2 with *) lie within larger ones (Column 3). The "/" signifies alternate names while the "( ) " around a name signifies present day name change/usage.

Please note that while the Madras Presidency is divided into the Tamil and Telugu sections by two separate Maps ( Madras Presidency (South : Tamil speaking).Madras Presidency (North : Telugu Speaking ), often there were overlaps in languages e.g. the district of Chittoor had 56% Tamil and 39% Telugu speaking peoples. So Tamil in the table below refer to the Southern lying Taluks/districts while Telugu refers to the Northern Taluks/districts.