Coolie

The term referred to East Asian coolie laborers or porters. In the 19th century, many Chinese left their country and hired themselves out as a coolie.

Kuli (Dutch spelling: " koelie " ) was the name for the contract workers ( Dutch: contract arbeiders ) shipped to the Dutch East Indies between 1820 and 1941 over the Portuguese colony of Macao were also Chinese coolies to Central and South America.. Chinese who went to North America did so, however, almost without exception, as free men with agricultural, artisanal or commercial work experience, not as coolies; yet the Chinese immigrants were referred to in the U.S. against the background of anti-Chinese propaganda of the time often pejoratively as " coolies ".

Coolies were often used to hard work on the plantations. They had signed a " coolie contract," by which they bound themselves under strict conditions to the respective companies. So had a coolie 10 hours a day to work and could not leave the plantation or factory of his employer without prior approval.

The word " coolie ", Urdu / Hindi Quli ( क़ुली ) has its origin in a Turkic language, namely the Tschagataischen, the language of Babur who conquered northern India in the 16th century. Turkey Turkish kul ' servant, slave ' is so closely related. About the Urdu has the word, like many others, used in other Indian languages ​​. Into Chinese, the word has come probably later. There, it looks in the form苦力, kǔlì as a Chinese composition. The meaning of "苦" is in fact " bitter, hard" and "力" can be considered " labor " to be construed. Therefore, the origin of the word has sometimes been suspected in Chinese.

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• Service Occupation
• Culture ( India)
• Company ( China)
• Labor migration