NCERT · Class 10 · Social Science · History: The Making of a Global WorldWhat is meant by 'indentured labour' in the context of the nineteenth century?

Indentured labour refers to a system of bonded labour under which a worker signed a contract to work for an employer for a specific period, usually five years, to pay off their passage to a new country. In the nineteenth century, millions of Indian and Chinese laborers were recruited under this system to work on plantations, mines, and railway construction projects worldwide, often facing harsh living and working conditions that resembled a new system of slavery.