Dougla people


Dougla is a term used to describe people who are of mixed African and Indian descent.

Definition

The word Dougla originated from dogala, which is a Caribbean Hindustani word that literally means "two-necks" and may mean "many", "much" or "a mix". Its etymological roots are cognate with the Hindi "do" meaning "two" and "gala", which means "throat". Within the West Indies context, the word is used only for one type of mixed race people: Afro-Indians.
The 2012 Guyana census identified 29.25% of the population as Afro-Guyanese, 39.83% as Indo-Guyanese, and 19.88% as "mixed," recognized as mostly representing the offspring of the former two groups.
In the French West Indies, Afro-Indian people used to be referred to as Batazendyen or '''Chapé-Kouli.'''

History

There are sporadic records of Indo-Euro interracial relationships, both consensual and nonconsensual, before any ethnic mixing of the African and Indian variety.
Other Indo-based types of mixed heritage, Indo-Latino/Hispanic, Indo-English, Indo-Portuguese, Indo-Irish, Indo-Scottish tended to identify as one of the older, unmixed ethnic strains on the island: Afro, Indo, Amerindian or Euro or passing as one of them.

Notable Douglas

Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, & Jamaica

India

Netherlands

United Kingdom

United States and Canada