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Coolie

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Indian labourers in British Trinidad and Tobago; around 1890's

Coolie is the name for a person who does unskilled work at a low wage. Typically these people were of Indian or Chinese descent. Today, it is a pejorative term, and should no longer be used.

The term was first used by European traders, in the 16th century. By the 18th century, the term referred to migrant workers from India. There was a system that resembled indentured servitude.