Chinese coolies formed the early backbone of Singapore's labour force, engaged mainly in hard physical labour. They were mainly impoverished Chinese immigrants who came to Singapore in the later half of the 19th century, seeking their fortune but serving instead as indentured, unskilled labourers. Coolies were employed in almost every sector of work including construction work, plantation work, in ports and mines and as rickshaw pullers. The word “coolie” is believed to have come from the Hindi term kuli, which is also the name of a native tribe of Gujerat in western India. It is believed that the Kulis were among the first coolies as they were easy to recruit because they lived on the northern Indian coast. The word kuli also means hire in Tamil.
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