The Sepoy Mutineers Who Never Made It to Belize

In 1857, Indian soldiers had had enough of British rule. They began to riot and violence spread to Delhi, Jhansi, Lucknow, and other cities before the British brutally stamped it out. For most, that’s how the story of the Sepoy Mutiny ends: an early expression of nationalism that the British brought to an untimely end. 

But for many soldiers, that’s where their stories began. The British rounded up participants for hanging or deportation, believing them too dangerous to keep around. They sent them to the Andaman Islands and contemplated sending others to their Caribbean colonies. Until recently, historians believed that the British brought many disgruntled rebels to Central America, seeding the Indian diaspora in modern-day Belize. But is that really what happened? New evidence suggests the story is a bit more complex.