Explore
Search historical records and discover the people, places and journeys that shaped your family.
Explore the archive →SOUTH AFRICAN INDIAN HERITAGE
Preserve your
family story.
Explore Indian South African records, memories, and connections.
Preserve
Build a private family tree with names, dates, photographs and stories shared by your relatives.
Build your family tree →Connect
Invite family members to contribute memories and make your shared history richer together.
Bring family together →OUR BEGINNING
Our story began long before us.
On 16 November 1860, the Truro arrived at Port Natal carrying the first indentured Indian arrivals. Indenture was an exploitative colonial labour system; the people who endured it carried names, languages, traditions and histories from different parts of India.
Subsequent arrivals shaped the South African Indian community. Indians.co.za connects those records with family histories being preserved today.
Historical archive source: Gandhi-Luthuli Documentation Centre, University of KwaZulu-Natal.
A LIVING JOURNEY
From a record to a family.
History gives us a place to begin. Your family gives it meaning.
Origins
Names, languages and traditions carried across the ocean.
16 November 1860
The Truro marked the beginning of a new chapter in Natal.
Families take root
Communities, homes and stories grew across South Africa.
Your story continues
Preserve the people and memories that make your family yours.
THE UKZN HISTORICAL ARCHIVE
Find where your story began.
Search sourced passenger and voyage records by name, father, village, ship or indenture number. A historical record is a starting point—not an automatic family-tree identity.
152,184+passenger records384voyages1860–1911arrival years
Search the recordsSTART WITH WHAT YOU KNOW
INDENTURE NUMBERA number in a family documentPASSENGER NAMEA name remembered at homeFATHER / AGE / GENDERClues to follow across the archiveVILLAGE / THANNA / ZILLAHClues to follow across the archiveSHIP / ARRIVALClues to follow across the archive
01Search02Find a record03Link to your family
YOUR FAMILY, TOGETHER
Build the story with the people who know it.
Add parents, grandparents, children, partners and siblings. Invite relatives to help preserve names, dates, photographs and the stories between them.
BUILD Create your private family tree.INVITE Bring relatives into the family story.DISCOVER See how your family connects.
Start with yourself →NANAGrandparent
TATAGrandparent
MUMParent
DADParent
YOUToday
SIBLINGFamily
DISCOVER○—○—○—○—○—○up to six degrees · no private tree opened
BUILT WITH CARE
Your family. Your information. Your control.
Private family treesYour genealogy stays within the trees you are permitted to access.
History with contextHistorical evidence remains distinct from living-person genealogy.
Thoughtful discoveryConnections are privacy-safe and never assumed as fact.
THE NEXT GENERATION