The Journey (A Changing Southampton). Despite the fact that the history of people from the Indian Sub-continent is part of British because India was a vital part of the British Empire. The economic wealth it provided being as important as the Industrial Revolution. Despite its importance generally far too little is known about the experience of the people who are now Southampton citizens but who came from India, Pakistan or Bangladesh.   Slavery in what we now know as South Africa began soon after Jan van Riebeeck set up a Dutch settlement at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652 to supply provisions to Dutch ships plying trade routes to and from India and the East Indies, people from India were taken to the Cape and sold into slavery to do domestic work for the settlers, as well the dirty and hard work on the farms.