History of Kolar Gold Fields “Where’ver we are on earth, K.G.F is an
Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) (also known as ‘Little England’) is a mining area in the Kolar District of Karnataka, South India, 100 km from Bengaluru. It is estimated that gold has been mined there for over 2000 years, and whilst many people over the course of history tried their luck at finding gold, Kolar Gold Field’s modern success is generally attributed to the firm John Taylor & Sons, after John Taylor III took control of the mines in 1880 and established what was at one time the deepest and most productive gold mine in the world. The mines were run by the company up until 1956 when they were taken over by the Government of Mysore who employed John Taylor & Sons as mining consultants.
At its peak KGF was home to 30000 mine workers and their families and was a multi ethnic community with experienced miners recruited from around the world, a large proportion of which were from Cornwall. When the mines opened the local people were reluctant to work there as it was extremely dangerous work, so workers migrated from Tamil Nadu and Tamil became a common language spoken by most people at KGF. There was a large Anglo-Indian population at KGF many of whom took on the roles of British workers after Indian Independence in 1947.
The mined gold was shipped back to England, making the British shareholder’s incredibly wealthy. Inequality was prevalent, the British workers enjoyed sprawling bungalows, whilst the poorest Indian workers lived in mud floored one room huts which often housed more than one family at a time along with a number of rats. It was also the Indian workers who carried out the most dangerous work at the mines.
With the British however came infrastructure and in the mining area they established hospitals, schools, social clubs, a boating lake, a golf course, a swimming pool and a gymkhana.These facilities were segregated, with places such as the KGF club exclusive to the European workers. Medical care at KGF was world class, and free to all mine workers and their families.
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