The word
Dougla originated from
dogala (), which is a
Caribbean Hindustani word that literally means "two-necks" and may mean "many", "much" or "a mix" (literally bastard, of two fathers). Its etymological roots are cognate with the Hindi "do" meaning "two" and "gala", which means "throat". Within the West Indies context, the word is used only for one type of
mixed race people: Afro-Indians. The 2012 Guyana census identified 29.25% of the population as
Afro-Guyanese, 39.83% as
Indo-Guyanese, and 19.88% as "mixed," recognized as mostly representing the offspring of the former two groups. In the
French West Indies (
Guadeloupe,
Martinique), Afro-Indian people used to be referred to as
Batazendyen or
Chapé-Kouli. ==History==