Aapravasi Ghat becomes an important reference point in the history and cultural identity of Mauritius
The Great Experiment officially started when the Atlas arrived from India with 36 indentured labourers on board on 2 November 1834
The Aapravasi Ghat historical site is an important symbol of Mauritian identity since the ancestors of more than 70% of today’s Mauritian population arrived on the island through this immigration depot. Immigration Depot is a building complex located in Port Louis, Mauritius, the first British colony to receive indentured, or contracted, labour workforce from many countries. From 1849 to 1923, half a million Indian indentured labourers passed through the Immigration Depot, to be transported to plantations throughout the British Empire. The indenture period in Mauritius (1834-1910) The British Parliament’s decision to abolish slavery in its colonies in 1833 led to the setting up of a new system of recruitment called indenture. An indentured labourer was a free man or woman who signed a contract to work away from his/her homeland for an employer for a specified period of time, generally for five years. Labourers’ contracts specified their terms of employment and outlined their general standard of living, wage rate, working hours, type of work, rations, housing and medical care. In Mauritius, even before the abolition of slavery on 1st February 1835, planters called for labourers as the sugar industry expanded rapidly. The British colonial Government wanted to evaluate the viability of this new system and also sought to demonstrate the superiority of free over slave labour. The “Great Experiment” was launched in Mauritius which as a test case, received the first indentured labourers. The Great Experiment officially started when the Atlas arrived from India with 36 indentured labourers on board on 2 November 1834. Between 1839 and 1842, the emigration of indentured labourers from India was suspended as a result of the abuse to which the earliest contract workers in Mauritius were subjected. Indentured immigration reached its peak years between the 1843 and 1865 to respond to the increasing needs of the sugar industry making Mauritius, the most productive sugar colony in the British Empire around 1845. Indentured immigration declined as from 1870s and came to a formal end in 1910. The Immigration Depot is a building complex located in Port Louis, Mauritius, the first British colony to receive indentured, or contracted, labour workforce from many countries. From 1849 to 1923, half a million Indian indentured labourers passed through the Immigration Depot, to be transported to plantations throughout the British Empire. The large-scale migration of the labourers left an indelible mark on the societies of many former British colonies, with Indians constituting a substantial proportion of their national populations. In Mauritius alone, 68 percent of the current total population is of Indian ancestry. The Immigration Depot has thus become an important reference point in the history and cultural identity of Mauritius. Unchecked infrastructural development in the mid-20th century means that only the partial remains of three stone buildings from the entire complex have survived. These are now protected as a national monument, under the Mauritian national heritage legislation. The Immigration Depot’s role in social history was recognized by UNESCO when it was declared a World Heritage Site in 2006. The site is under the management of the Aapravasi Ghat Trust Fund. Conservation efforts are underway to restore the fragile buildings to their 1860s state. It is one of two World Heritage Sites in Mauritius, along with Le Morne Brabant.
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