Aapravasi Ghat

The Aapravasi Ghat in Port-Louis is the location of an immigrant station, from which the current indentured labor Diaspora developed. The Depot was erected in 1849 to welcome indentured laborers as part of the 'Great Experiment' on the island's sugar fields. The success of the 'Great Experiment' in Mauritius led to its adoption by other colonial powers beginning in the 1840s, culminating in a global exodus of more than two million indentured laborers, over half of whom came to Mauritius.

Aapravasi Ghat's structures are among the earliest clear expressions of what would become a worldwide economic system. The Aapravasi Ghat site is the solitary remaining example of this unusual contemporary diaspora and a significant historical witness to indenture in the 19th century. It represents not only the evolution of the modern system of contractual labor, but also the memories, traditions, and values that these men, women, and children carried with them when they left their countries of origin to work in foreign lands and which they subsequently bequeathed to their millions of descendants, for whom the site holds great symbolic significance. In 2006, UNESCO designated Aapravasi as a World Heritage Site.

Location: Ex-DWC Building, 1 Quay St, Port Louis, Mauritius

Opening hours: 9 AM - 4 PM

Phone number: +230 217 7770

Entrance fee: Free
Rating: N/A
Website: https://aapravasi.govmu.org/aapravasi/?page_id=816