Aapravasi Ghat ('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.
Etymology The word ghat is explained by numerous Dravidian etymons such as Kannada gatta (mountain range) Tamil kattu (side of a mountain, dam, ridge, causeway) and Telugu katta and gattu (dam, embankment).
Ghat, a term used in the Indian subcontinent, depending on the context could either refer to a range of stepped-hill such as Eastern Ghats and Western Ghats; or the series of steps leading down to a body of water or wharf, such bathing or cremation place along the banks of a river or pond, Ghats in Varanasi, Dhoby Ghaut or Aapravasi Ghat.Sunithi L. Narayan, Revathy Nagaswami, 1992, Discover sublime India: handbook for tourists, Page 5.Ghat definition, Cambridge dictionary. Roads passing through ghats are called Ghat Roads.
Name The name Aapravasi Ghat, which has been in use since 1987, is a direct Hindi translation of "Immigration Depot". Aapravasi is the Hindi word for "immigrant", while ghat literally means "interface"—factually reflecting the structure's position between the land and sea, and symbolically marking a transition between the old life and the new for the arriving indentured immigrants. Alluding to its function as a pit stop to prospective plantation workers, alternatively called coolies, the Immigration Depot has also been known by an older name, the 'Coolie Ghat'.
The prominent use of the Hindi language in Mauritian naming conventions is based on social and ethnic demographics; over half the national population is of Indian ancestry, a direct result of the Indian labour diaspora that passed through the Immigration Depot. In Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, from where majority of these Indian Labourers where brought,"Ghat" is referred to River Bank which is used for Docking of Boats.
Location
The Immigration Depot was built on the east side of the sheltered bay of Trou Fanfaron in Port Louis, the Mauritian capital. The historic complex currently consists of the partial remains of three stone buildings dating back to the 1860s, built on the spot of an earlier depot site. It consists of the entrance gateway and a hospital block, remnants of immigration sheds, and vestiges of the service quarters.
Subsequent land reclamations as a result of urban development have moved the Immigration Depot's location further inland. The Caudan Waterfront, a marina developed as an economic and tourist centre, is situated beyond the site.
History
Background The area where the building complex is situated, Trou Fanfaron, was the landing point for the French East India Company, which took possession of Mauritius in 1721. Slaves were imported from Africa, India and Madagascar to construct defensive walls and a hospital during the early phase of settlement. By the mid-18th century, sugar plantations had been developed on the Island of Mauritius, utilizing slave labour.
In 1810, during the Napoleonic Wars, Mauritius passed to British control, as confirmed in the Treaty of Paris, at a time when the British Empire was expanding its influence in the Indian Ocean region. British commercial interest led to the rise in the production of sugar, which became the most valuable commodity in European trade beginning in the mid-18th century throughout the empire in general, leading to the development of infrastructure for Port Louis as a free port in particular.
The abolition of slavery in European colonies in 1834, however, posed a problem for sugar plantations as their operations were highly dependent on slave labour.World history: a new perspective. 2000, p. 353. There was a demand for cheaper intensive labour, as the now emancipated slaves were negotiating for higher wages and better living conditions. As a result, the British government conceived of a plan to replace the emancipated Africans with labourers from other parts of the world. The first wave of new plantation workers were labourers from the Portuguese island of Madeira, freed African-Americans from the U.S. and impoverished Chinese seeking greener pastures. Even though the ethnicity of the plantation workers had changed, the poor working conditions and low living standards remained. These labourers, in the end, could not withstand the manioc root and subsistence cultivation.
At the time, India had been experiencing a depressed economy. This was further aggravated by the Indian Rebellion of 1857 which devastated the northern part of the subcontinent. The hard-working but indigent Indians seemed suited to agricultural labour on the plantations, able to work hard for low wages, providing a potentially massive source of cheap labour. The 'Great Experiment', as the indentured program came to be known as, called for these prospective labourers, under a contract labour scheme, to be transported to plantations across the empire to supply the necessary agricultural manpower. This was a system whereby the prospective labourers agreed to work for a determined period of time in return for their cost of passage, basic accommodation and a small wage.
Indentured laborers in Mauritius Mauritius became the focus of the Great Experiment, as its plantation economy was still in a state of expansion, hence with room for agricultural flexibility, in contrast to those of the West Indies, which were considered exhausted. The long-term planning needed in agriculture meant that plantations were generally unable to respond to the sudden market changes. When the sugar beet proved to be a viable and cheaper alternative to the sugar cane, the established sugar plantations throughout the Caribbean became economic liabilities, while thousands of their contracted workers and slaves were left to wallow. In addition, the island's proximity to India was also an advantage.
From 1834 to 1849, when the first migrations of indentured labourers began, no fixed depot had been established to accommodate the immigrants arriving in Port Louis. The thousands of migrants arriving annually put a stress on the lack of a specialized facility. In 1849, a building dating back to the French administration in the Trou Fanfaron area was chosen as the core of a planned structural complex that would become the permanent depot for immigration. The Immigration Depot, as it came to be known, was continuously enlarged in response to the high number of migrants. This lasted until 1857, when all the available land had been occupied. The adequate space allowed the facility to deal with as much as 1,000 prospective laborers at any one time. Further modifications, for the purpose of service convenience, hygiene and transport, were continuously done. However, the competition from beet sugar caught up with Mauritius's sugar cane estates. The spread of a malaria epidemic in the 1860s further drove shipping away from the colony, leading to a decline of indentured immigration, culminating in 1923, when it had completely ceased. By then, an estimated 450,000 indentured labourers from India had passed through the Immigration Depot throughout its existence.
State of preservation and protection
The end of indentured immigration meant that the Immigration Depot had served its purpose. After 1923, the buildings were put to other uses. The structures remained extant until the 1970s, when the construction of a bus station and a corresponding motorway led to the demolition of some of the buildings.
A renewed interest on the site's importance in the 1980s was sparked by the visit to the site by the late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1970. This led to the protection of the complex's remains as a national monument in 1987, through the national heritage legislation. A landscape project over a part of the site and a series of restoration works were initiated in the 1990s. The lack of a formal conservation plan or a methodical archaeological approach have called into question the site's historic authenticity. 2001 was a landmark year for the site. The Aapravasi Ghat Trust Fund was established to manage the site directly. Its responsibilities include overseeing the excavations and implementing corrective actions on restorations that were haphazardly done since the 1990s. Among the previous preservation works that are being reversed are the landscape project, the hospital building's roof installation, which unfortunately used modern materials, the use of native lime mortar technique in the reconstruction and maintenance of the remaining stone walls, and devising an archaeological strategy to document finds and discoveries, as well as to safeguard the existing artifacts. The objective of the conservation efforts is for the site to regain its appearance in the 1860s. The site's name was officially changed to Aapravasi Ghat that same year. The name change was not without controversy. Although it was meant to reflect the Hindu Indian majority of indentured labourers, the use of the Hindi translation swept away the myriad of other ethnic and religious populations that also passed through the Immigration Depot.
Facilities The uncontrolled urban development after the abolition of the indentured system and the late initiative to conserve the site in late 20th century meant that only the partial remains of the place have survived. From the complex founded in 1849, experts estimate that only about 15% still authentically exists today. However, records of the building plan and photographs, as well as recent archaeological evidence, allow for the precise reconstruction of the complex.
Immigrants arriving via the "coolie ships" on the wharf of Trou Fanfaron were led to the Immigration Depot via a series of 14 stone steps, which are presently intact. The walls protecting the wharf along the waterfront are made from a mosaic of dressed stones, as a result of continuous reconstruction over a long period of time. Land reclamations carried out over time to develop the Trou Fanfaron harbor have rendered the historic wharf unusable. The stone steps' direct access to the sea, the first parts of the Immigration Depot seen by arriving migrants, has become part of history.
Beyond the stone steps is the building complex, which was centred on a yard. The buildings had characteristic French clay tile roofing, the better to provide insulation and ventilation, and bitumen flooring. Continuous site improvements to accommodate the high number of migrants were carried out, including the installation of planked walls as room dividers by the late 1850s. By 1865, transportation needs led to the construction of a railway, cutting the Immigration Depot into two. Walls were constructed along the track.