page_title: Aapravasi Ghat
section_title: The global system of indentured laborers
hierarchical_section_title: Aapravasi Ghat / Legacy / The global system of indentured laborers
context_page_description: The Immigration Depot is a building complex located in Port Louis on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, the first British colony to receive indentured, or contracted, labour workforce from India. 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.
context_section_description: Mauritius was not the pioneering site for the use of indentured labour. In the 17th century, substantial numbers of indentured servants, of European origin, arrived in America, in what were then the British Thirteen Colonies. By the 18th century, it has been estimated that over half of the population of white immigrants in the English colonies of North America may have been indentured servants. However, the scale of the system that was put into operation in Mauritius was unprecedented. It immediately spread throughout the colonies of the British Empire, and was imitated by other European powers, while the Indian labor force was also employed beyond the sugarcane fields, in such workplaces as mines and even railways.
  The global system of indentured labourers was abolished in 1918, although in Mauritius, the Immigration Depot still continued operating until 1923. By then, the Great Experiment had seen the transportation of an estimated two million people throughout the world, with Mauritius welcoming the largest contingent of indentured labourers, reaching nearly half a million Indian immigrants. In total, 1.2 million Indian migrants were handled by emigration depots worldwide, becoming the global working class of the British Empire. On a larger picture, the migration of indentured labourers is but a small portion of the Indian diaspora, which has continued through the 20th century to contemporary times. It is estimated that up to 20 million Indians have emigrated from their homeland, making it the largest diaspora in modern times.
  Thus, the Immigration Depot is considered to be the site where the modern, large-scale indentured labour diaspora began—the system didn't only sustain the plantation economies of the British Empire, but also resulted in the transplantation of cultures and shaping of the national identity of former colonies. Countries from the Caribbean to southern Africa to the Pacific currently have substantial Indian populations.
  The Mauritian and French poet Khal Torabully, in exploring the mosaic of cultures brought about by the indentured labourers, coined the term "coolitude," re-defining the migration of laborers not just as part of the historical past, but the entanglement of experiences and mosaic imaginaries:
  It is in this intersection of migratory experiences that the ghat derives its particularity: it should promote the symbolical values of the indentured, to open it to the profound experience of migrations, which will always be a constant movement of this Earth, whether it be freely accepted or forced.
  — Khal Torabully, La Pointe aux Canonniers, Mauritius, 2 November 2007
  The indentured system also left a sizeable documentary heritage. A comprehensive record was kept of immigrants, from the contracts signed, their photographs, the transportation cost, the accommodation spending and the final destination of labourers. These registers are currently being managed by the Indian Immigration Archives, which is directly administered by the Mahatma Gandhi Institute, an educational institution established in Mauritius, in cooperation with India.
  UNESCO, the international organization responsible for the preservation and protection the world's cultural and natural heritage, has recognized the 1,640 m² site of the Immigration Depot for its outstanding universal importance. It was proclaimed as a World Heritage Site in 2006, citing the buildings as among the earliest explicit manifestations of what was to become a global economic system and one of the greatest migrations in history.
caption: Newly arrived Indian labourers in the Caribbean island of Trinidad.
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