Aapravasi Ghat

Aapravasi Ghat is the name of a world Heritage site located in Port Louis, on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, which was the first British colony to receive, indentured, or contracted, labour workforce from India. This is remnant of a building that worked as an Immigration Depot and from 1849 to 1923, half a million Indian indentured labourers passed through this, to be eventually transported to plantations throughout the British Empire. The huge 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 has Indian forebears. That is the reason that this Apravasi Ghat is an important reference point in the history and cultural identity of Mauritius. Aapravasi Ghat is now a protected national movement of Mauritius and is also a World Heritage Site, declared in 2006.