On November 2nd, Mauritius commemorates
the Arrival of Indentured Labourers, a significant national public
holiday that marks the beginning of large-scale Indian immigration to the
island.
On this date in 1834, the British
ship Atlas arrived in Port Louis carrying the first batch of
36 Indian indentured workers (known as "girmitiyas") from Kolkata,
India, to work on the sugar plantations following the abolition of slavery.
This event fundamentally shaped the country's demographics and cultural
identity, as people of Indian origin now comprise over 68% of the Mauritian
population.
No comments:
Post a Comment