Each year, the arrival of the indentured labourers in Mauritius is commemorated at a national level on 2nd November at the Aapravasi Ghat site where more than 400,000 indentured labourers took their first steps on Mauritian soil between 1849 and 1924. After all, the Aapravasi Ghat is the most important indenture site in our country which is intimately linked with the history of the indentured labourers and their descendants.

● Arrival of ?The Atlas?

On Sunday afternoon, 2nd November 1834, after a long voyage of more than six weeks from Calcutta, the Atlas sailed into Port Louis harbour. On board, there were around 36 Hill Coolies of the Dhangar tribe from Bihar in eastern India. These indentured labourers were introduced by George Arbuthnot, who represented Hunter-Arbuthnot & Company, a British company based in Mauritius.

Since it was a Sunday, Arbuthnot had to wait until the following day before starting the official formalities in order for his labourers to be landed. On Monday morning, 3rd November, Arbuthnot, wrote an official letter, on behalf of Hunter-Arbuthnot & Company, to Governor Nicolay, to request that: ?they be allowed to land 36 Hill Coolies from the ship Atlas, whom they intend to employ on their estate, under guarantee that they shall not become a charge on the Colony?.

Hunter-Arbuthnot & Company provided Governor Nicolay with a financial guarantee which was kept in trust by the local colonial government in the Colonial Treasury and would be returned after the five-year contract of the labourers had expired. During the afternoon of 3rd November, permission for the landing of the labourers was given by the British governor. It was only on Tuesday morning, 4th November, that the 36 Hill Coolies were landed close to His Majesty?s Customs House, located today next to the Port Louis Waterfront and not far from the Aapravasi Ghat.

Later that same day, Arbuthnot?s coolies were taken to Belle Alliance Sugar Estate near present-day Piton in Rivière-du-Rempart. (...) It is interesting to note that they worked side by side with the slaves in the sugarcane fields. Each year, on 2nd November, it is the arrival of ?Arbuthnot?s coolies? which is commemorated at the Aapravasi Ghat. However, Arbuthnot?s coolies as well as the 25,000 indentured labourers who were introduced after them between 1835 and 1839 were certainly not the first indentured labourers to set foot on Mauritian soil during the early period of British rule.

● The Experiment of 1829

In 1828, a handful of Indian workers were brought to the island. (...) Early the following year, commercial agents of Gaillardon & Company, a Mauritian trading company, went to India with the objective of importing cheap Indian labour. Their recruitment met with some success. On 21st September, the ship ?The Albion? dropped anchor in Port Louis harbour with 500 male labourers, 9 females, and one child on board. Within less than a month, around 600 additional labourers were imported into the colony in small batches. By the end of October 1829, there were over 1100 Indian indentured labourers in Mauritius. Unfortunately, this important labour experiment quickly turned out to be a dismal failure.

A few weeks after their arrival, the sugar planters did not honour the agreements which they had made with their labourers. (...) Within a period of less than a month, the majority of these indentured labourers began to desert the sugar plantations and showed increasing signs of insubordination towards their employers. In November 1829, John Finiss, the Chief of Police, ordered the repatriation of the rebellious Indian labourers. Between November 1829 and May 1830, in small batches, they were returned to Calcutta and Madras.

● The Prelude to 1834

In general, this specific incident did not mean the end of the importation of Indian labourers which was only a trickle between 1830 and 1834, before the beginning of mass importations of the second half of the 1830s. In 1830, around 10 labourers were introduced and between 1831 and 1832, around 29 indentured workers were brought from India by Mr. Bickajee, a wealthy and influential trader.

In January 1832, Mr. Passmore, a wealthy and eminent merchant, wanted to restart the idea of large scale importation of Indian labour. (...)In January 1826, a decree was passed by the French colonial government of Bourbon or Reunion Island which set down rules and regulations for the importation of Indian labourers for a period of five years. Between 1826 and 1830, around 3,012 Indian workers were introduced from the French colonies of Pondicherry and Karikal, thus Reunion had a head start of several years on Mauritius. But after 1832, the importation of Indian labourers declined sharply.

In 1833, in British Mauritius, the trickle of indentured labourers continued with the introduction of around 29 labourers from Calcutta and some even from Madras. One labourer called Mootoosamy was employed by Mr. d?Arifat and another one called Ramsamy was employed by Mr. Langlois.

Between 1829 and 1834, the overwhelming majority of these indentured workers came from Bihar and the United Province regions with their port of embarkation being Calcutta. Furthermore, most of them remained in Mauritius and in the process, it became their new home.

In conclusion, the Mauritian nation has a ?devoir de mémoire? to pay tribute to the memory of its indentured labourers. After all, it is only through such a process that the arrival of the indentured labourers, on 2nd November 1834, will forever be engraved in the hearts and minds of all Mauritians.

<B>By Dr Satteanund Peerthum & Satyendra Peerthum</B>