The Arrival of Indentured Labourers is a national holiday in the Republic of Mauritius on November 2nd each year. This holiday commemorates the arrival of the first indentured workers to the Indian Ocean island nation on this day in 1834.
The use of slaves on Mauritius was widespread. It began when the French took control of the island and established sugar cane plantations, which needed a large workforce of slaves. By the time the British took control of the island in 1810, slaves accounted for around 80% of the island’s population with most from Madagascar and East Africa.
In February 1835, slavery was abolished in Mauritius. This instantly created a demand for replacement labor on the plantations. The solution was to use indentured workers. Effectively indentured workers would work as slaves, but only for the term of their contract, after which they would be freed. This process started in Mauritius and was expanded to other parts of the British Empire.
Between 1834 and 1920, half-a-million indentured immigrants (laborers and their families) arrived on Mauritius, with 97% of the immigrants coming from India. The first laborers, called coolies, arrived from Calcutta (Kolkata) on November 2nd 1834. A commission to look at the practice of indenture first took place in 1872, though it was 1924 before the practice was abolished.
Today is the birthday, in 1941, of Brian Poole, British singer, the lead singer of 1960s beat band the Tremeloes.
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