Le Morne Brabant is a peninsula at the extreme south-western tip of Mauritius and the most windward side on this island. It is highlighted by an eponymous single standing basaltic rock with a summit of 556 metres above sea level which belongs to the most imposing sights on Mauritius. The summit covers an area of more than 12 hectares. There are many overhang caves at the steep slopes. It is surrounded by a lagoon and is a famous tourist attraction. Here is also one of the last three refuges of one of the rarest plants in the world, the Mandrinette. Another rare plant which grows only on the sides of the mountain is Trochetia boutoniana.
This hill became well-known in the 19th century when runaway slaves used Le Morne Brabant as a hideaway. After the abolishment of slavery on Mauritius, a police expedition traveled to the rock on 1 February 1835 to tell the slaves that they are free people. However, the slaves misunderstood the expedition and jumped to death. Since then, this day is celebrated by Mauritian creoles as Annual Commemoration of the Abolition of Slavery.
The peninsula of Le Morne benefits from a micro-climate.
Le Morne Brabant Mountain was submitted to the candidate list of the World Heritage sites in 2003. In 2008, the nomination process concluded when UNESCO inscribed the site on the World Heritage List [1].
Cultural and aesthetic impact
With this inscription on the WH List of Unesco, one has to bear in mind that Le Morne comes with the Aapravasi ghat, the first WH site of Mauritius, in a perfect setup to further a dialogue between Slavery and Indentured, two historic events that shaped modern Mauritius. It is a unique conjunction in the Indian Ocean and abroad, and Unesco has promoted a symbolic meeting of those two tragedies, to foster a better understanding among the descents of those two dark pages of History. It is a unique occasion to enable them to overcome the "competition of memories" traditionally attached to those episodes. Mauritius indeed needs this dialogue between imaginaries and cultures framed in the colonial plantation system. Writers have already engaged in this necessary task, in order to prevent the use of those two sites for mutual exclusion. Poet Khal Torabully, who developed the concept of coolitude, springing from intercultural strata of his native island, dreams that the two memories of indentured and slavery will enhance debate on identity in Mauritius and elsewhere. For him Le Morne Brabant and the Aapravasi ghat have to be considered as two characters of a collective narrative that will enhance openness and exchanges between cultures and dispel exclusive and sectarian views of identities.
Further reading
- Dominique Auzias, Jean-Paul Labourdette: Maurice, Rodrigues Le Petit futé. Country guide (Online) (French)
- Rosabelle Boswell: Le Malaise Créole: Ethnic Identity in Mauritius Berghahn Books, 2006. ISBN 1845450752
Notes
- ^ Inscription of Le Morne into the Word heritage List
External links
Coordinates: 20°27′38″S 57°18′49″E / -20.46056, 57.31361
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