Last week I went with my family to Le Morne peninsula here in Mauritius. We had being driving through the scenic area of Chamarel and planed to go to the public beach at Le Morne. In front of the car park, but on the oposite side of the road, I noticed this monument at the foot of the mountian – The International Slave route Monument. Before we startet our drive back home, I went across the street to look at it. Information boards and inscriptions gives some information. The monument was erected in 2009 to express this universal phenomenon slavery has been worldwide. The monoment was erected on the 1st of February, which I think was no coinsidence. Mauritius celebrates this day and has called it Abolition of Slavery Day. On this day in 1835 slavery in Mauritius was abolished.
The mountain itself is impressive. It has a hight of of 556 meters, which does not sound as very high, but it's steep and rocky. More important to know about, is the role it has played in the history of slavery.
The large grey rock shows a slave emerging when trying to escape his bondage. He is facing the direction of his originally country - Madagascar. On top you can see a small square that contains three jumping figures. These figures represents the slaves who jumbed to their death from the top of Le Morne mountain.
To understand why this monument is placed at the foot of this mountain, one has to know about the role Le Morne mountain has played in the history of slavery. The mountain was addet to UNESCO's Word Heritage List in 2008 and has become a symbol of freedaom. From 2016 it became possible to hike to the top, which I did in 2019. The history of Le Morne is part of some of the darker sides of Mauritian history. Slaves who escaped their masters fled to the mountain to hide in caves. Then one day they saw soldiers aproaching. They thought the soldiers were there to arrest them, so they climbed to the top and jumbed into their death. What they did not know was that the soldiers were not there to arrest them. Slavery was allready abolished. When I did the hike, it made a deep impression to know I might have been walking the same trail as these slaves.
Le Morne seen from Flic en Flac beachI have passed on this road by car several times and known there should be a monument, but never known excactly where. This time I was lucky to have parked right across the road. Le Morne has become an important symbol of freedom. It's also the most important slave site on the island.
For more information: https://lemorneheritage.org/slave-route.htmlPlease do follow if you want to keep up with my next travel story. Any upvotes or reblogs are hugely appreciated!
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All the photoes are mine, Ulla Jensen (flickr, Instagram and facebook)
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