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Slavery and Marooning
Escaping the maroon detachments
Slavery has been practiced in various parts of the world, including Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe since at least the beginnings of recorded history. By the beginning of the 16 th century, a truly global trade in slaves began to take shape, a trade that would last well into the 19 th century and even into the 20 th century in some parts of the world.
The magnitude of this trade is suggested by the fact that approximately 12 million slaves if not more are known to have been exported from Africa to the America between circa 1500 and 1860’s. Millions of people were shipped from Sub-Saharan Africa into North Africa and the wider Mediterranean basin and from the eastern regions of the continent into the Middle East and South Asia. Slavery and slave trading flourished in other parts of the world as well, including the Indian sub-continent and South East Asia. The number of men, women and children brought up in the trades remains to be ascertained.
Mauritius: Slave Trading Centre in the Indian Ocean
It is an acknowledged fact that French merchants used the Mascarene Islands as a platform to undertake slave trading with Madagascar, Mozambique, the Swahili coast, and South Asia. Slaves taken from the above countries were transported to several parts of the world.
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Ongoing research is revealing that the island of Mauritius played a significant role as an important slave trading centre within the wider Indian Ocean world – and beyond – during the late 18th and early 19th |
centuries: in terms of the number of slavesinvolved and in terms of the consequences and impacts of that trade on the social, economic and political life in the region and elsewhere in the world. |
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The exceptionally diverse geographical, ethnic, and cultural origins of the Mauritian slave population highlights the extent to which slave resistance on the island was a pluri-ethnic/pan-cultural phenomenon, which justifies the island’s suitability in general and that of Le Morne in particular as the perfect location to commemorate resistance to slavery.
Resistance to Slavery in Mauritius: the Phenomena of Maroonage
Opposition to slavery took many forms, the most public manifestation of which being maroonage, that is the flight of slaves from their masters. Fugitive slaves or maroons were first found on the island during the Dutch period (1638-1710) and became an integral part of the island’s social landscape shortly after French Colonization of Mauritius in 1721.
Choosing to live in Difficult Situations
Maroon slaves faced very difficult situations, such as hunger, a lack of adequate shelter, the need to be continually on the move, and the constant fear of capture which could entail dire consequences, such as branding, whipping, body mutilations and very often the death sentence. Despite having to face these harsh conditions while on the run and the severe punishments that awaited them if captured, a large number of slaves still became maroons.
- In the 1770’s: 4 to 5% of the island slave population marooned.
- This figure increased to 11-13% in the 1820’s.
Maroons at Le Morne
Several visitors and travelers to the island such as Abbé de la Caille, Bernardin de Saint Pierre, Maximilien Wilklinski, Georges Clark, Nicholas Pike, mentioned the presence of maroons or maroon bands on or near Le Morne Brabant Mountain. Such accounts are confirmed by official historica ldocuments mentioning the problems created by the maroons and/or maroon bands residing on or near Le Morne Brabant |
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Mountain that attacked the nearby settlers and their plantations. Notorious maroon leaders that are known to have been associated to the Le Morne Cultural Landscape are Bellaca, Sans Souci and Barbe Blanche. |
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Take a tour
Contact
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Le Morne Heritage Trust Fund
Corner Avenue des Camelias, Royal Road, Le Morne Village
Tel: +(230) 4515759
Fax: +(230) 4515765
Email: lemorne@intnet.mu