Aapravasi Ghat is a district of Port Louis. This was the first site chosen by the British Government in 1834 for the ‘great experiment’ in the use of indentured, instead of slave labour.
Between 1834 and 1920, almost half a million indentured labourers arrived from India at Aapravasi Ghat to work in the sugar plantations of Mauritius. The buildings of Aapravasi Ghat are among the earliest explicit manifestations of what was to become a global economic system and one of the greatest migrations in history.
Aapravasi Ghat is the remains of an immigration depot which was built in 1849 to receive indentured labourers from India, Eastern Africa, Madagascar, China and Southeast Asia to work on the island’s sugar estates. Other colonial powers adopted system of indentured labour in place of slavery. This resulted in a world-wide migration of more than two million indentured labourers, of which Mauritius received almost half a million.
Aapravasi Ghat Museum
At present, only half of the Immigration Depot area as it existed in 1865, remains. The rest of the complex was lost due to unchecked infrastructural development in the mid-20th century. However, original structural key components still stand. These include the remains of the sheds for the housing of the immigrants, kitchens, lavatories, a building used as a hospital block and a highly symbolic flight of 14 steps upon which all immigrants had to lay foot before entering the immigration depot. Â The Aapravasi Ghat site is now owned by the Ministry of Arts and Culture. The property is protected as National Heritage under the National Heritage Fund Act 2003 and the Aapravasi Ghat Trust Fund Act 2001. Â
Aapravasi Ghat
 UNESCO declared Aapravasi Ghat as a World Heritage Site in 2006. It is one of two World Heritage Sites in Mauritius, along with Le Morne Brabant.   Aapravasi is the Hindi word for “immigrant”, while ghat literally means “interface” , symbolically marking a transition between the old life and the new for the arriving indentured immigrants.
The lighthouse, otherwise known as the Pointe aux Caves Lighthouse, serves as guides for incoming ships to enter the harbour of Port Louis. It is 30-metre tall and is located at Albion, west coast of Mauritius. It stands on the edge of the cliff and overlooks the sea. It has iconic red and white stripes from top to bottom. It has four floors, a dome and a balcony that can be accessed by the steep staircase. It was inaugurated in 1910 and is still intact.
It is not recommended to visit the Albion Lighthouse on a windy day.
To access the top of the lighthouse, you will have to climb up the 98-step wooden and cast iron staircase and you will be rewarded with magnificent panoramic views of the entire coastline from Pointe aux Sables to Flic en Flac. Even walking along the trail that runs up to the lighthouse does offer breathtaking views over the shoreline. Under the cliffs there is an entrance to a cave which is inhabited by birds and bats.
It is a popular spot for photographers with the amazing background for pictures. The sunset promises the beautiful fusion of colours of the sky, sun and the sea.
This lighthouse is 30 meters tall and has four floors, a balcony, and a dome. The first floor has an electrical panel from where the other equipment of the lighthouse are controlled. The second floor of the lighthouse is a lens room which projects a red light that is pointed towards the entrance of the Port and it helps the sailors to locate the entrance to the port.
You can see enormous and well preserved old lenses in the dome. The system is rotated by an electric motor every night which generates a double flash in an interval of 15 seconds which can be seen even from a distance of 29 nautical miles. Just outside the dome, you can step on to the balcony to enjoy the magnificent views, the most phenomenal being the view of Montagne Jacquot.
Near the light house there are 4 interesting places to visit,t hey are Bagatelle Mall, Eureka Falls, Aapravasi Ghat and Le Morne Cultural Landscape.
