Le Morne Brabant is a peninsula at the extreme southwestern tip of the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

island of

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

on the western side of the island. It is highlighted by an eponymous

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...

ic monolith with a summit above sea level. The summit covers an area of over . There are many caves and overhangs on the steep slopes. It is largely surrounded by a lagoon and is a well known tourist attraction. It is also a refuge for two rare plants, the

Mandrinette ''Hibiscus fragilis'', the mandrinette, is an extremely rare shrub that is endemic to steep slopes of the mountains Corps de Garde and Le Morne Brabant on Mauritius and from two further plants on Rodrigues. The mandrinette is an evergreen p ...

and the Boucle d'Oreille. The peninsula of Le Morne benefits from a

micro-climate A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often with a slight difference but sometimes with a substantial one. The term may refer to areas as small as a few squ ...

. The mountain is named after the VOC-ship (

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

) ''

Brabant Brabant is a traditional geographical region (or regions) in the Low Countries of Europe. It may refer to: Place names in Europe * London-Brabant Massif, a geological structure stretching from England to northern Germany Belgium * Province of Bra ...

'' that ran aground there on 29 December 1783 on the cliffs. Le Morne Brabant Mountain was submitted to the candidate list of the

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

s in 2003. In 2008, the nomination process concluded when

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

inscribed the site on the

World Heritage List A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

Peninsula

Ebony Forest Chamarel - View of Le Morne 2

The peninsula is steeped in cultural "myth and legend" in the early 19th century as a suggested refuge for

Maroons Maroons are descendants of Africans in the Americas who escaped from slavery and formed their own settlements. They often mixed with indigenous peoples, eventually evolving into separate creole cultures such as the Garifuna and the Mascogos. ...

and people who escaped slavery. After the abolition of slavery in Mauritius, on 1 February 1835 it is rumored that a police expedition was dispatched there ostensibly to inform those who escaped slavery that emancipation had made them legally free men and women. The arrival of the police at the base of the mountain was (according to legend) misinterpreted by the former slaves who had scrambled to the summit (fearing that they were to be arrested and re-enslaved) and subsequently elected to leap to their deaths from the rock and commit suicide by landing in the ocean, rather than be recaptured back into slavery. Since 1987 the date is celebrated (particularly by Mauritian creoles) as the Annual Commemoration of the Abolition of Slavery. Le Morne has been declared a World Heritage Site. The monument includes an inscription of this extract from the poem "Le Morne Territoire Marron" by Richard Sedley Assonne; "There were hundreds of them, but my people the maroons chose the kiss of death over the chains of slavery."

Cultural and aesthetic impact

Le Morne highlights the historical significance of slavery.

Notes

External links

*
Le Morne Cultural Landscape
UNESCO Collection on Google Arts and Culture

UNESCO World Heritage Centre – Le Morne BrabantLe Morne Heritage Trust FundViews from La Rose des Vents – Le Morne Brabant
{{Authority control Mountains of Mauritius Peninsulas of Africa World Heritage Sites in Mauritius

Peninsula

Cultural and aesthetic impact

Further reading

Notes

External links