Tag: Mauritius stamp

Keeping sugar cane plantations operating post slavery often proved difficult. To solve the issue, the British attempted an experiment to see if poor Indians would be willing to work far and wide throughout the empire. Many indeed signed the contracts and for many that meant passage on a coolie ship to the newly opened Imigration Depot on Mauritius, to be processed and assigned to the available job. Mauritius was never the same though the system ended 100 years ago. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The coat of arms of Mauritius must have been evocative to the numerous immigrants being brought in. They were not in chains but they were not free either. What they might have had was hope that the tropical island might offer more opportunity than what they left behind.

Todays stamp is issue A38, a 4 cent stamp issued by the British Crown Colony of Mauritius in 1895. It was a 21 stamp issue in various denominations that were issued over 9 years. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents used.

Mauritius is a small island in the Indian Ocean that passed to the British from the French during the Napoleonic War. A French elite remained in place and so did the African slaves the French brought in to work sugar cane plantations. In 1835 the slaves on Mauritius were freed and the former slaveowners received compensation for their lost property from the colonial administration. The former slaves did not receive compensation and they also were not able to work out a fair to them system to keep working the plantations. In desperation the plantation managers looked to bringing in new immigrants from Africa, China, Portugal and even freed slaves from the USA. In this period a large French built stone structure on the wharf of Port Louis was taken over to use as an immigration depot.

The British realized that a more organized system was needed to keep the sugar cane plantations operating both in Mauritius and throughout the Empire. Indentured laborers had previously been used extensively in the British colonies in North America. Half of the whites in North America came as indentured workers. In the aftermath of the 1857 Sepoy Rebellion, Northern India, home of most of the fighting, paid a huge economic price. Given the lack of opportunity at home, many young Indians were willing to sign up for transport to a far off place, to do hard manual labor, at what to European eyes were low wages for a period of five years.

During the course of the 100 years it operated, the Immigration Depot saw over a million Indians come through. They could house about a thousand at a time and a written file with a picture was started for the coolies. There was a medical facility and train service to get them to their plantation once assigned.

The practice was ended by Britain in 1918 and the facility taken over for other uses. Again less activity at the sugar cane plantations badly hurt the economy as did a bad bout of malaria. The island was now over 2/3rds Indian and as such were taking much political power from the now mostly intermarried creoles.

In 1970 Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited and was disappointed to see the Immigration Depot being taken down to make way for a bus depot. She worried that the history of the many Indian arrivals would be lost. The complex was saved including the famous stone steppes down to water level. An Indian Trust Fund now manages the complex where the old files are available to view. Controversially the site is now known as the Aapravasi Ghat, which is just the Hindi translation of Immigration Depot. but is thought to leave out the laborers from other places who passed through. I have used the period term coolie for the laborers. Some may think that derogatory, but not so much in Mauritius itself. All races there refer to coolitude as part of the local culture, as they all share a long sea journey to face hard labor on Mauritius as part of their families’ past.

Well my drink is empty. Come back soon when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

These isolated colonies and their sugar cane plantations. Will we ever fully come to grips with what was done. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Todays stamp is not the Mauritius issue everyone lusts for. They got their first stamp early in 1847 with a pretty standard portrait of Queen Victoria printed locally. The printer however could not remember what he was supposed to say on one side and just wrote post office. These were very popular with 19th century stamp collectors and very valuable today. This stamp shows the typical transition to independence. This is a standard Commonwealth issue with Queen Elizabeth and the local sea life. Also available at the post office of the day were stamps with Lenin and Gandhi on them. So pick your politics with your stamp. Suspect the locals would have stuck with Gandhi. Perhaps not the creoles if today’s Ghana news about taking down his statue is an indication.

Todays stamp is issue A57, a 40 Cent stamp issued by newly independent Mauritius in 1969. It was an 18 stamp issue in various denominations showing the local sea life, in this case a sea slug. According to the Scott catalog, According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents mint. The Gandhi and Lenin stamp are worth even less, being for local use. They are interesting as both men are pictured as not easily recognized young students, Gandhi dressed as a young English swell in London.

Mauritius passed to Britain in the Napoleonic Wars. There was already a system of French planters of sugar cane using African slave labor. This system remained in place and the islands continued to mainly operate in French. When the British banned slavery, the freed Africans no longer desired to work the plantations. To keep them going, large numbers of contract Indians were brought in. These workers were known derogatorily as coolies by the left over French, Africans, and increasingly Creole as the groups intermixed. There really were not many British and there was little loyalty to them. A French speaking, British organized, Mauritius Regiment was sent to occupy but not fight in Madagascar during World War II and promptly mutinied. Over time more and more Indians came in until they were the majority. After the war, the British set up the process of independence as quickly as possible.

Even under British Rule, the French were favored in politics. Then toward independence a new left wing Indian party started to win elections and there has been much agitation since. Both parties are left wing, but they divide on racial lines.

The task of building a coherent country out of different peoples who don’t get along has proved difficult. Recently a Mauritian poet and essayist of mixed Creole and Hindu background named Khal Torabully has been promoting something called coolitude. He is trying to change the word coolie into something positive. He harkens back to the scary sea journeys taken by the Indian, European, and African ancestors as something that unites Mauritius. This fear of crossing the seas is common to African tradition as well as the Hindu taboo of kala pani, a fear of dark seas.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Mauritian poet Torabully. If he can get people to move past their racial and tribal identity he will have accomplished a great thing. With more and more of mixed identity, the need to move past will only grow. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.