Le Morne Cultural Landscape

Le Morne Brabant rears almost sheer from the sea at Mauritius's south-western tip, and its inaccessibility was once salvation: escaped slaves — maroons — hid in its caves and on its summit through the 18th and early 19th centuries, forming settlements beyond the reach of their pursuers. Passed down through oral tradition, the mountain became a symbol of resistance and sacrifice honoured by descendants across the Indian Ocean world. UNESCO inscribed the cultural landscape in 2008.