Le Morne, a rugged mountain that juts into the Indian Ocean in the southwest of Mauritius was used as a shelter by runaway slaves, maroons through the 18th and early years of the 19th centuries. Protected by the mountain’s isolated wooded and almost inaccessible cliffs, the escaped slaves formed small settlements in the caves and on the summit of Le Morne. Le Morne represents maroonage and its impact which existed in many places around the world was demonstrated so effectively on La Morne Mountain. The oral traditions associated with the maroons have made Le Morne a symbol of the slaves’ fight for freedom their suffering and their sacrifice all of which have relevance to the countries from which the slaves came- the African mainland, Madagascar, India and South-east Asia. Mauritius an important stopover in the eastern slave trade also came to be known as the Maroon republic because of the large number of escaped slaves who lived in Le Morne.