Cap 110, Slavery memorial in Le Diamant, Martinique.
Cap 110 is a memorial of fifteen pale gray reinforced-concrete busts, each 2.5 m tall, 1.5 m wide and 4.5 tonnes, set in a triangular group on a grassy slope at Anse Caffard facing the Caribbean Sea and the Rocher du Diamant. The busts lean slightly forward, and the nearest one at the left edge of the line appears largest.
On the night of 8 to 9 April 1830, a clandestine slave ship wrecked on the rocks of Anse Caffard and was destroyed. The manager of Habitation La Tournelle saved 86 captives; the next day 46 bodies were found on the coast, 42 Black and 4 White. The vessel's name remains unknown, and this was the last slave-ship wreck in Martinique's history.
Every 22 May, the anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Martinique, popular gatherings are held at the memorial. At All Saints' Day, Martinicans light up the monument in memory of the dead. The white of the concrete refers to mourning, a colour of funerary constructions in the Antilles and West Africa.
The site is open year-round at no cost and can be reached easily from the coastal road of Le Diamant without hiking long distances. The figures are best viewed during daylight hours when the sun illuminates them clearly against the ocean backdrop.
Each concrete figure weighs around four tons and was filled with sand sourced from Trinidad and Tobago, linking the islands through the materials used. The placement of the figures follows a specific 110-degree angle toward Africa, giving the arrangement a symbolic geographic orientation.
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