Port Louis, Mauritius · UTC+4 ☆

Port Louis was made by the trade winds. The Dutch settled Mauritius in 1638[3] using it as a waypoint on the route to the East Indies. The French built the harbor into a serious port in the 18th century. The British took it in 1810. Each colonial power recognized the same thing: this natural harbor on the northwest coast of Mauritius, sheltered by a ring of mountains, was one of the finest anchorages in the Indian Ocean.

Mauritius uses Mauritius Time, UTC+4, year-round with no daylight saving. The island sits at about 20 degrees south latitude, roughly 800 kilometres east of Madagascar.[4] Port Louis shares its offset with Réunion to the west and is two hours behind India to the east.

The city’s stock exchange, founded in 1989,[5] is one of the leading exchanges in Africa, and its financial sector means that Port Louis is plugged into global trading schedules. The exchange operates on the same clock it always has, but global finance demands awareness of London, New York, and Singapore in the same working day.

indentured labor and the immigration depot

The Aapravasi Ghat, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Port Louis,[6] was the immigration depot through which Mauritius — the first British colony to receive indentured labour after the abolition of slavery — processed workers from India and across the world. Between 1849 and 1923, approximately 450,000 people passed through this gate.[6] Every one of them arrived having crossed a vast ocean to a new timezone.

9am in Port Louis is 5am in London.

Read more about time in Mauritius →