Spread across 572 islands, the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago has only 32 inhabited islands. Rose Island is a place where only secrets are hidden. It was once the center of British rule. Today the same place has turned into a dense forest covered in the vegetation of a terrible past.
The island is named Ross Island after a marine surveyor named Daniel Ross. It is also a place where memories of India's freedom struggle reverberate. There was a prison here where Indians who fought against British imperialism were imprisoned. The brave people who participated in the freedom struggle were labeled as hardened criminals and brought here and imprisoned.
The British came to Rose Island in 1857 during the First War of Independence. Rose Island, the administrative center of the island, had everything a people could live on. Market, Bazaar, Bakery, Shrines, Church. The tennis court, printing press, secretariat, hospital, cemetery, swimming pool etc. were all prepared here by the prisoners.
It became a place where high-ranking British officers and others lived. While the nearby islands were often subject to sea attacks and the like, this place was always safe in every way. That is how this place becomes a favorite place for British people. Later this colony became a notorious place called Kalapani.
The work of the prisoners who were brought here was to cut the forest here and build another human colony. The prisoners here were victims of cruel drug experiments. Cinchona alkanoides, a malaria drug, were tested on prisoners. The same medicine is still used today as a preventive medicine against malaria. In the meantime, there are many people who were killed due to brutal beatings by the British.
Rose Island, which has gone through many stories, was conquered by the Japanese army in 1942 during the Second World War and the British were evacuated. The Japanese army demolished the administrative centers and left only the penal colony. It was under Japanese control until 1945. Another golden chapter in the history of the island is when Subhash Chandra Bose hoisted the Indian flag here in 1943.
The subsequent earthquake changed the appearance of Rose Island. Historical records show that more than 30,000 people died in the earthquake. If you go there today, you will see dilapidated churches, overgrown hospitals, Japanese buildings, and everything here without any change. Rose Island was once the Paris of the East; Now, it remains a monument to the miseries of the freedom fighters.