Yet unlike today, the colonial system evolved so that once indentured servants arrived in the new world, they usually had up to 30 days for their contracts to be bought out by a family member, friend, or someone willing to give an advance in order to hire them for their services.

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They have included the granting of the National Monument Conservation and Restoration Award, a National Workshop on the 1972 Convention, a travelling photograph exhibit of Cuban spots declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO, and the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the declaration of Old Havana and its colonial fortress system as World Heritage Sites.

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Yayat Supriatna, an urban planning expert, told the BBC that Jakarta's drainage system "is still the same as it was in the Dutch colonial era" and should be rebuilt.

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Mitra said the traditional system of education is largely based on the necessities created by Britain's colonial empire in which a vast amount of territory had to be governed by people writing things on paper and sending them around the world on ships.

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Post-colonial sensitivities mean that single states are no longer appointed as carers, and that a permanent transitional system cannot be developed.

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