The History of Mauritius.

This small island located 900 km East of Madagascar was discovered by the arabs in the 10th Century, but it was the Portugese who first landed on the island in 1510. However, the island was free from colonisation until the arrival of the Dutch in 1598 who named it in honor of their Prince, Maurice of Nassau. It was the Dutch who first introduced and cultivated sugar cane on the island.

Slavery constitutes the obscure side of Mauritian History and still haunts the (cultural) memory of most of the people of Mauritius of African origin also known as the Kreols (Creoles).

After facing harsh climatic conditions, the Dutch left Mauritius to settle in the Cape of South Africa. The French landed in 1721 and renamed the island « Isle de France ». Slaves were brought to work in the sugar cane fields belonging to the French Colonists. The administration of the island underwent a major restructuring with the coming of Governor Bertrand-Francois Mahé de Labourdonnais who developped north west harbour into a busy and productive commercial centre surrounded with thriving plantations. This place became the capital city of Mauritius and is today the busiest and most modern port of the Indian Ocean.

Francois Mahé de Labourdonnais

Later in the year 1810, following a historic naval battle in the Grand-Port region in the South East of the island, the British invaded the island from the North. A battle took place north of Port Louis and the island fell in the hands of the British who restored the island's name to Mauritius once again.

Between 1834 to 1910, as a result of the abolition of slavery, the English Administration engaged indentured labourers, mostly coming from India, to work in the Sugar Cane fields of the French colonists. Later on, the Chinese immigrants landed in the island to engage into commercial activities. The population of Mauritius thus became a melting pot of different people coming from many places and their interaction would give birth to a unique blend of cultural identity called the Mauritianism.

During the 20th Centuty, the British administration granted the population with increasing freedom of rights to finally end up with the proclamation of the Independence on the 12th of March 1968. Mauritius would then accede to the status of Republic on the 12th of March 1992.

Insignia of the Republic of Mauritius

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