Mauritius – from uninhabited island to a diverse independent nation
Unlike most places, Mauritius had no Indigenous population when the first seafarers arrived. Arab sailors and later the Portuguese knew of the island, but it was the Dutch who landed in 1598 and named it after Prince Maurice of Nassau. Their attempts at settlement brought sugar cane and deer, but also contributed to the extinction of the dodo. In 1710 the Dutch abandoned the island.
The French took possession soon afterwards and renamed it Isle de France. Under governor Mahé de La Bourdonnais, Port Louis grew into a harbour and naval base, and a plantation economy developed that relied on enslaved people brought from Madagascar, mainland Africa and elsewhere. During the Napoleonic Wars, Britain captured the island in 1810 and kept it by treaty in 1814, though French law, language and culture largely remained.
After slavery was abolished in 1835, hundreds of thousands of indentured labourers were brought from India to work on the sugar estates, and this migration shaped the population profoundly. Aapravasi Ghat in Port Louis, where they arrived, is now a World Heritage Site. In the twentieth century the struggle for workers' rights and political representation paved the way to independence, achieved on 12 March 1968 under Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam. Mauritius became a republic in 1992 and developed from a sugar economy into a diversified one.
Today Mauritius is shaped by the coexistence of people of Indian, African, European and Chinese origin, the Mauritian Creole language and a lively multicultural identity.
Do you have family memories or stories about your town or village in Mauritius? Share them with other members in the Local History section.