History of Mauritius
Encyclopedia
The known history of Mauritius begins with its discovery by Europeans and its appearance on maps in the early sixteenth century. Mauritius
was successively colonized by the Dutch, the French and the British, and became independent in 1968.
was first discovered by the Arabs, who named the island Dina Harobi. The first historical evidence of the existence of an island now known as Mauritius is on a map produced by the Italian cartographer Alberto Cantino in 1502. Cantino shows three islands which are thought to represent the Mascarenes (Reunion, Mauritius and Rodrigues) and calls them Dina Margabin, Dina Harobi and Dina Morare. What is known is that the medieval Arab world called the Indian Ocean island region Waqwaq.
between 1507 and 1513.
An official world map by Diogo Ribeiro described “from west to east, the first island, ‘’Mascarenhas’’, the second, ‘’Santa Apolonia’’ and the third, ‘’Domingo Froiz’’. The three islands (Réunion
, Mauritius and Rodrigues
) were discovered some years earlier by chance during an exploratory expedition of the coast of the Gulf of Bengal led by Tristão da Cunha. The expedition ran into a cyclone
and was forced to change course. Thus, the ship ‘’Cirne’’ of the captain Diogo Fernandes Pereira, came into view of Réunion island on 9 February 1507. They called the island Santa Apolonia ("Saint Apollonia
") in honor of that day’s saint. Mauritius was discovered during the same expedition and received the name of ‘’Cirne’’ and Rodrigues that of ‘’Diogo Fernandes’’. Five years later, the islands were visited by Dom Pedro de Mascarenhas who left the name Mascarene for the whole region. The Portuguese took no interest in these isolated islands. They were already established in Asia in Goa
, on the coast of Malabar, on the island of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka
) and on the Malaysian coast.
Their main African base was in Mozambique
, therefore the Portuguese
navigators preferred to use the Mozambique Channel
to go to India. The Comoros
at the north proved to be a more practical port of call. Thus no permanent colony was established on the island by the Portuguese.
In 1598, a Dutch
expedition consisting of eight ships set sail from the port of Texel
(Netherlands) under the orders of admirals Jacques Cornelius Van Neck and Wybrandt Van Warwyck towards the Indian subcontinent. The eight ships ran into foul weather after passing the Cape of Good Hope and were separated. Three found their way to the northeast of Madagascar
while the remaining five regrouped and sailed in a southeasterly direction. On 17 September, the five ships under the orders of Admiral Van Warwyck came into view of the island. On 20 September, they entered a sheltered bay which they gave the name of "Port de Warwick" (present name is "Grand Port"). They landed and decided to name the island "Prins Maurits van Nassaueiland", after Prince Maurits
(Latin
version: Mauritius) of the House of Nassau
, the stadtholder
of Holland, but also after the main vessel of the fleet which was called "Mauritius". From those days, only the name Mauritius has remained. On 2 October, the ships took to the sea again towards Bantam.
From then on, the island’s "Port de Warwick" was used by the Dutch as a stopover after long months at sea. In 1606, two expeditions came for the first time to what would later become Port-Louis
in the northwest part of the island. The expedition, consisting of eleven ships and 1,357 men under the orders of Admiral Corneille came into the bay, which they named “Rade des Tortues” (literally meaning Harbor of the Tortoises) because of the great number of terrestrial tortoises they found there.
From that date, Dutch sailors shifted their choice to “Rade des Tortues” as harbor. In 1615, the shipwrecking and death of governor Pieter Both
, who was coming back from India with four richly laden ships in the bay, caused the route to be considered as cursed by Dutch sailors and they tried to avoid it as much as possible. In the meantime, the British and the Danes were beginning to make incursions into the Indian Ocean. Those who landed on the island freely cut and took with them the precious heartwood of the ebony
trees, then found in profusion all over the island.
Dutch colonization started in 1638 and ended in 1710, with a brief interruption between 1658 and 1666. Numerous governors were appointed, but continuous hardships such as cyclones, droughts, pest infestations, lack of food and illnesses finally took their toll, and the island was definitively abandoned in 1710.
The island was not permanently inhabited for the forty years after its discovery by the Dutch, but in 1638 Cornelius Gooyer
established the first permanent Dutch settlement in Mauritius with a garrison of twenty-five. He thus became the first governor of the island. In 1639, thirty more men came to reinforce the Dutch colony. Gooyer was instructed to develop the commercial potential of the island, but he did nothing of the sort, so he was recalled. His successor was Adriaan van der Stel
who began the development in earnest, developing the export of ebony
wood. For the purpose, Van der Stel brought 105 Malagasy slaves to the island. Within the first week, about sixty slaves were able to run away into the forests; only about twenty of them were eventually recaptured.
In 1644, the islanders were faced with many months of hardships, due to delayed shipment of supplies, bad harvests and cyclones. During those months, the colonists could only rely on themselves by fishing and hunting. Nonetheless, Van der Stel secured the shipment of 95 more slaves from Madagascar, before being transferred to Ceylon. His replacement was Jacob Van der Meersh. In 1645, the latter brought in 108 more Malagasy slaves. Van der Meersh left Mauritius in September 1648 and was replaced by Reinier Por
.
In 1652, more hardships befell the colonists, masters and slaves alike. The population was then about a hundred people. The continuing hardships affected the commercial potential of the island and a pullout was ordered in 1657. On 16 July 1658, almost all the inhabitants left the island, except for a ship’s boy and two slaves who had taken shelter in the forests. Thus the first attempt at colonization by the Dutch ended badly.
In 1664, a second attempt was made, but this one also ended badly as the men chosen for the job abandoned their sick commander, Van Niewland, without proper treatment, and the latter eventually died.
From 1666 to 1669, Dirk Jansz Smient
administered the new colony at Grand Port, with the cutting down and export of Ebony trees as the main activity. When Dirk Jansz Smient left, he was replaced by George Frederik Wreeden
. The latter died in 1672, drowned with five other colonists during a reconnaissance expedition. His replacement would be Hubert Hugo
. The later was a man of vision and wanted to make the island into an agricultural colony. His vision was not shared by his superiors, and eventually he could not fully develop his vision.
Issac Johannes Lamotius
became the new governor when Hugo left in 1677. Lamotius governed until 1692, when he was deported to Batavia for judgment for persecuting a colonist whose wife had refused his courtship. Thus in 1692 a new governor, Roelof Deodati, was appointed. Even if he tried to develop the island, Deodati faced many problems, like cyclones, pest infestations, cattle illnesses and droughts. Discouraged, Deodati eventually gave up and his replacement would be Abraham Momber Van de Velde
. The latter fared no better and eventually became the last Dutch governor of the island for that period. Thus the Dutch definitely abandoned the island in 1710.
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Abandoned by the Dutch, the island became a French colony when, in September 1715, Guillaume Dufresne d'Arsel landed and took possession of this port of call on the route to India. He named the island "Isle de France", but it was only in 1721 that the French started their occupation. However, it was only from 1735, with the arrival of the French governor, Mahé de La Bourdonnais, that "Isle de France" started developing effectively.
Mahé de La Bourdonnais established Port Louis
as a naval base and a shipbuilding centre. Under his governorship, numerous buildings were built, a number of which still stand today: part of Government House, the Chateau de Mon Plaisir at Pamplemousses and the Line Barracks. The island was under the administration of the French East India Company
which maintained its presence until 1767.
In 1806 the Governor General, Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen, created the city of Mahébourg
, named in honour of Mahé de La Bourdonnais. It was originally known as Bourg Mahé. From that year until 1810, the island was in charge of officials appointed by the French Government, except for a brief period during the French Revolution
, when the inhabitants set up a government virtually independent of France.
During the Napoleonic wars
, the "Isle de France" had become a base from which French corsairs
organised successful raids on British commercial ships. The raids continued until 1810 when a strong British expedition was sent to capture the island. A preliminary attack was foiled at Grand Port
in August 1810, but the main attack launched in December of the same year from Rodrigues
, which had been captured a year earlier, was successful. The British landed in large numbers in the north of the island and rapidly overpowered the French, who capitulated. By the Treaty of Paris in 1814, the "Isle de France" which was renamed Mauritius was ceded to Great Britain, together with Rodrigues and the Seychelles
. In the act of capitulation, the British guaranteed that they would respect the language, the customs, the laws and the traditions of the inhabitants.
Despite the only French naval victory (during the Napoleonic Wars) of Battle of Grand Port
on 19 and 20 August 1810 by a fleet commanded by Pierre Bouvet
, Mauritius was captured
on 3 December 1810 by the British under Commodore
Josias Rowley
. Their possession of the island was confirmed four years later by the Treaty of Paris (1814)
. French institutions, including the Napoleonic code
of law, were maintained. The French language
was at that moment still used more widely than English.
The British administration, which began with Robert Townsend Farquhar
as governor, was followed by rapid social and economic changes. One of the most important events was the abolition of slavery on the first of February 1835. The planters received a compensation of two million pounds sterling for the loss of their slaves which had been imported from Africa and Madagascar during the French occupation.
Mauritian Creole
s trace their origins to the plantation owners and slaves who were brought to work the sugar fields. Indo-Mauritian
s are descended from Indian immigrants who arrived in the 19th century via the Aapravasi Ghat
in order to work as indentured laborers after slavery was abolished in 1835. Included in the Indo-Mauritian community are Muslim
s (about 17% of the population) from the Indian subcontinent. The Franco-Mauritian
elite controls nearly all of the large sugar estates and is active in business and banking. As the Indian population became numerically dominant and the voting franchise was extended, political power shifted from the Franco-Mauritians and their Creole allies to the Indo-Mauritians.
Sir George Ferguson Bowen was governor from 1879 to 1883.
Conflicts arose between the Indian community (mostly sugarcane labourers) and the Franco-Mauritians in the 1920s, leading to several mainly Indian deaths. Following this the Mauritius Labour Party was founded in 1936 by Maurice Cure to safeguard the interest of the labourers. Cure was succeeded a year later by Emmanuel Anquetil
who tried to gain the support of the port workers. After his death, Guy Rozemond took over the leadership of the party.
was abolished on February 1, 1835, an attempt was made to secure a cheap source of adaptable labour for intensive sugar plantations in Mauritius. Indenture
d labour began with Chinese, Malay, African and Malagasy labourers, but ultimately, it was India which supplied the much needed laborers to Mauritius. This period of intensive use of Indian labour took place during British rule, with many brutal episodes and a long struggle by the indentured for respect. The term applied to the indentured during this period, and which has since become a derogatory term for Mauritians of Asian descent, was Coolie
. The island soon became the key-point in the trade of indentured laborers, as thousands of Indians set forth from Calcutta or Karikal; not only did they modify the social, political and economic physiognomies of the island, but some also went farther, to the West Indies.
The meeting of a mosaic of people from India, China, Africa and Europe began a process of hybridisation and intercultural frictions and dialogues, which poet Khal Torabully
has termed "coolitude". This social reality is a major reference for identity
opened to otherness
and is widely used in Mauritius
where it represents a humanism
of diversity
.
(MLP), the Muslim Committee of Action (CAM) of Sir Abdool Razack Mohamed
, and the Independent Forward Bloc (IFB) a traditionalist Hindu party won a majority in the 1967 Legislative Assembly election, despite opposition from Franco-Mauritian and Creole supporters of Gaetan Duval's and Jules Koenig's Mauritian Social Democratic Party (PMSD). The contest was interpreted locally as a referendum on independence. The election was won by a small margin. Constituency No. 15 was key to the victory by the pro-independence coalition. The MLP led alliance was able to win this constituency only due to the support of the CAM. Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam
, MLP leader and chief minister in the colonial government, became the first prime minister after independence, on 12 March 1968. This event was preceded by a period of communal strife, brought under control with assistance from British troops. The communal strife that preceded independence led to around 300 deaths http://lemauricien.com/mauricien/index.html.
the Governor-General. The last Governor, Sir John Shaw Rennie
served as the first Governor-General until August 27 1968.
1969 saw the emergence of the Mouvement Militant Mauricien led by Paul Bérenger
. The MMM was founded in 1969 and had for President and secretary, Heeralall Bhugaloo and Paul Bérenger respectively. The MMM won its first election in a by election of constituency No. 5 by electing Dev Virasawmy. Until 1982, Sir Seewoosagur was Prime Minister, his Labour Party in coalition with Duval's PMSD. In 1982, the coalition of Mouvement Militant Mauricien/Parti Socialiste Mauricien came to power in a landslide electoral victory, with Sir Anerood Jugnauth as Prime Minister and Harish Boodhoo as the deputy Prime Minister. The coalition split in 1983, with Anerood Jugnauth forming the Mouvement Socialiste Mauricien (MSM), which became the governing party, with Jugnauth as Prime Minister. Sir Seewoosagur subsequently became Governor-General.
After Sir Seewoosagur's death, first Sir Satcam Boolell, then Sir Seewoosagur's son, Navin Ramgoolam succeeded him as leaders of the MLP. However, the MLP and PMSD were defeated at the 1991 election, which saw Sir Anerood Jugnauth re-elected under a MMM/MSM government.
In December
1991, the Constitution was amended to make Mauritius a republic within the Commonwealth. Mauritius became a republic on March 12 1992, with the last Governor General, Sir Veerasamy Ringadoo
, as interim President. He was succeeded by Cassam Uteem
on June 30, 1992.
Navin Ramgoolam
led a MLP-MMM coalition to victory at the 1995 general elections, replacing Sir Aneerood Jugnauth as Prime Minister, a post the latter had occupied for 13 years. The governing coalition split in 1997, with the MMM going back to the Opposition and Navin Ramgoolam staying on as Prime Minister.
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
was successively colonized by the Dutch, the French and the British, and became independent in 1968.
Discovery
It has been frequently hypothesized that MauritiusMauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
was first discovered by the Arabs, who named the island Dina Harobi. The first historical evidence of the existence of an island now known as Mauritius is on a map produced by the Italian cartographer Alberto Cantino in 1502. Cantino shows three islands which are thought to represent the Mascarenes (Reunion, Mauritius and Rodrigues) and calls them Dina Margabin, Dina Harobi and Dina Morare. What is known is that the medieval Arab world called the Indian Ocean island region Waqwaq.
Portuguese sailors (1507–1513)
Mauritius was discovered and visited by the PortuguesePortuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
between 1507 and 1513.
An official world map by Diogo Ribeiro described “from west to east, the first island, ‘’Mascarenhas’’, the second, ‘’Santa Apolonia’’ and the third, ‘’Domingo Froiz’’. The three islands (Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
, Mauritius and Rodrigues
Rodrigues (island)
Rodrigues , sometimes spelled Rodriguez but named after the Portuguese explorer Diogo Rodrigues, is the smallest of the Mascarene Islands and a dependency of Mauritius...
) were discovered some years earlier by chance during an exploratory expedition of the coast of the Gulf of Bengal led by Tristão da Cunha. The expedition ran into a cyclone
Cyclone
In meteorology, a cyclone is an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same direction as the Earth. This is usually characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate anticlockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth. Most large-scale...
and was forced to change course. Thus, the ship ‘’Cirne’’ of the captain Diogo Fernandes Pereira, came into view of Réunion island on 9 February 1507. They called the island Santa Apolonia ("Saint Apollonia
Saint Apollonia
Saint Apollonia was one of a group of virgin martyrs who suffered in Alexandria during a local uprising against the Christians prior to the persecution of Decius. According to legend, her torture included having all of her teeth violently pulled out or shattered...
") in honor of that day’s saint. Mauritius was discovered during the same expedition and received the name of ‘’Cirne’’ and Rodrigues that of ‘’Diogo Fernandes’’. Five years later, the islands were visited by Dom Pedro de Mascarenhas who left the name Mascarene for the whole region. The Portuguese took no interest in these isolated islands. They were already established in Asia in Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
, on the coast of Malabar, on the island of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
) and on the Malaysian coast.
Their main African base was in Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
, therefore the Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
navigators preferred to use the Mozambique Channel
Mozambique Channel
The Mozambique Channel is a portion of the Indian Ocean located between the island nation of Madagascar and southeast Africa, primarily the country of Mozambique. It was a World War II clashpoint during the Battle of Madagascar...
to go to India. The Comoros
Comoros
The Comoros , officially the Union of the Comoros is an archipelago island nation in the Indian Ocean, located off the eastern coast of Africa, on the northern end of the Mozambique Channel, between northeastern Mozambique and northwestern Madagascar...
at the north proved to be a more practical port of call. Thus no permanent colony was established on the island by the Portuguese.
Dutch sailors (1598–1637)
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
expedition consisting of eight ships set sail from the port of Texel
Texel
Texel is a municipality and an island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the biggest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark...
(Netherlands) under the orders of admirals Jacques Cornelius Van Neck and Wybrandt Van Warwyck towards the Indian subcontinent. The eight ships ran into foul weather after passing the Cape of Good Hope and were separated. Three found their way to the northeast of Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
while the remaining five regrouped and sailed in a southeasterly direction. On 17 September, the five ships under the orders of Admiral Van Warwyck came into view of the island. On 20 September, they entered a sheltered bay which they gave the name of "Port de Warwick" (present name is "Grand Port"). They landed and decided to name the island "Prins Maurits van Nassaueiland", after Prince Maurits
John Maurice of Nassau
John Maurice of Nassau was count and prince of Nassau-Siegen.He was born in Dillenburg...
(Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
version: Mauritius) of the House of Nassau
House of Nassau
The House of Nassau is a diversified aristocratic dynasty in Europe. It is named after the lordship associated with Nassau Castle, located in present-day Nassau, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The lords of Nassau were originally titled Count of Nassau, then elevated to the princely class as...
, the stadtholder
Stadtholder
A Stadtholder A Stadtholder A Stadtholder (Dutch: stadhouder [], "steward" or "lieutenant", literally place holder, holding someones place, possibly a calque of German Statthalter, French lieutenant, or Middle Latin locum tenens...
of Holland, but also after the main vessel of the fleet which was called "Mauritius". From those days, only the name Mauritius has remained. On 2 October, the ships took to the sea again towards Bantam.
From then on, the island’s "Port de Warwick" was used by the Dutch as a stopover after long months at sea. In 1606, two expeditions came for the first time to what would later become Port-Louis
Port Louis
-Economy:The economy is dominated by its port, which handles Mauritius' international trade. The port was founded by the French who preferred Port Louis as the City is shielded by the Port Louis/Moka mountain range. It is the largest container handling facility in the Indian Ocean and can...
in the northwest part of the island. The expedition, consisting of eleven ships and 1,357 men under the orders of Admiral Corneille came into the bay, which they named “Rade des Tortues” (literally meaning Harbor of the Tortoises) because of the great number of terrestrial tortoises they found there.
From that date, Dutch sailors shifted their choice to “Rade des Tortues” as harbor. In 1615, the shipwrecking and death of governor Pieter Both
Pieter Both
Pieter Both was the first Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies.Not much is known of his early years. In 1599, Both was already an admiral in the New, or Brabant Company. In that year, he traveled to the East Indies with four ships...
, who was coming back from India with four richly laden ships in the bay, caused the route to be considered as cursed by Dutch sailors and they tried to avoid it as much as possible. In the meantime, the British and the Danes were beginning to make incursions into the Indian Ocean. Those who landed on the island freely cut and took with them the precious heartwood of the ebony
Ebony
Ebony is a dense black wood, most commonly yielded by several species in the genus Diospyros, but ebony may also refer to other heavy, black woods from unrelated species. Ebony is dense enough to sink in water. Its fine texture, and very smooth finish when polished, make it valuable as an...
trees, then found in profusion all over the island.
Dutch colonization (1638–1710)
The island was not permanently inhabited for the forty years after its discovery by the Dutch, but in 1638 Cornelius Gooyer
Cornelius Gooyer
Cornelius Gooyer was a Dutchman who established a settlement in Mauritius. He served as the island's governor from 1639 to 1640. He was succeeded by Adriaan van der Stel....
established the first permanent Dutch settlement in Mauritius with a garrison of twenty-five. He thus became the first governor of the island. In 1639, thirty more men came to reinforce the Dutch colony. Gooyer was instructed to develop the commercial potential of the island, but he did nothing of the sort, so he was recalled. His successor was Adriaan van der Stel
Adriaan van der Stel
Adriaan van der Stel was opperhoofd of Mauritius from 1640? to 1645. He was succeeded by Jacob van der Meersch.Adriaan Van Der Stel succeeded Governor Cornelius Gooyer. He landed on the island with seventy men, of whom forty were invalids. the latter thought that they would recover their health....
who began the development in earnest, developing the export of ebony
Ebony
Ebony is a dense black wood, most commonly yielded by several species in the genus Diospyros, but ebony may also refer to other heavy, black woods from unrelated species. Ebony is dense enough to sink in water. Its fine texture, and very smooth finish when polished, make it valuable as an...
wood. For the purpose, Van der Stel brought 105 Malagasy slaves to the island. Within the first week, about sixty slaves were able to run away into the forests; only about twenty of them were eventually recaptured.
In 1644, the islanders were faced with many months of hardships, due to delayed shipment of supplies, bad harvests and cyclones. During those months, the colonists could only rely on themselves by fishing and hunting. Nonetheless, Van der Stel secured the shipment of 95 more slaves from Madagascar, before being transferred to Ceylon. His replacement was Jacob Van der Meersh. In 1645, the latter brought in 108 more Malagasy slaves. Van der Meersh left Mauritius in September 1648 and was replaced by Reinier Por
Reinier Por
Reinier or Reiner Por was the Dutch opperhoofd or governor of Mauritius from 1648 to 1653...
.
In 1652, more hardships befell the colonists, masters and slaves alike. The population was then about a hundred people. The continuing hardships affected the commercial potential of the island and a pullout was ordered in 1657. On 16 July 1658, almost all the inhabitants left the island, except for a ship’s boy and two slaves who had taken shelter in the forests. Thus the first attempt at colonization by the Dutch ended badly.
In 1664, a second attempt was made, but this one also ended badly as the men chosen for the job abandoned their sick commander, Van Niewland, without proper treatment, and the latter eventually died.
From 1666 to 1669, Dirk Jansz Smient
Dirk Jansz Smient
Dirk Jansz Smient was governor of Mauritius in the new settlement at Grand Port from 1666 to 1669, when he returned to Cape of Good Hope. He was replaced by George Frederik Wreede. In November 1676 he led a punitive expedition from Cape Town to a group of Hottentots led by Chief Goenema, which...
administered the new colony at Grand Port, with the cutting down and export of Ebony trees as the main activity. When Dirk Jansz Smient left, he was replaced by George Frederik Wreeden
George Frederik Wreeden
Georg Friedrich Wreede or Georgius Fredericius Wreede was governor of Mauritius from 1665 to 1672, with a break between 1668-1669....
. The latter died in 1672, drowned with five other colonists during a reconnaissance expedition. His replacement would be Hubert Hugo
Hubert Hugo
Hubert Hugo was a merchant in Dutch Suratte, a privateer on the Red Sea, and governor of Dutch Mauritius from 1672 to 1677.-Life:...
. The later was a man of vision and wanted to make the island into an agricultural colony. His vision was not shared by his superiors, and eventually he could not fully develop his vision.
Issac Johannes Lamotius
Issac Johannes Lamotius
Isaac Johannes Lamotius or was governor of Mauritius from 1677 to 1692. Lamotius was interested in arts and knowledge and became an ichtyologist; he made 250 drawings of fishes which are kept in Paris.-Life:...
became the new governor when Hugo left in 1677. Lamotius governed until 1692, when he was deported to Batavia for judgment for persecuting a colonist whose wife had refused his courtship. Thus in 1692 a new governor, Roelof Deodati, was appointed. Even if he tried to develop the island, Deodati faced many problems, like cyclones, pest infestations, cattle illnesses and droughts. Discouraged, Deodati eventually gave up and his replacement would be Abraham Momber Van de Velde
Abraham Momber Van de Velde
Abraham Momber a.k.a. Abraham Momber van de Velde was the last commander of the Dutch East India Company settlement on Mauritius. He followed Roelof Deodati as the de facto Dutch governor on November 25, 1703. On November 15, 1707 the Company's premises, goods, and administration were almost...
. The latter fared no better and eventually became the last Dutch governor of the island for that period. Thus the Dutch definitely abandoned the island in 1710.
Treatment of slaves
Slaves were not particularly well treated by the colonists and revolts or the act of organizing one was severely repressed and punished. Some punishments consisted of amputation of various parts of the body and exposure in the open air for a day as example to others, eventually culminating in condemned slaves’ execution at sunset.Legacy of the Dutch
- Providing the name for the country and for many regions over the whole island. Some examples include the "Pieter Both" mountain, the "Vandermeersh" region near Rose-HillRose-HillRose Hill is the third largest town in Mauritius, and is capital of the Lower Plaines Wilhems. It is a major commercial centre, second only to the capital Port Louis.-History:...
as well as many other names. - Introduction of sugar cane plants from Java.
- Decimating the local dodoDodoThe dodo was a flightless bird endemic to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Related to pigeons and doves, it stood about a meter tall, weighing about , living on fruit, and nesting on the ground....
and giant tortoise population for food and by introducing competing species and pests, sometimes involuntarily. - Clearing of large swaths of forests for Ebony bark exploitation.
French rule (1710–1810)
Mahé de La Bourdonnais established Port Louis
Port Louis
-Economy:The economy is dominated by its port, which handles Mauritius' international trade. The port was founded by the French who preferred Port Louis as the City is shielded by the Port Louis/Moka mountain range. It is the largest container handling facility in the Indian Ocean and can...
as a naval base and a shipbuilding centre. Under his governorship, numerous buildings were built, a number of which still stand today: part of Government House, the Chateau de Mon Plaisir at Pamplemousses and the Line Barracks. The island was under the administration of the French East India Company
French East India Company
The French East India Company was a commercial enterprise, founded in 1664 to compete with the British and Dutch East India companies in colonial India....
which maintained its presence until 1767.
In 1806 the Governor General, Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen, created the city of Mahébourg
Mahébourg
Mahébourg is a small city on the southeastern coast of the island of Mauritius. It is the capital of the Grand Port District.- Overview :...
, named in honour of Mahé de La Bourdonnais. It was originally known as Bourg Mahé. From that year until 1810, the island was in charge of officials appointed by the French Government, except for a brief period during the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, when the inhabitants set up a government virtually independent of France.
During the Napoleonic wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, the "Isle de France" had become a base from which French corsairs
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
organised successful raids on British commercial ships. The raids continued until 1810 when a strong British expedition was sent to capture the island. A preliminary attack was foiled at Grand Port
Battle of Grand Port
The Battle of Grand Port was a naval battle between squadrons of frigates from the French Navy and the British Royal Navy. The battle was fought during 20–27 August 1810 over possession of the harbour of Grand Port on Île de France during the Napoleonic Wars...
in August 1810, but the main attack launched in December of the same year from Rodrigues
Rodrigues (island)
Rodrigues , sometimes spelled Rodriguez but named after the Portuguese explorer Diogo Rodrigues, is the smallest of the Mascarene Islands and a dependency of Mauritius...
, which had been captured a year earlier, was successful. The British landed in large numbers in the north of the island and rapidly overpowered the French, who capitulated. By the Treaty of Paris in 1814, the "Isle de France" which was renamed Mauritius was ceded to Great Britain, together with Rodrigues and the Seychelles
Seychelles
Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....
. In the act of capitulation, the British guaranteed that they would respect the language, the customs, the laws and the traditions of the inhabitants.
British rule (1810–1968)
See also Governor of Mauritius.Despite the only French naval victory (during the Napoleonic Wars) of Battle of Grand Port
Battle of Grand Port
The Battle of Grand Port was a naval battle between squadrons of frigates from the French Navy and the British Royal Navy. The battle was fought during 20–27 August 1810 over possession of the harbour of Grand Port on Île de France during the Napoleonic Wars...
on 19 and 20 August 1810 by a fleet commanded by Pierre Bouvet
Pierre François Étienne Bouvet de Maisonneuve
Pierre François Étienne Bouvet de Maisonneuve was a French admiral.Born in Saint-Benoît, Réunion, to a family of sailors, Bouvet started sailing at the age of 12 on the Nécessaire. He was midshipman at 17 on the frigate Aréthuse...
, Mauritius was captured
Invasion of Île de France
The Invasion of Île de France was a complicated but successful amphibious operation in the Indian Ocean, launched in November 1810 during the Napoleonic Wars. During the operation, a substantial British military force was landed by the Royal Navy at Grand Baie on Île de France...
on 3 December 1810 by the British under Commodore
Commodore (rank)
Commodore is a military rank used in many navies that is superior to a navy captain, but below a rear admiral. Non-English-speaking nations often use the rank of flotilla admiral or counter admiral as an equivalent .It is often regarded as a one-star rank with a NATO code of OF-6, but is not always...
Josias Rowley
Josias Rowley
Admiral Sir Josias Rowley, 1st Baronet GCB, GCMG , known as "The Sweeper of the Seas", was a naval officer who commanded the campaign that captured the French Indian Ocean islands of Réunion and Mauritius in 1810.-Naval career:...
. Their possession of the island was confirmed four years later by the Treaty of Paris (1814)
Treaty of Paris (1814)
The Treaty of Paris, signed on 30 May 1814, ended the war between France and the Sixth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars, following an armistice signed on 23 May between Charles, Count of Artois, and the allies...
. French institutions, including the Napoleonic code
Napoleonic code
The Napoleonic Code — or Code Napoléon — is the French civil code, established under Napoléon I in 1804. The code forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and specified that government jobs go to the most qualified...
of law, were maintained. The French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
was at that moment still used more widely than English.
The British administration, which began with Robert Townsend Farquhar
Robert Townsend Farquhar
Sir Robert Townsend Farquhar, 1st Baronet was an influential British merchant of the early nineteenth century who served as a colonial governor and Member of Parliament.During his lengthy service for both the East India Company and the British government,Farquhar gained a reputation as an...
as governor, was followed by rapid social and economic changes. One of the most important events was the abolition of slavery on the first of February 1835. The planters received a compensation of two million pounds sterling for the loss of their slaves which had been imported from Africa and Madagascar during the French occupation.
Mauritian Creole
Creole peoples
The term Creole and its cognates in other languages — such as crioulo, criollo, créole, kriolu, criol, kreyol, kreol, kriulo, kriol, krio, etc. — have been applied to people in different countries and epochs, with rather different meanings...
s trace their origins to the plantation owners and slaves who were brought to work the sugar fields. Indo-Mauritian
Indo-Mauritian
Indo-Mauritians are people of Indian descent living on the island of Mauritius, where they represent a majority comprising 68% of the population according to the July 2007 statistics...
s are descended from Indian immigrants who arrived in the 19th century via the Aapravasi Ghat
Aapravasi Ghat
The Immigration Depot is a building complex located in Port Louis, on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, which was the first British colony to receive indentured, or contracted, labor workforce from India. From 1849 to 1923, half a million Indian indentured labourers passed through the...
in order to work as indentured laborers after slavery was abolished in 1835. Included in the Indo-Mauritian community are Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s (about 17% of the population) from the Indian subcontinent. The Franco-Mauritian
Franco-Mauritian
Franco-Mauritians are people of mainly French origin who reside in Mauritius. They number more than 24,000.-Origins:The first French settlers arrived in Mauritius in 1722, after the previous attempts of settlement by the Dutch had failed, and the island had once again become abandoned...
elite controls nearly all of the large sugar estates and is active in business and banking. As the Indian population became numerically dominant and the voting franchise was extended, political power shifted from the Franco-Mauritians and their Creole allies to the Indo-Mauritians.
Sir George Ferguson Bowen was governor from 1879 to 1883.
Conflicts arose between the Indian community (mostly sugarcane labourers) and the Franco-Mauritians in the 1920s, leading to several mainly Indian deaths. Following this the Mauritius Labour Party was founded in 1936 by Maurice Cure to safeguard the interest of the labourers. Cure was succeeded a year later by Emmanuel Anquetil
Emmanuel Anquetil
Emmanuel Anquetil was a trade unionist, and the second leader of the Mauritius Labour Party. He was deported to Rodrigues by the British colonial government for organising strikes in defence of workers' rights.-References:...
who tried to gain the support of the port workers. After his death, Guy Rozemond took over the leadership of the party.
Indentured labour
When slaverySlavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
was abolished on February 1, 1835, an attempt was made to secure a cheap source of adaptable labour for intensive sugar plantations in Mauritius. Indenture
Indenture
An indenture is a legal contract reflecting a debt or purchase obligation, specifically referring to two types of practices: in historical usage, an indentured servant status, and in modern usage, an instrument used for commercial debt or real estate transaction.-Historical usage:An indenture is a...
d labour began with Chinese, Malay, African and Malagasy labourers, but ultimately, it was India which supplied the much needed laborers to Mauritius. This period of intensive use of Indian labour took place during British rule, with many brutal episodes and a long struggle by the indentured for respect. The term applied to the indentured during this period, and which has since become a derogatory term for Mauritians of Asian descent, was Coolie
Coolie
Historically, a coolie was a manual labourer or slave from Asia, particularly China, India, and the Phillipines during the 19th century and early 20th century...
. The island soon became the key-point in the trade of indentured laborers, as thousands of Indians set forth from Calcutta or Karikal; not only did they modify the social, political and economic physiognomies of the island, but some also went farther, to the West Indies.
The meeting of a mosaic of people from India, China, Africa and Europe began a process of hybridisation and intercultural frictions and dialogues, which poet Khal Torabully
Khal Torabully
Khal Torabully is a Mauritian and French poet, who has coined the concept of "coolitude." Born in Mauritius in 1956, in the capital city Port Louis, his father was a Trinidadian sailor and his mother was a descendant of migrants from India and Malaysia....
has termed "coolitude". This social reality is a major reference for identity
Cultural identity
Cultural identity is the identity of a group or culture, or of an individual as far as one is influenced by one's belonging to a group or culture. Cultural identity is similar to and has overlaps with, but is not synonymous with, identity politics....
opened to otherness
Alterity
Alterity is a philosophical term meaning "otherness", strictly being in the sense of the other of two . In the phenomenological tradition it is usually understood as the entity in contrast to which an identity is constructed, and it implies the ability to distinguish between self and not-self, and...
and is widely used in Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
where it represents a humanism
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
of diversity
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
.
Towards independence
Elections in 1947 for the newly created Legislative Assembly marked Mauritius's first steps toward self-rule, and were won by the Labour Party, headed by Guy Rozemont. It was the first time the elite Francophones were ousted from power. An independence campaign gained momentum after 1961, when the British agreed to permit additional self-government and eventual independence. A coalition composed of the Mauritian Labour PartyMauritian Labour Party
The Labour Party is a political party in Mauritius.The Mauritian Labour Party was structured in 1936 to model the British Labour Party and has similar socialist goals...
(MLP), the Muslim Committee of Action (CAM) of Sir Abdool Razack Mohamed
Abdool Razack Mohamed
Sir Abdool Razack Mohamed Kt, MP is an Indian born former key Mauritian Minister in the pre and post-independence cabinet of Mauritius. He is celebrated as one of the fathers of the modern state of Mauritius, and he was the leader of the political party called the CAM...
, and the Independent Forward Bloc (IFB) a traditionalist Hindu party won a majority in the 1967 Legislative Assembly election, despite opposition from Franco-Mauritian and Creole supporters of Gaetan Duval's and Jules Koenig's Mauritian Social Democratic Party (PMSD). The contest was interpreted locally as a referendum on independence. The election was won by a small margin. Constituency No. 15 was key to the victory by the pro-independence coalition. The MLP led alliance was able to win this constituency only due to the support of the CAM. Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam
Seewoosagur Ramgoolam
Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam KT,GCMG,KCMG,LRCP, MRCS is the first Chief Minister, Prime Minister and sixth Governor General of Mauritius....
, MLP leader and chief minister in the colonial government, became the first prime minister after independence, on 12 March 1968. This event was preceded by a period of communal strife, brought under control with assistance from British troops. The communal strife that preceded independence led to around 300 deaths http://lemauricien.com/mauricien/index.html.
Independence
Mauritius became an independent state on March 12, 1968, with the British monarch, Elizabeth II, represented as head of stateHead of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
the Governor-General. The last Governor, Sir John Shaw Rennie
John Shaw Rennie
- References :...
served as the first Governor-General until August 27 1968.
1969 saw the emergence of the Mouvement Militant Mauricien led by Paul Bérenger
Paul Bérenger
Paul Raymond Bérenger GCSK MP is the Leader of the Opposition of Mauritius and former Prime Minister of the Republic. Bérenger, who is a Christian of French descent, is the only Prime Minister of Mauritius who was not a Hindu....
. The MMM was founded in 1969 and had for President and secretary, Heeralall Bhugaloo and Paul Bérenger respectively. The MMM won its first election in a by election of constituency No. 5 by electing Dev Virasawmy. Until 1982, Sir Seewoosagur was Prime Minister, his Labour Party in coalition with Duval's PMSD. In 1982, the coalition of Mouvement Militant Mauricien/Parti Socialiste Mauricien came to power in a landslide electoral victory, with Sir Anerood Jugnauth as Prime Minister and Harish Boodhoo as the deputy Prime Minister. The coalition split in 1983, with Anerood Jugnauth forming the Mouvement Socialiste Mauricien (MSM), which became the governing party, with Jugnauth as Prime Minister. Sir Seewoosagur subsequently became Governor-General.
After Sir Seewoosagur's death, first Sir Satcam Boolell, then Sir Seewoosagur's son, Navin Ramgoolam succeeded him as leaders of the MLP. However, the MLP and PMSD were defeated at the 1991 election, which saw Sir Anerood Jugnauth re-elected under a MMM/MSM government.
In December
December
December is the 12th and last month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars and one of seven months with the length of 31 days.December starts on the same day as September every year and ends on the same day as April every year.-Etymology:...
1991, the Constitution was amended to make Mauritius a republic within the Commonwealth. Mauritius became a republic on March 12 1992, with the last Governor General, Sir Veerasamy Ringadoo
Veerasamy Ringadoo
Sir Veerasamy Ringadoo, GCMG, GCSK, QC, was the Governor General of Mauritius from 17 January 1986 to 12 March 1992, when it became a republic. Ringadoo then served as President until later in 1992, when he was replaced by the democratically elected Cassam Uteem. He is a Tamil by origin and a Hindu...
, as interim President. He was succeeded by Cassam Uteem
Cassam Uteem
Cassam Uteem is a Mauritian political figure who served as President of Mauritius from 30 June 1992 to 15 February 2002 and is the longest serving President of Mauritius, having served for nine years....
on June 30, 1992.
Navin Ramgoolam
Navin Ramgoolam
Navinchandra Ramgoolam, GCSK, FRCP, MP is the Prime Minister of Mauritius, Minister of Defence, Home Affairs & External Communications, as well as Leader of the National Assembly. Being the leader of the Mauritian Labour Party, he serves as Member of parliament for constituency No...
led a MLP-MMM coalition to victory at the 1995 general elections, replacing Sir Aneerood Jugnauth as Prime Minister, a post the latter had occupied for 13 years. The governing coalition split in 1997, with the MMM going back to the Opposition and Navin Ramgoolam staying on as Prime Minister.
Present day
At the next elections in 2000, Sir Anerood Jugnauth’s MSM, in coalition with Paul Bérenger’s MMM was returned to power, with Sir Anerood Jugnauth appointed as Prime Minister. He subsequently retired as Prime Minister after 3 years and assumed the office of President. For the remaining time of the elected government the Prime Minister’s post was filled by Paul Bérenger. At the 2005 general elections, the MLP led Alliance Sociale coalition won the elections and Navin Ramgoolam became Prime Minister while Sir Anerood Jugnauth remained the president. The 2010 general elections saw the victory of a MLP-MSM-PMSD coalition (known as "L'Alliance de l'Avenir") and the maintaining of Navin Ramgoolam as Prime Minister.See also
- History of AfricaHistory of AfricaThe history of Africa begins with the prehistory of Africa and the emergence of Homo sapiens in East Africa, continuing into the present as a patchwork of diverse and politically developing nation states. Agriculture began about 10,000 BCE and metallurgy in about 4000 BCE. The history of early...
- History of Southern Africa
- Politics of MauritiusPolitics of MauritiusPolitics of Mauritius takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, in which the President is the head of state and the prime minister is the head of government who is assisted by a council of Ministers . Mauritius has a multi-party system. Executive power is...
- List of Prime Ministers of Mauritius
External links
- The Mauritius Museums Council, a body corporate under the aegis of the Ministry of Arts and Culture
- History of Mauritius island
- WorldStatesmen- Mauritius
- History of Mauritius in the French period
- History of Mauritius