Discover the long colonial past of Mauritius up to its independence.
Written on : 20 April 2020 By : Emma Di Gesaro
The paradise island of Mauritius today has dealt with a difficult history and the island as a popular tourist destination is quite a recent development. The island has witnessed several colonial regimes from the beginning, against which it fought bravely to claim its independence status in 1968.
Set off with Villanovo for a historical journey through time and retrace the history of Mauritius.
In 1500, the Portuguese no longer wanted to depend on the Arabs for spices and imposed themselves by force on all the Arab trading areas of the Indian Ocean and the African coast and thus appropriated the Mascarene Islands (an archipelago made up of Reunion, Mauritius and Rodrigues). At that time, Mauritius was uninhabited and renamed "Cirné" and interested Portugal only for its resources and trading purposes.
The Dutch were the first to really settle on the island after discovering its natural resources and its geo-strategic position. The Dutch took possession of the island and brought slaves from elsewhere in Africa to work on the island. However, the Dutch population developed very little in Mauritius, to the point that the island was populated by 200 Hollanders and 500 to 1,000 slaves who were to form the Creole community at the end of the 17th century. After exploiting the natural resources of Mauritius and cutting down almost all the wood supply, the Dutch abandoned Mauritius. The passage of the Dutch did not allow for the evolution of the island, quite the contrary. The Dutch imported various predatory animals such as dogs and cats which made local animals such as the dodo disappear and also imported animals such as rats, goats and pigs which disturbed the natural balance of the island.
The French passage in Mauritius
From 1715 to 1810, France occupied Mauritius. It was on September 20, 1715, under Louis XIV that France seized Mauritius and renamed it "Isle de France", in order to have a base to secure the comings and goings of ships trading with India and to protect them from piracy. It was only in 1721 that the French East India Company decided to bring settlers and their slaves to the island, thus giving birth to the Creole language, the one spoken between the settlers and the former slaves, which is drawn from French dialect. With the aim of expanding the Indian Ocean trade, many slaves arrived on the island to grow coffee and sugar cane, which today constitutes the painful past of Mauritius and many other civilizations.
The arrival of Count Mahé le Bourdonnais changed the daily life of the island: his aim was to develop the island and he had a port built, which today is Port-Louis. New slaves were brought from India and Madagascar, and the trade of Mauritius was propelled, but slavery was at its peak: 20,000 people populated the island, including 15,000 slaves in 1767. By way of comparison, Reunion Island, its neighbour, had 6,000 slaves in the same period. Following several naval battles and the defeat of France at the hands of the british empire in the Seven Years’ War, Le Bourdonnais was forced to withdraw from Mauritius.”
The English influence
Mauritius remained a British colony from 1810 until its independence on 12 March 1968. The British presence made many changes on the island, the most important of which was the ban on the importation of slaves in 1833 and the abolition of slavery in 1835. Due to the strong presence of French inhabitants, the British government authorized and maintained the teaching of French in schools and in everyday life, however, this authorisation was tempered with the obligation to speak in English when speaking to the English authorities. Former slaves that had been forced to work the fields were given a monetary compensation, which of course was challenged by the slaveholders.
At the time of independence, Mauritius was populated mainly by Indians and Creoles (following the migration of slaves), so, following the rise of the independence movement in 1965, the British authorities set up a constitutional conference. The independence of Mauritius took place in a somewhat conflictual atmosphere due to the opposition to this independence. At the time of independence, Mauritius had a population of 780,000 and now has a population of over one million.
Nowadays...
Following its independence in 1968, the island became a Republic 24 years later in March 1992. Mauritius has undergone many upheavals and the creation of different political parties representing all the cultures of the island.
The diversity of Mauritius is today its strength and makes the island a multicultural land as we rarely see it and this can be felt at all levels: from gastronomy to religion through the different customs, Mauritius will surprise you and make you spend an unforgettable stay!
