HISTORY OF MAURITIUS |
A tiny island in the Indian Ocean (see red dot in the world map!!!). It is located near Madasgascar, the island next close and which is bigger than France!!! By plane and from Paris (France), you should count around eleven hours non stop. The distance is around 10000 kilometers form Paris to Plaisance (Mauritius).
Capital : Port-Louis.
La ciudad de mi papa : Phoenix.
Area : 720 Sq. miles.
More than 1 million people!!!
Multiracial Society.
Independent since 1968.
Republic since July 1992.
THE PORTUGUESE OCCUPATION
The
first visitors to arrive were the Portugueses. In the course of their travels to the East
Indies, they visited the island in 1510, but considered that it was of no immediate
commercial interest to them. What a mistake!!! The names then given to
the islands of the South-Western Indian ocean region were of European origin : Cirne or
the Island of the Swan for Mauritius. Though the Portugueses did not settle in Mauritius,
they introduce and left animals on the island, as it was a port of call on the route to
the Indies; unfortunately, these animals, including pigs, goats, oxen, dogs and rats, qere
to lead to the subsequent extinction of some indigenous animals. During their occupation,
they plundered the natural ebony forests and exterminated the famous dodo. Blame
on them!!!
THE DUTCH OCCUPATION
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It was only in 1598 that there were
settlers in Mauritius : a small Dutch colony arrived, with slaves of african origin. These
settlers, who had come from the settlement of the Cape of Good Hope, appear to have
suffered, along the years, a series of set-backs like cyclones, food shortage, run-away
slaves, pirate attacks and shipwrecks like that of admiral Pieter Both, who was drowned on
Tombeau Bay. they therefore left in 1710. During theit stay, they exploited local
ressources to a maximum, destroying wide ebony forests, and annihilating the dodos. It was
the Dutch, however, who introduced a species of stags from Java, which still exist in
significant numbers and constitute choice venison, as well as sugar cane, which has become
the main crop of the island. They also drew up the first maps of Mauritius, called one of
its main districts Flacq, and named the island Maurice, after Prince Maurice of Nassau. A
small colony of Dutch and their slaves settled on the island in 1598 and left in 1710.
THE FRENCH OCCUPATION
It was after the French took over in 1715
that Mauritius, renamed Isle de France, started developing into the
prosperous colony that it became. The master-mind dehind this colonial endeavour was
Bertrand François Mahé de Labourdonnais, who was appointed Governor in 1735 in the name
of the East India Company, to which the island had been ceded. He not only built offices
for the administration of the island, shops, barracks and shipyards, but also industries,
as he promoted the exploitation of existing forests for timber, and the porduction of
sugar cane. He also restored the country to order. Within a few years, Labourdonnais was
to turn a wild and almost desert island into a productive and flourishing colony, and to
create a busy French port on the Indian Ocean. Pierre Poivre and General Decaen were also
major figures of the French period.
Pierre Poivre, who from 1767 to 1772 was Administrator of l'Isle de France and of Bourbon (The Reunion island of today) under the governorship of both Dumas and Descroches, was a prudent and far-sighted manager who knew how to keep order and bring prosperity to Mauritius. Pierre Poivre was also known for his keen interest in fine spices, trees and plants. He successfully obtained some spices from Dutch possessions, namely Isle of Detroit and Isle de la Sonde (Sunda Isles), and attempted to cultivate them on the French islands in the Western Indain Ocean i.e Mauritius, La Réunion and Seychelles. The other great Frenchman was Governor Decaen, one of Napoleon's Generals. He was Captain-General of l'Isle de France and of l'Isle Bonaparte, the then name of Bourbon, now Reunion Island. When he left, he had earned a reputation for introducing a legal system and also as an Administrator who, by using a combination of firmness, skill and astuteness, had managed to bring to the attention of the Frenhc Government, Mauritius, its dependencies, Isle Bonaparte and the Seychelles, all of which, during the years following the Revolution, had been cut off from France and were being run almost autonomously.
The danger to English supremacy in India, represented by Mauritius and the other French islands of the Western Indian Ocean such as Réunion, Rodrigues and the Seychelles, prompted them to take possession of these islands and get rid of the French, a job which turned out to be relatively easy for them given their naval military might; this happened in spite of the illustrious French victory at the Battle of Grand Port in August 1810.
THE ENGLISH OCCUPATION
After the blockhade and the landing of a British expeditionary force, afr larger in numbers than the French troops, Mauritius surrendered in 1810, with General Decaen as its last French Governor. The treaty of Paris, in 1814, decreed that Mauritius and its dependencies, including Rodrigues and the Seychelles, were to become British whereas Réunion, which had also been invaded by the British, was to return to France. Mauritius became British under its old Dutch name, but remained surprisingly French, keeping the French language, culture and legal system. More or less left to their own style of life, ruled under the same laws as previously, the former French settlers and their descendants were able to keep their French life-style. Sugar cane plantations were started during the French period, but sugar production really took off during the British period, and grew to the point of becoming a virtual monoculture. Along the years, other crops were introduced for local consumption with plants such as tea, tobacco and articles such as edible oil, beer, soap and shoes. The textile and garments industry started to expand as from the setting up of export processing zones in 1970.
The first attempt to import labourers from Indian were made in 1829, but it was really after the abolition of slavery that the importation of Indian manpower increased appreciably and resulted in a rapid growth of the sugar industry and a wave of prosperity for the island as from 1850.
During the election period of 1921 there was a move to have Mauritius retroceded to France. This did not come about, as those supporting the mowe were defeated at elections.
THE INDEPENDANCE
In 1957, the ministerial system was introduced in Mauritius, with Dr. Seewoosagur Ramgoolam becoming the leader of the Labour party, founded by the workers' claims. Then, following the Constitutional Conference of 1965 in London, general elections were held in 1967, a majority of Mauritians voted in favour of independence, which was granted to the island on 12th. March 1968. Mauritius remained a Sovereign State within the Commonwealth with the Queen as its Head, until 1st. of July 1992, when it turned into a Republic.
THE REBUBLIC
Mauritius became a Republic on the 1st. of July 1992.
His excellency Mr. Cassam Uteem is hte current president of the independent Republic of Mauritius.
