About Mauritius
Location | Early History | The Dutch Period | The French Period | The British Period | Mauritius Today
The French Period
After the departure of the Dutch 1n 1710,
Guillaume Dufresne D'Arsel, while on the route to India,
landed in Mauritius in September 1715 and claimed the
island for France. He named Mauritius 'Ile de France'.
However it was only in 1721 that the French started their
occupation of the island.
But real progress on their settlement started only as from 1735 with the arrival of the most illustrious of French Governors, Bertrand François Mahé de Labourdonnais (See his picture on the left). Under Mahé de Labourdonnais, Port Louis on the northwest coast became the principal harbour of the island. With the help of slaves sugar cane cultivation became a full-blown success. Roads (linking Port Louis to other parts of the island), barracks, office buildings, mansions and houses were built rapidly in order to accommodate for the pace at which the island was prospering.
The strategic location of Ile de France in the Indian Ocean was a real asset to the French. History has it that during the Napoleonic wars Ile de France was used as a base from where French corsairs mounted successful raids on British commercial ships sailing between Europe and the East. In fact the French caused so much havoc to British interests by such means that Britain finally decided to take action against the French threat. It is worth noting that the threat of piracy was not the only reason the British wanted to capture Ile de France from the French. The British coveted the highly strategic position of the French in the island which served as a base from where to safeguard their interests in India.
So in August 1810 the British
launched a naval attack, called the Battle of Grand Port,
in the southeast of the island. The French won that
fierce battle with the British retiring badly hurt. The
Battle of Grand Port is considered as the only naval
battle won by the French against the British in the
history of these two countries. However, the British did
not give up. What was to follow in the same year would
change the course of history of Ile de France for ever. Click here to find out more about the
British success story in Mauritius.