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. In December 1810 the British landed on the north of Ile de France and captured the island from the French after a fierce battle. Click here to find out more about the British success story in Mauritius.
In 1598 the Dutch came into the scene when Vice Admiral Vybrant Van Warwick claimed the island for the Netherlands and named it Mauritius in honour of his ruler, Prince Maurice of Nassau (Pictured on the left). However it was not until 1636 that the Dutch established the first settlement on the southeast coast of the island where they built the first harbour. Today that location is part of one of the major flourishing towns of the country, called Mahébourg.