The French Period

Mauritius History The French PeriodAfter 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.

You may also be interested in . . .
  • After the capture of the island from the French the British re-named Ile de France 'Mauritius' and Port Louis was retained as the principal harbour. British administration started with Robert Farquhar as the first Governor. In terms of economic development the British took over from where the French left.

  • Mauritius History The Dutch PeriodIn 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.

  • National Historical Naval Museum, Mahebourg, Mauritius

  • Mauritius owes its fame to sites of spectacular beauty, at the cost of forgetting that it is also an amazing melting-pot of cultures and traditions we now invite you to discover.

    Mauritius is a densely populated island of around 1.2 million people. It is a plural society where all the ethnic groups present: Hindus, Muslims, Creoles, Chinese and Europeans live in peace and where all the ancestral cultures have been preserved. These features make the island a unique place in the world.

  • Mauritius is a small island situated in the Indian Ocean. We are connected via direct flights to almost every capital city. So getting there is relatively easy.

    The island is about 720 square miles in area, long by around 40 miles and wide by around 30 miles at the biggest ends. The population is around 1,2 million and comes from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

  • The Island of Mauritius is famous for 2 of the rarest stamps in the World, the 1847 "Post Office" Penny Orange and Twopence Blue. This site is dedicated to the first stamps of this Paradise on Earth, those that were engraved and printed locally. Extensive work has gone into the creation of this site and updates are frequent. The intention here is to provide noteworthy data, not limited strictly to philately, but also useful information about the Island, it's history, customs, culture and environment.

  • Prior to 1598 there was no human habitation on the island of Mauritius. At that time it was only an indigenous habitat with dense forests, peaks and mountains, streams and rivers, and some species of birds, unique among which was the famous Dodo.

    In maps of the Middle Ages Mauritius is shown by an Arabic name 'Dina Arobi'. It is believed that Arab sailors knew the island as early as the 10th century, but they never settled there.