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.