Mauritius History

History
The Dutch established a colony on Mauritius in 1638. It never prospered and the few hundred souls there were evacuated in 1710 when the success of the Cape Colony made its supply function superfluous. A few years later the island was settled by Frenchmen from nearby Réunion. They successfully developed the Island’s present sugar plantation economy. Nearly 50,000 of the people were slaves whose origins lay in Madagascar or Mozambique.

In 1810 the British took Mauritius. They prohibited first the slave trade, then slavery, introducing Indian coolies who were low paid, unskilled laborers instead. Three hundred thousand of them came between 1834 and 1910. Mauritius attained independence in 1968.

Timeline
1598 - The Dutch took possession of Mauritius and abandoned Mauritius in 1710 1715 - The French took control of the island, renaming it Isle de France 1810 - 1968 -Mauritius was captured by the British and became British Mauritius 1965 - Three years prior to the independence of Mauritius, the UK split the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritian territory to form the British Indian Ocean Territory. The UK forcibly expelled the archipelago's local population and leased its biggest island 1992 - Twenty-four years after independence, Mauritius was proclaimed a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations

Websites

 * Encyclopedia Mauritiana, The Dutch Settlement
 * Mauritius Historical Description. index to people and places
 * Mauritius or Isle of France History and Inhabitants.Index places and people.
 * Mauritius AfricaGenweb Information