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Mauritius was discovered by the Portuguese (1507). The Dutch attempted to settled the island, bringing the first slaves with them (1516). The history of Mauritius like many Caribbean islands which the British and French fought over is strongly associated with the slave trade. After the Dutch left (1710), the French founded a colony on the island--Isle de France (1715). The French imported slaves from nearby Mozambique and Madagascar.
In the early-19th century the population was 78,000 peoplem variously estimated at 80-85 percent slaves. The British seized the island during the Napoleomic Wars (1810). This effectively ended the importantion of slaves as the British previously had banned the slave trade (1807), but not slavery itself.
One surce repots, "The first half of the nineteenth century, that is, from 1810 to 1850, is considered as the formative years of the history of Mauritius. Slavery, sugarcane and the coming of the Indian indentured labourers constitute the backbone of the development of the history of Mauritius. These three factors are closely linked and it would be hard to dissociate one from the other. Slavery was an essential link in the need for labour for the growth and evolution of the sugar sector."
The Merina ruler of Madagascar, the primary source of Mauritian slaves, and the British governor of Mauritius signed a treaty abolishing the slave trade (1817). A second treaty with Rafana was nore definitive (1820). Mauritius slave trading thus became a local market selling domestically owned slaves. Men and women were sold separately, apparently due to concerns over modesty. Children were sold with their mothers as a bundle. there were a small number of Indian slaves who sold for much less than the prices of African slaves, apparently because the Indians were phyically smaller.
Anter source describes slave life, "Slaves were given 1 kilo of maize per day or the equivalent in rice, manioc or sweet potatoes. No roots were allowed. The slaves supplemented their meal by vegetables they cultivated on a square plot of land allotted to them. They also reared pigs and poultry and could eat meat periodically. They received a set of dress per year. Men: a pair of trousers, a shirt and sometimes a waistcoat, women: a shirt, a skirt, and a kerchief. A few masters even gave them a sheet of linen they used as cover in winter."
Indentured laborers were obtained in India. The first imported Indian indetured workers arrived (1829). The British abolished slavery throughout the Empire (August 1833). The most important event under the British colony was the emancipation of the slaves (1835). Large numbers of Asians (Indians and a smaller mumber of Chinese) in the 19th and early-20th century emograted to Mauritius, changing the ethnic makeup of the island. The situation is similar to that of Réunion except that Réunion remained a French colony. Bernardin de St. Pierre (1737-1814) was a French author best known for his novel Paul et Virginie (1788). The principal characters of the novel are childhood friends who fall in love as teenagers. The story is set on the island of Mauritius, then called Île de France, and slavery features in the story.
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