October 1, 2026 Westimmo

History of Mauritius: from Arab navigators to the Republic

The history of Mauritius in key dates: an uninhabited island, Dutch settlement, Isle de France, British rule, indentured labour, independence in 1968 and the Republic in 1992 – and what it still shapes today.

Nobody lived on Mauritius before Europeans arrived. The Dutch were the first to settle, in 1638, and gave up the island in 1710. France held it as Isle de France from 1715 to 1810, and Britain ruled it until independence on 12 March 1968. Mauritius has been a republic since 12 March 1992. Its people descend from European settlers, enslaved men and women brought from Africa and Madagascar, indentured labourers from India and Chinese traders, and that past still shapes the island’s languages, laws and public holidays.

Key dates in the history of Mauritius
Date	Event
Middle Ages	Arab sailors probably pass by; maps from around 1500 show the island as Dina Arobi
Early 16th century	The Portuguese land, call the island Cirne and leave without settling
1598	A Dutch squadron lands at Grand Port and names the island “Mauritius”
1638	First Dutch settlement
1710	The Dutch leave for good
1715	France takes possession and renames the island Isle de France
1721	French settlement begins in earnest
1767	The French East India Company hands the island over to the Crown
August 1810	Battle of Grand Port, won by the French fleet
December 1810	British troops land in the north and the French surrender
1814	Treaty of Paris: Mauritius, Rodrigues and the Seychelles are ceded to Britain
1834	The first indentured labourers arrive from India
1835	Slavery is abolished
1965	Lancaster House conference; the Chagos Archipelago is detached from Mauritius
12 March 1968	Independence
12 March 1992	Mauritius becomes a republic

Before 1598: an empty island on Arab and Portuguese charts

For centuries the island stayed uninhabited. Arab sailors probably came across it in the Middle Ages, and maps from around 1500 mark it with the Arabic name Dina Arobi. Their visits are thought to date from the 9th or 10th century, and they left no trace of a settlement.

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to land, early in the 16th century; the navigator Domingo Fernandez Pereira is believed to have come ashore around 1511. Portuguese charts of the time call the island Cirne. Another Portuguese sailor, Pedro Mascarenhas, gave his name to the Mascarene Islands, the group formed by Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigues. The Portuguese did not stay: to them the island was no more than a stopover.

1598–1710: the Dutch, the first settlers

In 1598 a Dutch squadron under Admiral Wybrand van Warwijck dropped anchor in the bay of Grand Port, on the south-east coast. It named the island “Mauritius” after Prince Maurice of Nassau, Stadtholder of Holland, and the name stuck.

The Dutch only settled in 1638, in the same bay. The remains of their outpost can still be visited at Vieux Grand Port, close to Mahébourg. That first settlement lasted about twenty years. Later attempts never paid their way, and the Dutch left for good in 1710.

They left behind sugar cane, domestic animals and deer, all brought in during their time on the island. They also left behind an extinction. The dodo, a large flightless bird, had died out by the end of the 17th century: sailors hunted it, and the animals that came with them, rats, pigs and monkeys, ate the eggs it laid on the ground.

1715–1810: Isle de France

In September 1715 Guillaume Dufresne d’Arsel, sailing to India, claimed the island for France and renamed it Isle de France. French settlement began in earnest in 1721, run by the French East India Company.

The island really took off under Governor Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais. He turned Port Louis into a naval base and a shipyard, and built landmarks that still stand today: Government House, the Line Barracks and the Château de Mon Plaisir, in what is now the Pamplemousses botanical garden. His statue stands on Place d’Armes, looking out over the harbour.

In 1767 the Company handed the island over to the Crown. Until 1810 it was run by officials appointed by the French government, except for a short spell during the French Revolution, when the settlers set up a government that was virtually independent of France.

The plantation economy ran on slavery. Enslaved people were brought from Africa and Madagascar. Some escaped and hid on the cliffs of Le Morne Brabant, in the south-west, throughout the 18th century and into the early 19th. The mountain has become a symbol of their fight for freedom and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

1810: the Battle of Grand Port and the French surrender

During the Napoleonic Wars, Isle de France served as a base for French privateers, who raided British merchant ships with considerable success. Britain sent an expedition to put an end to it.

A first attack failed at Grand Port in August 1810. The French naval victory there is engraved on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Three months later, in December, the main assault set out from Rodrigues, which the British already held. Troops landed in large numbers in the north of the island, and the governor, General Charles Decaen, surrendered.

Under the terms of surrender, the British promised to respect the inhabitants’ language, customs, laws and traditions. The 1814 Treaty of Paris confirmed that the island, now Mauritius again, was ceded to Britain together with its dependencies, Rodrigues and the Seychelles.

1810–1968: British colony, sugar and indenture

British rule began with Governor Robert Farquhar, and English became the official language. Yet French stayed in wide use, as the surrender terms allowed, and it still is today after more than a century and a half of British rule.

Slavery was abolished in 1835. Planters received two million pounds sterling in compensation for the loss of their slaves. The anniversary of abolition, 1 February, is now a public holiday.

To replace that workforce, planters turned to India. From 1834 Mauritius became the first site of what the British government called “the great experiment”: using “free” labour under indenture contracts. Between 1834 and 1920, almost half a million indentured labourers from India arrived at Aapravasi Ghat in Port Louis, either to work on the island’s sugar estates or to be sent on to Réunion, Australia, southern and eastern Africa or the Caribbean. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and 2 November, the day the indentured labourers arrived, is a public holiday.

The newcomers, both Hindu and Muslim, quickly changed the make-up of Mauritian society, and a small number of Chinese traders joined them. Sugar cane flourished on exports to England, and the island gradually built up its roads and infrastructure.

In September 1965, the Lancaster House constitutional conference in London discussed the colony’s future. That same year, Britain detached the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius to form the British Indian Ocean Territory, in return for a three-million-pound grant and a promise to give the islands back once they were no longer needed for defence. After the 1967 general election, the Legislative Assembly passed a resolution calling for independence.

Since 1968: independence, the republic and the Chagos

Mauritius became independent on 12 March 1968, now its National Day. It remained a Commonwealth monarchy at first, and became a republic on 12 March 1992.

Since independence the economy has moved away from relying on sugar alone and diversified into textiles, tourism, financial services and IT. The island has gone from a low-income, mainly agricultural country to a middle-income economy.

The Chagos question stayed open. On 25 February 2019 the International Court of Justice found, in an advisory opinion, that the decolonisation of Mauritius had not been lawfully completed in 1968 and that the United Kingdom had to end its administration of the archipelago as quickly as possible. A treaty between the two countries, which recognises Mauritian sovereignty while keeping the military base on Diego Garcia, was signed on 22 May 2025. It only comes into force once both states have completed their ratification procedures.

How this history shapes daily life

Four centuries of colonial history still show in everyday life, and they matter in practical ways if you plan to move to Mauritius or buy property here.

Languages: English is the official language of government, French remains very present in the media and day-to-day life, and Mauritian Creole is the language everyone shares.
The law: Mauritius has a hybrid legal system. The Civil Code, the Code of Civil Procedure and the Commercial Code follow French law, adapted over time, while company law, criminal procedure and the law of evidence come from English law. That is why a property purchase goes through a notary, as it would in France. Our guide to buying property in Mauritius as a foreigner walks you through the steps.
The roads: Mauritius drives on the left, a British legacy.
The calendar: public holidays mark the abolition of slavery, the arrival of the indentured labourers and independence, alongside the main Hindu, Muslim, Chinese and Christian festivals, which reflects a population of many origins whose culture and traditions have blended.
Place names: the island’s own name is Dutch, while Port Louis, Pamplemousses and Mahébourg are French, and both eras sit side by side on the map.

Where to see this history today

Vieux Grand Port and Mahébourg, in the south-east: the bay of the first Dutch landing and the scene of the 1810 battle. Our Mahébourg walking guide has the details.
Port Louis: Aapravasi Ghat, Place d’Armes with the statue of Mahé de La Bourdonnais, Government House and the Line Barracks.
Pamplemousses: the Château de Mon Plaisir, in the heart of the botanical garden.
Le Morne, in the south-west: the cultural landscape linked to the maroons, a World Heritage Site.

You will find more articles in our History of Mauritius section.

Sources and verification

Dates and facts checked on 1 October 2026 against the sources below.

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