Welcome to Mauritius History
History of Mauritius
"Seven pyramids have been identified on the African island of Mauritius. Remarkably, in construction, they are identical to the ones found on the island of Tenerife, an island on the opposite side of the continent. It underlines the likelihood that one civilisation sailed to various islands off the coast of Africa and constructed these structures."
This information has hoisted several questions about the real history of Mauritius these last days. As per the facts gathered on this substantial topic, Mauritius have been first known to the Arabs but since this intriguing discovery, it is suspected that people from the African Shores as well as the Sea peoples which included the proto-Phoenicians were the first one to set feet on the island. The ancient Egyptians used the Phoenician fleet to carry out expeditions thus we can come to the conclusion that those pyramids are remnants of a seafaring culture and thus prior to Arabs it was actually these people who first encountered the shores of Mauritius.
When Arabs first discovered the island, they named it Dina Harobi and it as the famous Italian Cartographer Alberto Cantino who first provided the historical proof of the existence of a small island (now Mauritius) in the Indian Ocean. During the 1507-1513 periods it was the turn of the Portuguese sailors to discover and unravel the mysteries of this peculiar island. Pedro Mascarehnas was the person in charge of this expedition he named the island Cirn . The island at that time as only used as a port and the Portuguese never established any permanent settlement. It was a mere matter of chance which brought the Dutch to Mauritius in 1598. Jacques Cornelius Van Neck and Wybrandt Van Warwyck, two admirals were bestowed with orders to carry on their voyage towards the Indian subcontinent, however due to rough weather conditions, they landed on the island and decide to name it the "Prins Maurits van Nassaueiland", after Prince Maurits, and that is from where the island got its name; Mauritius. The Dutch colonization was short-lived, since they withdrew from the islands in 1712, due cyclonic conditions and injurious conditions of living.
In 1715, Mauritius underwent the French colonization its was referred to as "isle De France" and its paramount use was dedicated for the conquering of Madras and other Indian territories under the reign of the British. Moreover Mauritius knew a boost in its economy, agriculture and infrastructure since the French were keen to establish permanent settlement. In 1810 the tremendous battle between the French and the British over the island, lead the British to Victory and this was regarded as the one and only victory of the navy of Napoleon in the World.
1835 witnessed a memorable event with the abolition of slavery and indentured laborers were being brought from several countries, like China, Africa, Madagascar, but ultimately it was India which supplied the majority of laborers. However no one at that time suspected that this will bring along a drastic change in the population and political structure of the island. The 19th and 20th century testified the continuous struggle of politicians but it was only with the emergence of the Mauritian Labour party in 1936, that the country knew a significant change in its political environment. In 1968 the island became an independent nation and it became a republic state in 1992. Major reforms being brought to the island in terms of its economy led the island from being an underdeveloped third world country into a developing country.
