Claim: Mauritius was a colony of France after it was freed from Dutch possession.
Evidence: Formerly a Dutch colony -LRB- 1638 -- 1710 -RRB- and a French colony -LRB- 1715 -- 1810 -RRB- , Mauritius became a British colonial possession in 1810 and remained so until 1968 , the year in which it attained independence.