page_title: History of Mauritius
section_title: British rule (1810–1968)
hierarchical_section_title: History of Mauritius / British rule (1810–1968)
caption_attribution_description: Artist Pierre Julien GilbertDescription English: Battle of Grand Port Visible are, from left to right: HMS Iphigenia striking her colours (actually happened the next day) HMS Magicienne being scuttled by fire HMS Sirius being scuttled by fire HMS Nereide surrendered French frigate Bellone French frigate Minerve Victor (background) CeylonOil on canvasCollection Musée national de la Marine &#160;&#160;Native nameMusée national de la MarineLocationParisCoordinates48°&#160;51′&#160;43″&#160;N, 2°&#160;17′&#160;15″&#160;E Established1827Web pagewww.musee-marine.frAuthority control : Q1286709 VIAF:&#8201;19144648200974718522 ISNI:&#8201;0000 0001 2259 2914 LCCN:&#8201;n50055356 Museofile:&#8201;M5026 WorldCat institution QS:P195,Q1286709Source/Photographer Med English: Battle of Grand Port Visible are, from left to right: HMS Iphigenia striking her colours (actually happened the next day) HMS Magicienne being scuttled by fire HMS Sirius being scuttled by fire HMS Nereide surrendered French frigate Bellone French frigate Minerve Victor (background) CeylonOil on canvas
context_page_description: The known history of Mauritius begins with its discovery by Arabs, followed by Europeans and its appearance on maps in the early 16th century. Mauritius was successively colonized by the Netherlands, France and Great Britain, and became independent in 1968.
context_section_description: Despite the only French naval victory (during the Napoleonic Wars) of Battle of Grand Port on 19 and 20 August 1810 by a fleet commanded by Pierre Bouvet, Mauritius was captured on 3 December 1810 by the British under Commodore Josias Rowley. Their possession of the island was confirmed four years later by the Treaty of Paris (1814). French institutions, including the Napoleonic code of law, were maintained. The French language was at that moment still used more widely than English.
  The British administration, which began with Robert Townsend Farquhar as governor, was followed by rapid social and economic changes. One of the most important events was the abolition of slavery on 1 February 1835. The planters received a compensation of two million pounds sterling for the loss of their slaves which had been imported from Africa and Madagascar during the French occupation.
  Sir George Ferguson Bowen was governor from 1879 to 1883.
  Mauritian Creoles trace their origins to the plantation owners and slaves who were brought to work the sugar fields. 
  When slavery was abolished on 1 February 1835, an attempt was made to secure a cheap source of adaptable labour for intensive sugar plantations in Mauritius. Indentured labour began with Chinese, Malay, African and Malagasy labourers, but ultimately, it was India which supplied the much needed laborers to Mauritius. This period of intensive use of Indian labour took place during British rule, with many brutal episodes and a long struggle by the indentured for respect. The term applied to the indentured during this period, and which has since become a derogatory term for Mauritians of Asian descent, was Coolie. The island soon became the key-point in the trade of indentured laborers, as thousands of Indians set forth from Calcutta or Karikal;  not only did they modify the social, political and economic physiognomies of the island, but some also went farther, to the West Indies.
  Indo-Mauritians are descended from Indian immigrants most of whom arrived between 1835 and 1924 via the Aapravasi Ghat in order to work as indentured labourers after slavery was abolished in 1835. Included in the Indo-Mauritian community are Muslims (about 17% of the population) from the Indian subcontinent. The Franco-Mauritian elite controls nearly all of the large sugar estates and is active in business and banking. As the Indian population became numerically dominant and the voting franchise was extended, political power shifted from the Franco-Mauritians and their Creole allies to the Indo-Mauritians.
  The meeting of a mosaic of people from India, China, Africa and Europe began a process of hybridisation and intercultural frictions and dialogues, which poet Khal Torabully has termed "coolitude". This social reality is a major reference for identity opened to otherness and is widely used in Mauritius where it represents a humanism of diversity.
  Conflicts arose between the Indian community (mostly sugarcane labourers) and the Franco-Mauritians in the 1920s, leading to several – mainly Indian – deaths. Following this, the Mauritius Labour Party was founded in 1936 by Maurice Curé to safeguard the interest of the labourers. Curé was succeeded a year later by Emmanuel Anquetil who tried to gain the support of the port workers. After his death, Guy Rozemont took over the leadership of the party.
  The Mauritius Territorial Force comprising coastal artillery and infantry formations was created in 1934. Due to the escalation of the Second World War, the force expanded to comprise two battalions. It was renamed the Mauritius Regiment in 1943.
  The 1st Battalion with a strength of 1,000 men landed in (Diego Suarez) on December 1943 to relieve Imperial Forces who had invaded and seized the island from Vichy France in the 1942 Battle of Madagascar.  Shortly after landing the battalion mutinied due to protests at their conditions and the breaking of their guarantee they would not leave Mauritius.  Disarmed by the King's African Rifles, 300 soldiers were arrested and 500 soldiers tried but only 6 remained imprisoned by 1946
caption: Battle of Grand Port (1810) by Pierre Julien Gilbert
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