Jul 10 2008
Why visiting the Mauritius Island?
Mauritius is a small island situated in the Indian Ocean, near Madagascar belonging to the African continent and to the Commonwealth organisation.
The island was first discovered by Arabs, but this being off the record. Though the first official evidence of the discovery was the Italian Alberto Cantino’s map in 1502. Cantino’s map to exposed the names of three islands discovered: Reunion called diba margabin, Mauritius, called dina aroby and Rodrigues called dina morare. Another oficial discovery of the island was made by the Portuguese between 1507 and 1513.The island was discovered in random in an expedition organized on the coast of the Gulf of Bengal, leaded by Tristão da Cunha. However the Portuguese have not shown any interest in these isolated islands and have not installed in the area any permanent colony.
Between 1598 and 1637 followed a series of colonizations and conquests in the island. Following an expedition started in Texel (Netherlands) under the leadership of amirals Jacques Cornelius Van Neck and Wybrandt Van Warwyck on the Indian continent, the Dutch have discovered the island. The eight vessels were separated from Cape of Good Hope. Five of them went in recognition on the island under the command of the amiral Wybrandt Van Warwyck. The Dutch were also the ones who gave the name of the island after Maurits prince of the Netherlands, whose name was Mauritius in Latin, as well as the name of the city in the Northwestern part of the island, Port Louis, which later on became the capital of the country. Thus the Dutch abandoned the island in 1710.
The slaves were not very well treated by the inhabitants of the island. They were punished very severely. Some of the punishments consist of amputation of several parts of the body and their exposure as an example for others in full day, possibly ending with the execution of the sentenced slaves at sunset. The region which reminds them most of the slaves’ sufferings is the Peninsula Morne Brabant,in the Southwestern part of the island. Those who did not rezist the pains and sufferings came here and they jumped into the ocean from the mountain with the same name. This emotionant story of the slaves is also the theme of the song entitled LE MORNE interpreted by Cassiya. All the inhabitants of the island listen today with emotion the story of the slaves and of the Le Morne mountain.
Abandoned by the Dutch, the island was conquered by the French, being called “Ile de France”. During the Napoleonic wars, “Ile de France” has become a base where French corsairs organized raids on the English fleet. By the year 1810 the island was under the domination of the French government. However, the situation is changing in the same year when the British arrive on the island and they beat the French. By the Treaty of Paris in 1814 the island is now under English domination. Also under English domination the slavery is abolished. The island won its independence in 1968, on March 12th after a referendum for independence.