Mauritius Hotels

Mauritius is a small island in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar. History The discovery of Mauritius Island was first made by the Arab sailors, at this time the island was a dense forest. There is no exact date of when Mauritius was discovered by the Arabs, it is said to be around the 9th century. But the Arabs sailors were not interested in settling on the island which they named Dina Arobi or Dinarobin. Fernandez Pereira, a Portuguese sailor who saw the island decided to give it the name of Cerne. Discovered by the Portuguese in 1505.

Mauritius was subsequently held by the Dutch, French, and British before independence was attained in 1968. But the Portuguese sailors were not interested to settle on the island. The first to colonise the island were the Dutch. They took possession of the island in 1598. The Dutch settlers came on the island by a bay in the south eastern part of the island which was named Warwyck Haven after the commander VanWarwyck, the bay is now known as Grand Port. Mauritius also got its name during this period; the island was named after the Prince of Holland Mauritz de Nassau.

In 1710, the Dutch abandoned the island, leaving behind macaques, the java deer, sugar cane, fugitive slaves and, also, an irreversible damage to the endemic and indigenous flora and fauna of the island the Dodo was, by then, extinct due to extensive hunting while the, once abundant, black ebony tree population was almost completely depleted due to over-exploitation for its timber. The French settled on the island in 1715 and also landed at the bay in the southeast and named it Port Bourbon. They renamed the island as Ile de France. They made settlement on the north-western side of the island which became the harbour and was named Port Louis which is also the capital of Mauritius.

During the French settlement there has been a lot of development in the country. Mahe de Labourdonnais, whose statue is found in Port Louis in face of the harbour, is known as the founder of the capital city and the island prospered under his governance (1735-1746).

In August 1810, the British tried to take over the island but lost after a fierce battle against the French in the famous Battle of Grand Port - the only victory of the French over the British. However, the British came back in December 1810 and successfully defeated the French. From then on, the island was renamed Mauritius and remained under the rule of British until they attained independence on the 12 March 1968 within the Commonwealth. In 1835, slavery was officially abolished and, as most of the African slaves chose to abandon the agricultural fields and retire into small coastal villages, indentured labourers were brought in from India to work in the growing sugar-cane industry.