fco_994606 - ÎLES DE FRANCE ET DE BOURBON (ÎLES DE LA RÉUNION ET MAURICE) 3 sous 1781 Paris

FRENCH ISLANDS AND BOURBON (REUNION ISLAND AND MAURITIUS)

(18th-19th centuries)

Mauritius and Réunion were recognized by the Portuguese Pedro Mascarenhas in 1507 and visited by Domingo Fernandez in 1511. Mauritius was occupied by the Dutch from 1638 and that of Bourbon by a few Frenchmen whose first settlers arrived in 1646. The French seized Mauritius in 1715 and it was given the name Île de France. The Compagnie des Indes settled in Port Louis in 1720. In 1810, the island was occupied by the English and became an English colony after the treaties of Paris in 1814 and 1815. Slavery was abolished in 1835 which created a serious economic crisis and the importation of Chinese or Indian coolies. Around 1860, the island had 170,000 inhabitants. English became the official language in 1827, but French remained the vehicular language.