Editing History of Mauritius (section)

==Portuguese discoveries (1507–1513)==
Mauritius was later rediscovered and visited by the Portuguese between 1507 and 1513. Mauritius and surrounding islands were known as the Mascarene Islands ({{lang|pt|Ilhas Mascarenhas}})  after [[Pedro Mascarenhas]].

[[File:Descobrimentos e explorações portuguesesV2.png|thumb|center|469px|Portuguese discoveries 1415–1543 in the Reign of [[John III of Portugal|D. João III]] (verde)]]{{clear}}

An official world map by [[Diogo Ribeiro (cartographer)|Diogo Ribeiro]] described "from west to east, the first island, 'Mascarenhas', the second, 'Santa Apolonia' and the third, 'Domingo Froiz.' "<ref>Albert Pitot, ''T’Eyland Mauritius, Esquisses Historiques (1598–1710)'' 1905, p. 4.</ref> The three islands ([[Réunion]], Mauritius and [[Rodrigues (island)|Rodrigues]]) were encountered some years earlier by chance during an exploratory expedition of the coast of the [[Bay of Bengal]] led by [[Tristão da Cunha]]. The expedition ran into a [[cyclone]] and was forced to change course. Thus, the ship ''Cirne'' of the captain [[Diogo Fernandes Pereira]], came into view of Réunion island on 9 February 1507. They called the island "Santa Apolonia" ("[[Saint Apollonia]]") in honor of that day's saint. Mauritius was encountered during the same expedition and received the name of "Cirne" and Rodrigues that of "Diogo Rodrigues".<ref>Jacques Auber, ''Histoire de l’océan Indien'', 1955, p. 233</ref> Five years later, the islands were visited by Pedro Mascarenhas.<ref>[[Auguste Toussaint]] attributed the discovery of Mauritius to Mascarenhas whereas Albert Pitot hesitated to do so. André de Chapuiset Le Merle in his "Précis d’histoire de l’île Maurice", 1948, stated that it was really Pedro de Mascarenhas and not Pedro Mascarenhas, who went to India only in 1554.</ref> who left the name "Mascarene" for the whole region. The Portuguese took no interest in these isolated islands. They were already established in Asia in [[Goa]], on the coast of Malabar, on the island of Ceylon (now [[Sri Lanka]]) and on the Malaysian coast.

Their main African base was in [[Mozambique]], therefore the Portuguese navigators preferred to use the [[Mozambique Channel]] to go to India. The [[Comoros]] to the north proved to be a more practical port of call. Thus no permanent colony was established on the island by the Portuguese.