Editing History of Mauritius (section)

==Dutch East India Company era (1598–1710)==
{{main article|Dutch Mauritius|Governor of Dutch Mauritius}}
[[File:VOC.svg|thumb|VOC (Logo of the Dutch East India Company)]] 
[[File:Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie spiegelretourschip Amsterdam replica.jpg|thumb|Replica of an [[East Indiaman]] of the [[Dutch East India Company]]/[[United East Indies Company]] (VOC)]]
[[File:Van Keulen - De Z. O. Haven van 't Eyland Mauritius.jpg|thumb|Dutch map of a coast of Mauritius. [[Dutch Mauritius]] (1638–1710) was the first permanent human settlement to be established on the island.]]
[[File:Parrot hunting on Mauritius.jpg|thumb|''Parrot hunting on Mauritius'' by [[Johann Theodor de Bry]], 1601]]
[[File:Het Tweede Boeck.jpg|thumb|Copper engraving from ''Het Tweede Boeck'' showing Dutch activities on the shore of Mauritius during the 1598 voyage of Admiral Jacob van Neck, as well as the first published depictions of a [[dodo]] (2) and a [[broad-billed parrot]] (5), both now extinct. [[Johann Theodor de Bry]], 1598]]
[[File:ExtinctDodoBird.jpeg|thumb|150px|A representation of the extinct [[dodo]] bird. Dutch presence on the island largely contributed to the extinction of this endemic bird.]]

In 1598, the [[second Dutch Expedition to Indonesia (1598-1600)|second Dutch Expedition to Indonesia]] consisting of eight ships, under the orders of admirals [[Jacques Cornelius van Neck]] and [[Wybrandt van Warwyck]], set sail from [[Texel|Texel, Netherlands]], towards the Indian subcontinent. The eight ships ran into foul weather after passing the [[Cape of Good Hope]] and were separated. Three found their way to the northeast of [[Madagascar]], while the remaining five regrouped and sailed in a southeasterly direction. On 17 September, the five ships under the orders of Admiral van Warwyck came into view of Mauritius. On 20 September, they entered a sheltered bay which they named "Port de Warwick" (now known as "Grand Port"). They landed and decided to name the island "Prins Mauritz van Nassaueiland," after the son of [[William the Silent]], [[Maurice, Prince of Orange|Prince Maurits]] ([[Latin]] version: Mauritius) of the [[House of Nassau]], the ''[[stadtholder]]'' of most of the [[Dutch Republic]], and after the main vessel of the fleet, the "Mauritius". From that time, only the name Mauritius has remained. On 2 October, the ships again took to the sea towards [[Banten Sultanate|Bantam]].

From then on, the island's Port de Warwick was used by Dutch ships as a stopover after long months at sea. In 1606, two expeditions came for the first time to what would later become [[Port Louis|Port-Louis]] in the northwest part of the island. The expedition, consisting of eleven ships and 1,357 men under the orders of Admiral Corneille, came into the bay, which they named "Rade des Tortues" (literally meaning "Harbor of the Tortoises") because of the great number of terrestrial tortoises they found there.<ref>[[Auguste Toussaint]], ''Histoire des îles Mascareignes'', p. 24</ref>  From that date, Dutch sailors shifted their choice to Rade des Tortues as a harbour.

In 1615, the shipwreck and death of governor [[Pieter Both]], who was coming back from India with four richly laden ships in the bay, led Dutch sailors to consider the route cursed, and they tried to avoid it as much as possible. In the meantime, the British and the Danes were beginning to make incursions into the Indian Ocean. Those who landed on the island freely cut and took with them the precious heartwood of the [[ebony]] trees, then found in profusion all over the island.

Dutch colonization started in 1638 and ended in 1710, with a brief interruption between 1658 and 1666 (the year of [[Great Fire of London]]). Numerous governors were appointed, but continuous hardships such as cyclones, droughts, pest infestations, lack of food, and illnesses in the end took their toll, and the island was definitively abandoned in 1710.

The island was not permanently inhabited for the first forty years after its "discovery" by the Dutch, but in 1638 [[Cornelius Gooyer]] established the first permanent Dutch settlement in Mauritius with a garrison of twenty-five. He thus became the first governor of the island. In 1639, thirty more men came to reinforce the Dutch colony. Gooyer was instructed to develop the commercial potential of the island, but he did nothing of the sort, so he was recalled. His successor was [[Adriaan van der Stel]], who began the development in earnest, developing the export of ebony wood. For that purpose, van der Stel brought 105 Malagasy slaves to the island.<ref>Dr A. Satteeanund Peerthum, Resistance Against Slavery, 1989, in ''Slavery in the South West Indian Ocean'', MGI, p. 25</ref> Within the first week, about sixty were able to escape into the forests; about twenty of them were recaptured.   

In 1644, the islanders were faced with many months of hardships, due to delayed shipment of supplies, bad harvests, and cyclones. During those months, the colonists could only rely on their own ability to feed themselves by fishing and hunting. Nonetheless, van der Stel secured the shipment of 95 more servants from Madagascar, before being transferred to Ceylon. His replacement was [[Jacob van der Meersh]]. In 1645, the latter brought in 108 more Malagasy servants.{{clarify|slave?|date=December 2022}} Van der Meersh left Mauritius in September 1648 and was replaced by [[Reinier Por]].

In 1652, more hardships befell the inhabitants, colonists and servants alike. The population was then about a hundred people. The continuing hardships affected the commercial potential of the island and a pullout was ordered in 1657. On 16 July 1658, all the inhabitants left the island apart from a ship's 'boy' and two servants who had taken shelter in the forests.<ref>Albert Pitot, ''T’Eyland Mauritius, Esquisses Historiques (1598–1710)'' 1905, p. 116</ref> Thus the first attempt at Dutch colonization ended badly.

In 1664, a second attempt also ended badly, as the men chosen for the job abandoned their sick commander, [[van Niewland]], without proper treatment, and he died.

From 1666 to 1669, [[Dirk Jansz Smient]] administered the new colony at Port de Warwick, with the cutting down and export of ebony trees as the main activity. When Dirk Jansz Smient left, he was replaced by [[George Frederik Wreeden]], who died in 1672, drowned with five other colonists during a reconnaissance expedition. His replacement would be [[Hubert Hugo]]. Hugo was a man of vision and wanted to make the island into an agricultural colony. His vision was not shared by his superiors, and he eventually had to abandon the attempt.

[[Issac Johannes Lamotius]] became the new governor when Hugo left in 1677. Lamotius governed until 1692, when he was deported to Batavia for judgment for persecuting a colonist whose wife had refused his courtship. A new governor, [[Roelof Diodati]], was then appointed in 1692. Diodati faced many problems in his attempts to develop the island, such as cyclones, pest infestations, cattle illnesses, and droughts.

On 7 January 1702, the pirate [[John Bowen (pirate)|John Bowen]] foundered his ship called the 'speaker' onto a 'Swarte Klip' beach (a black rock beach?) on the East of Mauritius. A hundred and seventy pirates armed to the teeth against a poorly armed and frail Dutch population of fifty meant the 'crafty' Diodati had no choice but to sell them a small sloop for them to enlarge so as to leave Mauritius.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lizé |first=Patrick |date=May 1984 |title=The wreck of the pirate ship Speaker on Mauritius in 1702 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1095-9270.1984.tb01182.x |journal=International Journal of Nautical Archaeology |language=en |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=121–132 |doi=10.1111/j.1095-9270.1984.tb01182.x|bibcode=1984IJNAr..13..121L }}</ref>

Eventually discouraged, Diodati gave up and his replacement was [[Abraham Momber van de Velde]]. The latter fared no better but remained the last Dutch governor of the island until it was abandoned in 1710, again.

Slaves were not particularly well treated by the colonists, and revolts or the act of organizing one were severely repressed and punished. Some punishments consisted of amputation of various parts of the body and exposure in the open air for a day as example to others, eventually culminating in condemned slaves’ execution at sunset.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Roy |first1=Mrinal |title=Slavery: The most heinous crime against humanity |date=3 February 2012 |url=http://www.mauritiustimes.com/mt/mrinal-roy/ |publisher=Mauritius Times |access-date=2012-02-03}}</ref>

The legacy of the Dutch in Mauritius includes:
*Providing the name for the country and for many regions over the whole island. Some examples include "Pieter Both" mountain and the "Vandermeersh" region near [[Rose-Hill]], as well as many other names.
*Introduction of [[sugar cane]] plants from Java.
*Decimating the local dodo and giant tortoise populations for food and by introducing competing species and pests, sometimes involuntarily.
*Clearing of large swathes of ancient forests for ebony wood exploitation in Europe.