Editing Mauritius (section)

=== Early history of Mauritius ===
{{Main|Dutch Mauritius}}
The island of Mauritius was uninhabited before its first recorded visit by Arab sailors in the end of the 10th century. Its name Dina Arobi has been associated with Arab sailors who first discovered the island.

[[File:D._Pedro_Mascarenhas.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Pedro Mascarenhas]], [[List of governors of Portuguese India|Viceroy of Portuguese India]] and namesake of the [[Mascarene Islands]].]]

The [[Treaty of Tordesillas]], designed to prevent conflict between Portugal and Spain, gave the [[Kingdom of Portugal]] the right to colonise this part of the world. In 1507, Portuguese sailors came to the uninhabited island and established a visiting base. [[Diogo Fernandes Pereira]], a Portuguese navigator, was the first European known to land in Mauritius. He named the island "Ilha do Cisne" ("Island of the Swan"). The Portuguese did not stay long as they were not interested in these islands.<ref name="govt">{{Cite web|title=History|url=http://www.govmu.org/English/ExploreMauritius/Pages/History.aspx#dutch|access-date=22 January 2015|website=Government of Mauritius|archive-date=16 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161016015207/http://www.govmu.org/English/ExploreMauritius/Pages/History.aspx#dutch}}</ref> The [[Mascarene Islands]] were named after [[Pedro Mascarenhas]], [[Viceroy of Portuguese India]], after his visit to the islands in 1512. [[Rodrigues (island)|Rodrigues Island]] was named after [[Portuguese discoveries|Portuguese explorer]] [[Diogo Rodrigues]], who first came upon the island in 1528.

[[File:Het Tweede Boeck.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|left|Dutch activities on Mauritius, as well as the first published depiction of a [[dodo]] bird (2), 1601]]

In 1598, a Dutch squadron under Admiral Wybrand Van Warwyck landed at [[Grand Port]] and named the island "Mauritius" after [[Maurice, Prince of Orange|Prince Maurice of Nassau]] ([[Dutch language|Dutch]]: ''Maurits van Nassau'') of the [[Dutch Republic]]. The Dutch inhabited the island in 1638, from which they exploited [[ebony]] trees and introduced [[sugar cane]], domestic animals and deer. It was from here that Dutch navigator [[Abel Tasman]] set out to seek the Great Southern Land, mapping parts of [[Tasmania]], New Zealand and [[New Guinea]]. The first Dutch settlement lasted 20 years. In 1639, the Dutch East India Company brought enslaved Malagasy to cut down ebony trees and to work in the new tobacco and sugar cane plantations.<ref name="The slave trade on Mauritius">{{Cite web|title=The slave trade on Mauritius|url=https://www.roughguides.com/destinations/africa/mauritius/west-coast/le-morne-peninsula/slave-trade-mauritius|access-date=13 September 2020|website=Rough Guides|archive-date=1 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001233138/https://www.roughguides.com/destinations/africa/mauritius/west-coast/le-morne-peninsula/slave-trade-mauritius/}}</ref> Several attempts to establish a colony permanently were subsequently made, but the settlements never developed enough to produce dividends, causing the Dutch to abandon Mauritius in 1710.<ref name="govt" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=History of Mauritius|url=http://culture.govmu.org/English//DOCUMENTS/PAMPHLET%20STRIPPED.PDF|access-date=22 January 2015|website=Government of Mauritius}}</ref> A 
1755 article in the English ''[[Leeds Intelligencer]]'' claims that the island was abandoned due to the large number of [[long tailed macaque]] monkeys "which destroyed everything in it," and that it was also known at the time as the '''Island of Monkeys'''.<ref>{{Cite news|date=22 July 1755|title=Sunday's Post|work=[[Leeds Intelligencer]]|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000236/17550722/006/0002|access-date=4 July 2021|quote=The Island of Mauritius, which is also named the Island of Monkeys, on account of the Multitude of those Animals which destroyed everything in it, was discovered in 1698 by the Dutch, who named it Mauritius, of Maurice, of Orange, and quitted it by reason of the great Number of Monkeys on it.}}</ref> Portuguese sailors had brought these monkeys to the island from their native habitat in Southeast Asia, prior to Dutch rule.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Macaque monkeys on Mauritius, a sad monkey's tale|url=https://earthtimes.org/conservation/macaque-monkeys-mauritius-sad-monkey-tale/1501/|access-date=12 March 2023|website=earthtimes.org|date=11 October 2011}}</ref>