Editing Mauritius (section)

===French Mauritius (1715–1810)===
{{Main|Isle de France (Mauritius)}}

France, which already controlled neighbouring Île Bourbon (now [[Réunion]]), took control of Mauritius in 1715 and renamed it [[Isle de France (Mauritius)|Isle de France]]. In 1723, the ''[[Code Noir]]'' was established to regulate slavery; it categorised one group of human beings as "goods", allowing the owner of these "goods" to be able to obtain insurance money and compensation in case of loss of his "goods".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/ROL/TJC_Vol1.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160615081832/http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/ROL/TJC_Vol1.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 June 2016|title=USIP}}</ref> The 1735 arrival of French governor [[Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais]] coincided with the development of a prosperous economy based on sugar production. Mahé de La Bourdonnais established [[Port Louis]] as a naval base and a shipbuilding centre.<ref name="govt" /> Under his governorship, numerous buildings were erected, a number of which are still standing. These include part of Government House, the Château de Mon Plaisir, and the Line Barracks, the headquarters of the [[Mauritius Police Force|police force]]. The island was under the administration of the [[French Indies Company|French East India Company]], which maintained its presence until 1767.<ref name="govt" /> 
During the French rule, slaves were brought from parts of Africa such as Mozambique [[Zanzibar slave trade|and Zanzibar]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Creating the Creole Island: Slavery in Eighteenth-Century Mauritius|date=2005|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-3402-6|pages=277–304|chapter=Notes|doi=10.1215/9780822386919-011 }}</ref> As a result, the island's population rose dramatically from 15,000 to 49,000 within thirty years. 
Slave traders from [[Madagascar]] - [[Sakalava people|Sakalava]] or Arabs - bought slaves from slavers in the Arab [[Swahili coast]] or [[Portuguese Mozambique]] and stopped at [[Seychelles]] for supplies before shipping the slaves to the slave markets of Mauritius, Réunion and India.<ref>The African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean. (2003). Storbritannien: Africa World Press. p. 65-68</ref> 
Of the 80,000 slaves imported to Réunion and Mauritius between 1769 and 1793, 45% was provided by slave traders of the [[Sakalava people]] in North West Madagascar, who raided East Africa and [[the Comoros]] for slaves, and the rest was provided by Arab slave traders who bought slaves from [[Portuguese Mozambique]] and transported them to Réunion via Madagascar.<ref>Asian and African Systems of Slavery. (1980). Storbritannien: University of California Press. p. 75-76</ref>
During the late eighteenth century, African slaves accounted for around 80 percent of the island's population, and by the early nineteenth century there were 60,000 slaves on the island.<ref name="The slave trade on Mauritius" /> In early 1729, Indians from [[Puducherry (city)|Pondicherry, India]], arrived in Mauritius aboard the vessel ''La Sirène''. Work contracts for these craftsmen were signed in 1734 at the time when they acquired their freedom.<ref>{{Cite web|date=5 February 2004|title=Tamouls, les racines de l'histoire|url=https://www.lexpress.mu/article/tamouls-les-racines-de-lhistoire|access-date=5 February 2004|website=L'Express}}</ref>

[[File:Combat de Grand Port mg 9425.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Grand Port]] between French and British naval forces, 20–27 August 1810]]

From 1767 to 1810, except for a brief period during the [[French Revolution]] when the inhabitants set up a government virtually independent of France, the island was controlled by officials appointed by the French government. [[Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre]] lived on the island from 1768 to 1771, then went back to France, where he wrote ''[[Paul et Virginie]]'', a love story that made the [[Isle de France (Mauritius)|Isle de France]] famous wherever the French language was spoken. In 1796 the settlers broke away from French control when the government in Paris attempted to abolish slavery.<ref>{{Cite news|date=25 February 2019|title=Mauritius profile – Timeline|work=[[BBC News]]|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13882731|access-date=25 February 2019}}</ref> Two famous French governors were the Vicomte de Souillac (who constructed the Chaussée in Port Louis<ref name="Toussaint2">Port Louis, A tropical City, Auguste Toussaint. {{ISBN|0 04 969001 9}}</ref> and encouraged farmers to settle in the district of Savanne) and [[Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux]] (who saw to it that the French in the Indian Ocean should have their headquarters in Mauritius instead of [[Puducherry (city)|Pondicherry]] in India).<ref name="Toussaint">''A short History of Mauritius'', P.J. Barnwell & A. Toussaint</ref> [[Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen]] was a successful general in the [[French Revolutionary Wars]] and, in some ways, a rival of [[Napoléon I]]. He ruled as [[Governor of Isle de France (Mauritius)|Governor of Isle de France]] and Réunion from 1803 to 1810. British naval [[cartographer]] and explorer [[Matthew Flinders]] was arrested and detained by General Decaen on the island from 1803 to 1810,<ref>{{Cite web|date=18 December 2015|title=From Terra Australis to Australia Matthew Flinders' journeys|url=https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/terra-australis-australia/matthew-flinders-journeys|access-date=14 September 2020|publisher=State Library of NSW}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Moheeputh|first=Anand|date=24 October 2003|title=Matthew Flinders, an illustrious prisoner|url=https://www.lexpress.mu/article/matthew-flinders-illustrious-prisoner|access-date=24 October 2003|website=L'Express}}</ref> in contravention of an order from Napoléon. During the [[Napoleonic Wars]], Mauritius became a base from which [[French corsairs]] organised successful raids on British commercial ships. The raids continued until 1810, when a [[Royal Navy]] expedition led by [[Commodore (Royal Navy)|Commodore]] [[Josias Rowley]], [[Royal Navy|R.N.]], an [[Anglo-Irish]] [[aristocracy (class)|aristocrat]], was sent to capture the island. Despite winning the [[Battle of Grand Port]] against the British, the [[Invasion of Île de France|French could not prevent the British from landing]] at [[Cap Malheureux]] three months later. They formally surrendered the island on the fifth day of the invasion, 3 December 1810,<ref name="Toussaint" /> on terms allowing settlers to keep their land and property and to use the French language and law of France in criminal and civil matters. Under British rule, the island's name reverted to Mauritius.<ref name="govt" />