After Dutch colonists evacuated Mauritius in 1710, the island remained unoccupied for ten years. The French had a small colony at Bourbon island (Réunion) where a few Frenchmen and Malagasy servants, men and women, lived since 1664. In 1674, survivors of the French colony of Fort Dauphin in Madagascar, attacked by natives, found refuge in Bourbon. The Madagascar venture had ended in dismal failure, causing considerable financial loss to the ‘Compagnie des Indes Orientales,’ established by Colbert in 1664, thus delaying the setting up of trading posts in India. Meanwhile, the Portuguese, discoverers of the maritime route to India, followed by the Dutch and the English with greater fleets and capital had already established several trading posts since early 17th century. The French company founded a ‘comptoir’ at Pondicherry in 1674, but their activities started to flourish only by the 1720s. As maritime traffic in the Indian Ocean increased, European trading companies competed to acquire stopovers, where navigators could obtain fresh water, food, and fuel or where they could repair their ships and attend to the sick.
Unoccupied Mauritius was visited by ships belonging to rival companies; it was feared it could be occupied by any of them. The governor of Bourbon wrote to the French Minister of Marine, exhorting him to annex Mauritius immediately, arguing its natural harbours could be useful as shelters for ships or as naval bases in time of war. Mauritius was claimed for the King of France in September 1715 and renamed Isle de France. In the meantime, Louis XIV died, and colonial projects in America and the East were stalled. In 1719, after the collapse of John Law’s financial system, several commercial companies were combined to form the ‘Compagnie Perpétuelle des Indes’. In April 1721, the crown ceded Isle de France to the Company, and Chevalier Denis Denyon, a former engineer, was appointed as the first governor.
The ‘Expedition,’ as this venture was known, made up of two ships, the Atalante and the Diane, set sail from Lorient in June 1721. On board, there were some workers, 210 Swiss soldiers, 20 women, 30 children, several high officers, including Joseph François Dupleix, who was on his way to Pondicherry. According to a convention signed between the Company and the Saint Lazare congregation, two priests, Gabriel Igou, Jean Baptiste Borthon and two friars, Pierre Adam and Etienne Lecoq were engaged to look after spiritual matters. Company’s orders instructed Denyon to stop first at Bourbon island and to reconnoitre Isle de France, sailing there only if it was unoccupied. He was then required to build docks at Port Louis, a fort for defence, and distribute land to colonists, ordering them to produce enough food to be self-sufficient, and grow a surplus for Company ships calling at Isle de France.
The voyage to Isle de France was long and horrific. The ships stopped at Cape Verde islands as there were already many sick on board. In October, they anchored at Brazil where they stayed for two months, as more passengers, including the governor, were suffering from scurvy. During the stay, many soldiers had deserted or died. Meanwhile, on Christmas Eve of 1721, while the ships of the Expedition were still at Brazil, 16 inhabitants and some slaves under the command of Le Toullec du Ronguet, were sent by the governor of Bourbon to occupy Isle de France, and wait for the arrival of Denyon. They planted a small garden at the place later known as Company Garden and built a few huts. Le Toullec and some companions explored the island; they came across a German called Wilhem Lechnig with a few slaves, marooned since Dutch times, living on the banks of Grand River North West, in the region later named after him. On his return to Bourbon, Le Toullec deposited an adverse report stating the land at Isle de France was unsuitable for cultivation.
The ‘Expedition’ anchored at Port Nord-Ouest, Isle de France, on the 31 March 1722. About a hundred soldiers and sailors, and nine women had died during the voyage. The governor and all passengers went on shore on the 7th April. This event was greeted with a salvo of cannons, and celebrated by a ‘Te Deum’ on the shore. Denyon ordered the construction of huts to keep foodstuffs and to shelter the sick. He then visited Bourbon Island, made some fortification plans and returned to Isle de France with some slaves and a few hunters. His attempt to recruit colonists at Bourbon failed. However, on his return, contrary to company orders, he decided to establish the headquarters at Port Bourbon on the site of Dutch ruins. At Port Louis the ‘Camp’ was guarded by a detachment of soldiers. At each port, a parish was established: Saint Louis at Port Louis, Notre Dame at Port Bourbon; birth, marriage, and death registers of whites and slaves were kept by clerics.
Denyon restored the Dutch ruins to accommodate offices and stores, distributed lands for cultivation and traced a map of the island. Lands were granted to white settlers in the confines of the natural limits of the Grand Port range of mountains, the sea to the east and rivers to the south, colonists cultivating lands previously cleared by the Dutch. A stretch of land along the coast, fifty Pas Géometriques wide, was reserved for military purposes. Then, lands were distributed in the Savanne district, and at Trois Islots, no enduring settlements followed. On paper, one concession measured 156 ¼ arpents, on the ground, the area must have been approximate. Lands were given to parishes for the construction of religious buildings. According to a Company’s policy, high officials, Lenoir, Dupleix, Benoit Dumas, although not based in the island, also received concessions, which were to be administered by ‘commandeur-économes’ appointed by them. Payment was done in kind to the Company from products of the land.
Rats and monkeys devouring the crops, maroon slaves raiding the fields, cyclones causing damage to stores and crops, indolent colonists unwilling to cultivate the land, the colony often faced food shortages. Inhabitants and slaves had to fend for themselves by hunting and fishing. Food supplies had to be sought from Bourbon or Madagascar; little help came from Pondicherry. In an effort to control maroon slaves, military posts were set up at Rivière du Poste, (Savanne) Camp de Mascle and Poste à Faillet, (Poste La Fayette). Utterly disappointed, Denyon resigned in 1725, leaving behind a straggling colony numbering 213 people, whites and slaves.
In 1726, Pierre Christophe Lenoir, on his way to Pondicherry, stopped at Isle de France with orders to remedy the situation. He formed the Conseil Provincial, and reorganized the granting of land concessions. The most significant decision, however, was taken by Governor Nicolas de Maupin to transfer the main port and seat of government to Port Louis, despite vehement protests from settlers of Port Bourbon. Eventually, most inhabitants would abandon the south east when they received land grants in the Pamplemousses, Moka and Plaines Wilhems districts. A few names related to Port Bourbon have survived: Governor Denyon gave his name to a rivulet in the region. Navigator Jonchée de la Goletterie, gave his to a bay, and while a hill of the Grand Port range is known as Camisard after the nickname of an inhabitant called Jean Capieux, living at Trois Islots.
The pre-Mahé de La Bourdonnais period was plagued by stagnation everywhere and low morale. Clerics were so annoyed by turbulent inhabitants, that they interdicted Port Bourbon for some time. Igou even retreated to Ile Bourbon for two years. Although the company sent engineer Charpentier de Cossigny to build fortresses and public buildings at Port Louis, little was achieved. Troops mutinied and shots were even fired at the governor Maupin. In spite of efforts made by the Company to send more French workers and Tamil artisans, the population remained low, numbering 1922, whites, coloured and slaves, at the time of Maupin’s departure in 1735. Overwhelmed by this chaotic situation, Maupin reported to the Company that a settlement colony at Isle de France was hopeless.
Indeed, the future of Isle de France seemed uncertain. Had it not been for Governor Mahé de La Bourdonnais, who battling against all odds, transformed an agonizing colony into a thriving one. However, wars in Europe and in India would affect the affairs of the Company, causing its decline, and impacting all undertakings in the French empire. Bankrupt, the Company retroceded Isle de France to the Crown in 1764.
Interest in the early history of the French Mascarenes goes back to the 1930s when aspiring young historians Albert Lougnon and Auguste Toussaint were laying the basis of research. Lougnon published a catalogue on the official correspondences between Bourbon and Isle de France (1934). While Toussaint, at that time librarian of Carnegie Library, published Port Louis Deux Siècles d’Histoire in 1936. The Société de l’Histoire de L’Ile Maurice which became a research hub, was founded in 1938. When Toussaint was director of the Mauritius Archives, the Mauritius Archives Publication Fund was created, which published amongst other works, L’Ile de France avant La Bourdonnais (1721-1735) by Marcelle Lagesse. Journals such the Revue Rétrospective de l’Ile Maurice published logbooks and diaries of ship captains, mission reports of Company agents, which have further helped researchers. Archaeologists too have brought significant number of artefacts to the surface. (The discovery of Gabriel Igou’s tomb in 2005 at the old cemetery was accidental).
It is necessary to grasp this short preamble to the administration of La Bourdonnais to understand the context in which the island was settled, the role of Ile Bourbon and Madagascar, as well as that of Pondicherry in the development of the island.
* The author, former Officer at the Mauritius Archives, before joining the MGI and later the MIE.