“Paradise Regained?”: The Genesis of the Settlement of the Chagos Archipelago

By Satyendra Peerthum,

Historian, Writer, & Lecturer

On Friday, 3^rd October 2024, a historic political agreement was reached between the Republic of Mauritius and Great Britain for the return of almost all of Chagos Archipelago islands to Mauritian control with the exception of Diego Garcia. It is the world’s largest coral atoll where the largest American military base outside of the USA exists since the late 1960s and early 1970s. Furthermore, Diego and its base are being secured through a new 99-year lease agreement as they will remain under Anglo-American control. It should be emphasized that this historic development is only the start of another long and complex process and brings into sharp focus once again the genesis of the history and settlement of the Chagos Archipelago.

• The Settlement of the Chagos Begins

The Chagos Archipelago has been part of the territory of the Mauritian Republic since the late eighteenth century when our country was a French colony and was known as Ile de France. The Chagos Archipelago and all the other islands forming part of Ile de France were ceded by France to Britain in 1810, when Ile de France was renamed Mauritius. In 1814, it was confirmed through the Treaty of Paris, when the British permanently annexed Mauritius and its dependencies to their ever-growing colonial Empire. The administration of the Chagos Archipelago as a constituent part of Mauritius continued without interruption throughout the period of British rule until its unlawful excision from Mauritius in 1965 and with the creation of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT).

Fig 1.Baron d’Unienville, the First Chief Archivist of British Mauritius,

describing the discovery and exploration of the Chagos by the French

between the 1740s and the 1770s

(Source: T Series, National Archives Department (NAD)

Historical documents from the National Archives Department mention that the permanent settlement of Diego Garcia and the Chagos archipelago began during the 1780s when Mauritius was under French rule. The rich, interesting, and complex history of this cluster of an estimated 58 islands and of the Chagossians span a period of around 180 years or from 1783 until 1973 and even to the present-day with the very recent historic agreement.

Fig 2.The Land Concession granted to Sieur Le Normand by the French Governor in 1783

(Source: NA Series, National Archives Department (NAD)

In February 1783, Sieur Pierre Marie Le Normand, an influential sugar and coconut plantation owner from the Black River district, petitioned Governor Vicomte de Souillac for a major land concession on Diego Garcia in order to establish a large coconut plantation. During the same month, the French governor gave this important Mauritian landowner “a favourable reply”.

In 1784, more than a year after the land concession was granted, Le Normand set out with two ships from Mauritius to Diego Garcia with 79 Mozambican and Malagasy slaves as well as a few free coloureds who were skilled workers. The ships also contained materials for the construction of a large coconut plantation.

By 1790, the economic activities of Le Normand on Diego Garcia consisted of exporting large quantities of copra annually to Mauritius where a limited amount coconut oil was produced for local consumption. The significance of this plantation cannot be underestimated because it marked the genesis of the permanent settlement as well as of the emergence of an important industry in Diego Garcia which was based exclusively on slave labour.

By the 1790s and first decade of the 1800s, three new coconut plantations and a fishing settlement, also relying on unfree labour, emerged on that coral atoll thanks largely to Mauritian entrepreneurs such as Lapotaire, Didier, Danquet, and the brothers Cayeux. By 1808, there were 100 Mozambican and Malagasy slaves working in Diego Garcia under Lapotaire alone.

In 1813, there was a similar number of enslaved labourers in Peros Banhos, shortly after Governor Farquhar made a land grant in 1813 to create a coconut plantation there. Other coconut plantations were similarly established under other owners at Six Iles in 1808 and at Trois Frères, Île d’Aigle, and Salomon Islands in 1813.

It is evident that between the mid-1780s and mid-1830s, like in other island colonies of the period, it was the Mozambican and Malagasy slaves who built the archipelago’s infrastructure, produced its wealth, and formed the overwhelming majority of its inhabitants, who were to become the ancestors of today’s Chagossians. Furthermore, it was slave labour which was used to exploit the natural resources of the Chagos which apart from copra included fish, guano, timber, and tortoise. By the first decade of the 1800s, coconut oil was also being manufactured at Diego Garcia and exported to Mauritius.

• Slavery in the Chagos

By the first decade of the nineteenth century, French colonial power in the Indian Ocean declined with the capture of Mauritius and several other Indian Ocean islands. The Chagos, like the Seychelles at this point, was considered to be one of the dependencies of Mauritius and was formally ceded to Great Britain through treaty agreements. In general, life in the Chagos Archipelago changed very little under British rule and slavery remained the defining feature of the coconut plantations and settlements, as it lasted until the abolition of slavery in Mauritius and its dependencies in 1835.

Fig 3.A List of Slaves belonging to Ozelle Majestre on Diego Garcia in 1835

(Source: IG Series, National Archives Department (NAD)

A letter in 1828 from the National Archives Department mentions the names and origins of some of the slaves of the Chagos, who eventually became its permanent residents, such as Pierre Louis (Creole of Mauritius), Prosper Jean (Malagasy), Marie Jeannie (Mozambican), Michel Levillain (Mozambican) and his wife, Prudence Levillain (Malagasy), and Theophile Le Leger (Creole of Mauritius).

 Fig 4.A drawing of Chagossian Slave Children in 1834 by

Reverend John Field, a missionary of the London Mission Society affiliated

with the Anglican Church in Mauritius during the 1830s in Mauritius

(Source: Photo and Lithograph Collection,

Anglican Church of Mauritius Archives (ACOMA)

These names, while they were common in the Chagos Archipelago during the 1820s and 1830s, to a certain extent, resemble some of the names of today’s Chagossians who reside in Mauritius and the Seychelles. The following tables provide a breakdown of the white, free colored, slave and leper population in the Chagos in 1826.

Table 1: Population of Diego Garcia in 1826

GRAND TOTAL: 275

       Thus, in 1826, barely a decade before the abolition of slavery in Mauritius and its dependencies, there were 375 slaves, 9 whites, 22 free coloureds, and 42 lepers. In all, there were 448 inhabitants in the Chagos Archipelago with Diego Garcia containing more than half of the residents. For the Chagossian slaves, life was dominated by the daily orders of the administrateurs which was enforced by their commandeurs.

The work of the slaves was long and hard, as the owners reported, “from sunrise to sunset for six days a week.” Outside their work days and working hours, some of the Chagossian slaves were able to save some money and have a “petite plantation,” which allowed them to raise animals and cultivate vegetables. They seem also to have exercised some control over their own social relations through the guidance of older men and women as well as an informal council of elders, a system that may have had its roots in East Africa and Madagascar.

After the abolition of slavery in February 1835, the general nature of labour relations changed little, even if the quantity and demands of work lessened over time in favour of the labourers during the late 1830s and 1840s. In fact, in 1949, the Director of the Labour Department commented that generally the “patriarchal” labour relations between the managers and labourers in the Chagos as “dating back to what I imagine would be the slave days, by this I do not imply any oppression but rather a system of benevolent rule with privileges and no rights.” The Apprenticeship system which followed slavery was abolished in May 1839 and all the former apprentices were given their freedom with most of them staying in the Chagos and some emigrating to the Mauritian mainland.

In conclusion, hopefully, during the coming months and years, with this new agreement, it is the sincere hope of the author that the Chagossians and their descendants will regularly visit and honour the places where their ancestors and families lived, toiled, and died. After all, it is now more than ever their acquired right after more than half a century of struggle and also for them it is still the unresolved question of whether it is paradise regained.