The Discovery Of Mauritius:

It is believed that the first people to set foot on the island of Mauritius were Arab sailors and merchants. Arab merchant ships have been sailing the Indian Ocean for centuries. Important trading routes linked the east coast of Africa and Madagascar with the Arabian Peninsula, India and Indonesia.
In 1498, the Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama succeeded in rounding the cape of Good Hope and called at various Arab-Swahili cities along the East African coast on his way northwards. It was at one of those city ports that an Arab or Indian pilot showed him the way to Goa, India. Within the next ten years, numerous Portuguese expeditions explored the Indian Ocean, visiting Madagascar, the Seychelles and the Comoros Islands.
Around 1507, the Portuguese seaman Fernandez Pereira sighted Mauritius and named it Cerne. The group of islands consisting of Mauritius, Reunion and Rodrigues were given the names of Mascarenes after the Portuguese captain, Pero Mascarenhas.
The Portuguese never attempted to settle on any of the Mascarenes Islands. The Dutch were the first people to establish a permanent presence on the island.

The French Period (1715 – 1810):

In 1710 the Dutch abandoned for good the island after two unsuccessful attempts at Colonization. A French sea captain, Dufresne d’Arsel claimed the island for France in 1715 and called it “ile de France” but it was only in 1721 that a small party was sent to began settling on the island. The island remained French till the British invaded in 1810 during the Napoleonic wars.
Under the French, the island became a relatively prosperous colony with numerous French immigrants settling there. The French presence has had a profound influence on the fate of Mauritius.

The British Period (1810 – 1968):

During the Napoleonic Wars, the British invaded Mauritius in 1810. The British Occupation of the island lasted till 1968 when they granted the country independence. The only reason for the British to be interested in the island was that it lay along the sea route from England to British India and that the French presence in Mauritius was a
threat to British shipping. Indeed, a number of French navy vessels and corsairs harassed British vessels en route to India or to England.
The British Admiralty of the time viewed Mauritius as the key to the control of the Indian Ocean and possession of the island became a military imperative. Once Mauritius was taken over, the control of the Indian Ocean by the British Empire can be said to have been complete and remained virtually unchallenged till the entry of Imperial Japan into the Second World War in 1941.
Just as the French presence was determinant in the making of Mauritius, the British Occupancy has shaped tremendously the destiny of this country. Mauritius is one of the few countries in the world to have been colonised by the French and the British successively. Like the French, the British left behind the English language and a system of laws. But just as important when they departed they left behind a Westminster-type of Government, a Civil Service, a Constitution, a British based educational system and an embryonic welfare system. It goes to the credit of the British colonizer to have also permitted and to a certain extent encouraged the development of a working democracy.