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Brief history of the slave trade to the Mascarenes in the eighteenth century
Ile de France refers to the island of Mauritius off the coast of Madagascar.
- The Portuguese (1511) The Portuguese did not stay long as they were not interested in these islands.
- The Dutch period (1598-1710) They are remembered for the introduction of sugar-cane, domestic animals and deer.
- The French period (1715-1810) The island was under the administration of the French East India Company which maintained its presence until 1767. From that year until 1810, the island was in charge of officials appointed by the French Government, except for a brief period during the French Revolution, when the inhabitants set up a government virtually independent of France.
- The British period (1810-1968) The abolition of slavery had important repercussions on the socio-economic and demographic fields. The planters turned to India, from where they brought a large number of indentured labourers to work in the sugar cane fields. The Indian immigrants, who were of both Hindu and Muslim faith, were to change rapidly the fabric of the society. They were later joined by a small number of Chinese traders. Cultivation of sugar cane was given a boost and the island flourished, especially with the export of sugar to England.
The French East India Company was directly involved in the slave trade for many years until it relinquished its rights to private traders. With the proximity of India, Indian textiles were used rather than French textiles, another factor which distinguishes the Atlantic and Indian Ocean slave trades. There were three main destinations for the slaves: Louisiana, St. Domingue and the Mascarenes. French slave trading in the South West Indian Ocean was started in Madagascar to supply Bourbon Island (Reunion), colonised earlier in 1664. The slaves engaged in agriculture and the women among them married, or cohabited, with French men due to the shortage of French women. Indian prisoners were also landed there. On 20 September 1715, when Guillaume Dufresne D’Arsel took possession of Ile de France (Mauritius) in the name of the King, slavery and the slave trade were already established in neighbouring Bourbon. It started in earnest in Isle de France after the island was ceded to the FEIC on 2 April 1721.3
Mauritius, until 1735, was subservient to Réunion. From 1721 to 1767, however, although the FEIC controlled the island, the French Government was increasingly present through Royal Commissaries, Directors of the FEIC nominated by the King, and the Syndics chosen by the Assembly of Shareholders. In 1727, Mauritius was given the right to trade directly with Madagascar, without going through Réunion, to build ports, warehouses and houses. With the arrival of Governor Dumas, according to Filliot, trade increased. The period between 1735 and 1746 is crucial for the establishment of the slave trade, since Governor Labourdonnais chose Mauritius, rather than Réunion, as his base of operations to expand French influence in the Indian Ocean. Vastinfrastructural works were envisaged to transform Port Louis into a capital, port, warehousing and commercial centre. Labour from France, Madagascar, Mozambique, West Africa and India was tapped.
Although the focus of historians has been on the French East India Company, the French Government was very much involved, directly and indirectly, in the slave trade from the beginning. In the Indian Ocean, they turned a blind eye to the hostilities occurring between different European powers in Europe. Thus, despite official hostilities between France and Portugal, officials of both countries engaged in an extremely lucrative trade which included slaves in the Indian Ocean. This had been the case since the period of Labourdonnais. When the Revolutionary Government took over, despite the ban on the slave trade in France, slave trading continued fraudulently in the Indian Ocean. Corsairs were particularly active in continuing this illicit trade and huge profits are believed to have been made, in contrast to the Atlantic Ocean. The establishment of the Napoleonic regime in 1803 led to the reinforcement of slavery and the resumption of legal slave trade in Mauritius. But even before that, on 20 May 1802, slave trade was permitted again on the grounds that cultivation and prosperity were suffering.4
On 20 June 1802, the Colonial Assembly (set up under the Revolutionary Government) of Isle de France legalised the slave trade; the same decision was taken by the Colonial Assembly of Bourbon Island on 28 September.5
This period was marked by a fierce revival of the French slave trade activities in Mozambique. In 1810 when the British took over, the Act suppressing the slave trade was supposed to take effect, but this went unheeded by both the local government and the slave traders. It was not until the 1820s that the slave trade dwindled when planters themselves wished to present a better image of themselves with the British Parliament in order to benefit from better tariffs on sugar, and voluntarily abandoned the slave trade.
‘West Africa’
In contrast to the Atlantic, West African slaves were few in Mauritius due to heavy mortality and higher costs.
‘India’
Indian slaves are not known in the Atlantic Ocean slave trade, and this is another major difference with the Atlantic as it challenges traditional perceptions of ‘black’ slavery. Chinese slaves from South East Asia were also brought. The year 1728 witnessed the arrival of the first Indian slaves in Mauritius under French rule. The number of Indian slaves increased when private individuals were also permitted to bring in slaves from India. Labourdonnais introduced 70 slaves for his personal use. In 1750, the desire was still there to bring in slaves from India, as well as other areas for the Company.18 Apart from Pondicherry and Bengal, Goa was also tapped for slaves.
‘Madagascar’
From the French East India Company’s point of view, Madagascar was ideal as a source of slaves for the Mascarenes, since it was cheaper than procuring slaves from India or West Africa. It also had the monopoly of trade with Madagascar, except for a brief period between 1742 and 1746, when private traders were allowed to trade. The colonists, for their part, found that proximity with Madagascar tempted Malagasy slaves to maroon more often. It was, therefore, not advisable to send them to work in the port, as they could easily steal vessels and escape to Madagascar.
'East Africa'
Many slaves were brought from East Africa originally and resold to French traders on the East coast of Madagascar.
This trade continued right up to 1822. Toussaint’s figures of some 20,000 slaves being brought in illegally to the Mascarenes from Madagascar has been revised recently by Larson who estimates a much higher figure of 60,000 slaves. Illegal trade continued also from the Seychelles. For Mauritius alone, it is believed now that from 1800 to 1810, some 3,500 slaves imported is closer to the reality, and from 1810 to 1820, over 6,000 slaves were brought. However, further research is required on this issue...
By 1832, there were 2,605 slave-owners in Mauritius. Out of these, 1,192 owners owned four or fewer slaves and had a total of 2,372 slaves. These small slave-holding units were composed for the most part of the owner’s family and a number of slave families. A ‘medium’-sized unit had between 20 and 99 slaves, while a large slave holding unit, 100 or more slaves. ‘Medium’-sized estates can be further categorised into sugar producing and others. The sugar producers on average owned over 49 slaves.
Slavery and the Slave Trade in the Indian Ocean - codesria.org
Slave Common Sir Names
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B
C
D
E
F
- Figaro
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
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Y
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Owner Common Sir Names
A
B
- Blancard (Louis, ...)
C
D
- Delapierre (René, Mrs Gabrielle Delapierre (née Constantin) ...)
- Dreux (Augustin, ...)
E
F
G
- Grenier (Madam Vd, ...)
H
I
J
K
L
- Lapierre (Marie Louise, Jean, Hyppolite, Fanchin, Clarisse, ...)
- Lavoipierre (Alphonse, widow, ...)
M
- Menard (Pierre, ...)
N
O
P
- Pierre Sophie, Silvain, Nemours, Jeannette, Jean, Widow Jean, Aurelie, Mrs Alexis, ...)
Q
R
- Rondeaux (Jean Baptiste, ...)
S
- de St. Pierre (Mrs Augustin Dourel de St. Pierre, ...)
T
U
V
W
- Wilson (Henry, Mrs F., Mrs., F. Wilson (née Lamote)... )
X
Y
Z
Estates
Senneville Sugar Estate started life in the 1780’s as a small estate called Maisonette, owned by Antione Roux amongst others. Next door, in 1822, another small estate was formed called Rivière Des Anguilles. This was originally planted by Pierre Lousteau Lalane and was run by his descendants.
In 1867 both estates were joined, and became Rivière des Anguilles Sugar Estate under the Lousteau Lalane family. In 1890 the estate was purchased by Eduard de Senneville and a campement was built on the coast. Subsequently in 1936, de Senneville sold his lands to James Austin Wilson who immediately demolished the sugar factory and centered the estate around Bel Air, Benares and Bel Ombre, all of which the family owned.
James Austin Wilson’s father, James Wilson, had originally purchased Bel Air Sugar Estate (next door to Senneville) in 1854, and settled his family there. It was James Austin though who expanded by buying St Felix Sugar Estate, as well as Rivière des Anguilles, Benares and a large share in Bel Ombre. It is probable that Rivière des Anguilles estate was renamed as Senneville in around 1968 when all estates were joined together under the name Bel Air St Felix.
The direct Wilson family descendants still own Senneville to this day.
http://www.senneville.mu/about.php
Resources
- https://www.myheritage.com/research/category-Mauritius/mauritius'''
- https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2713525.pdf
- https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1129/?name= (enter sirname)
- https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1129/
- https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/How_to_Find_Birth,_Marriage,_a...
- https://gw.geneanet.org/mdgmusoi1
- https://www.genealogie.mu/index.php/en/
- http://cgmrgenealogie.org/actes/
- https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Quatre-Bornes_Mauritius_Family...
- https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/fr/Saint_Denis_-_La_R%C3%A9union_...
- https://www.geneanet.org/releves-collaboratifs/geo/MUS/mauritius Cemeteries
- https://libguides.brown.edu/slavery
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