colony · Central and Southern Africa
Dutch Mauritius
Origins
Dutch sailors named Mauritius after Prince Maurice of Nassau in 1598, and in 1638 the Dutch East India Company (VOC) founded Fort Frederik Hendrik at Grand Port to forestall French and English rivals. The first commander was Cornelis Gooyer.
Rule and society
The small settlement exported ebony, cut from the island's forests, and served as a supply base for ships bound for the East Indies. Enslaved people were brought from Madagascar and the East Indies, and the colonists introduced sugar cane, deer and pigs. Hunting and introduced animals contributed to the extinction of the dodo, last reliably seen in 1662.
Decline and legacy
The colony was abandoned in 1658, reoccupied in 1664 and finally abandoned in 1710 after cyclones, droughts and losses. France claimed the empty island in 1715 as Isle de France.
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (2)
- Dutch Mauritius was a colony of Dutch Empire1638 CE – 1710 CE
- Dutch Mauritius was a colony of Dutch Republic1638 CE – 1710 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Dutch Mauritius. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/dutch-mauritius
- MLA
- “Dutch Mauritius.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/dutch-mauritius. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Dutch Mauritius.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/dutch-mauritius.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Dutch Mauritius’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/dutch-mauritius (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻