The Developmental State in Mauritius

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4252193
AutoresThomas Meisenhelder (California State University, San Bernardino, autor correspondente)
Ano1997
Volume35
Fascículo2
Páginas279-297
Data de publicação1997-06-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe Journal of Modern African Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0022-278X • E-ISSN: 1469-7777
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0022278x97002383
OpenAlexW2055738289
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas30

THE Portuguese were the first Europeans to come across the island of Mauritius. It was found by the Dutch in 1598, and the Dutch East India Company settlement created in 1638 introduced both sugar cane and slavery. The French arrived in 1721, using slaves to clear large holdings which eventually became sugar cane plantations. Over time there emerged a colonial society of extreme inequality, where power and privilege belonged to estate planters from France while hard labour and deprivation became the lot of slaves imported from Africa. The British established political control of Mauritius in 1814 and preserved the structure of the island's economy and society with one exception: slavery was abolished in 1835 with generous compensation to slave owners. The colonial state helped to organise the importation of indentured workers from India, and by the 1860s the island had become the leading cane producer in the British Empire

Ancient history · Ceylon · Colonialism · Development economics · Economic history · Economics · Economy · Empire · Estate · Geography · Immigration · Political science · Portuguese · Power (physics) · Privilege (computing) · Settlement (finance) · State (computer science) · African history and culture studies · Economic Zones and Regional Development · History · Law