Creoles make up 28% of the population of Mauritius, the subtropical island nation located 1,130 km east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The main island is a popular tourist destination, known for its sandy beaches, coral reefs and blue lagoons.
The population of Mauritius is around 1.26 million people, including 42,000 inhabitants on the outlying territory of Rodrigues Island. Other smaller islands included in Mauritius’ territories include the Cargados Carajos Shoals and the Agalega Islands.
Creole culture plays a significant role in the nation’s history, as the current population can trace their roots to Malagasy and Continental Africans, who were brought to Mauritius, sadly as slaves, between the 17th and 19th centuries.
The mixed culture of Mauritius includes people of Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, European and African descent. Despite English being the official language, around 80% of the population speak a French-based patois version of Creole in everyday life.
Origins of the Creoles in Mauritius
The island was uninhabited and undiscovered for centuries, although historians suggest it was visited by Arab sailors in the middle ages. It appeared on maps dating from around 1500, with the Arabic name, Dina Arobi. Portuguese sea captain Domingo Fernandez Pereira was believed to be the first European to land on Mauritius in around 1511.
The group of islands comprising Mauritius, Rodrigues and Reunion was named the Mascarenes by another Portuguese explorer, Don Pedro Mascarenhas. However, the Portuguese didn’t stay for long and weren’t interested in colonising the islands.
A Dutch convoy of ships, under Admiral Wybrand Van Warwyck, docked at Grand Port in 1598. He called the island Mauritius, to honour Prince Maurice Van Nassau of Holland. In 1638, the Dutch East India Company built a settlement in Mauritius.
They planned on creating a trade centre and planted sugar plantations, bringing slave labour from Madagascar in 1639. The influx of slaves diversified the society in Mauritius, creating a mixed culture that saw the birth of the Creole people and language.
Hardships of Slavery
Life was extremely tough for the slaves, who were not only torn from their homes and families but were also forced to carry out backbreaking work for little money and life as captives. The first ship in 1639 brought 105 slaves. As well as working on the new sugar plantations, they were also set to work picking tobacco and felling trees for the export of ebony.
Within the first week, around 60 slaves made an escape bid into the forest. Only 20 of them were recaptured. This resulted in 95 more slaves being shipped over from Madagascar.
There were many challenges for the enslaved people, including simply staying alive and healthy. They suffered months of severe hardships in 1644 when Mauritius was hit by cyclones, leading to poor harvests and delays in receiving shipments of supplies.
The population relied on fishing and hunting to feed themselves. In 1645, yet more slaves arrived from Madagascar. By 1652, the hardships suffered by the slaves, such as a lack of food, spread to the colonists and local community too.
The commercial potential of the land declined, leading to the Dutch pulling out in 1658. They made several further attempts to colonise Mauritius, but none were successful. In 1672, an attempt to rekindle the island as an agricultural colony failed.
This was a time of great upheaval for the enslaved population, who tried to eke out an existence, despite poverty and illness. Mauritius was hit by cyclones frequently, followed by droughts. The crops were struck by pest infestations and the cattle fell sick.
Slaves who tried to escape, or organise any type of rebellion, received horrific punishments, such as being left out exposed to the sun all day without any shelter or water, as an example to deter other rebels.
Finally, in 1710, the Dutch abandoned the colony of Mauritius altogether, leaving behind three things they had introduced: sugar cane, deer and domestic animals.
French and English rule of Mauritius
In 1715, Mauritius became a French colony, after Guillaume Dufresne D’Arsel arrived and claimed possession of the island, becoming the first French governor. The French had realised it was in a strategic location on the route to India.
This introduced further mixed culture and the evolution of the French-based version of Creole that is widely spoken about today. The change in colonial rule did little to improve life for the slaves.
The French administration ordered the construction of many new buildings, including the Government House, the Line Barracks and Chateau de Mon Plaisir at Pamplemousses. Plenty of manual labourers were needed to carry out the work.
The island was administered by the French East India Company until 1767, followed by the French government until 1810. However, for a brief period during the French Revolution, the inhabitants of Mauritius set up their own independent government. Privateers and pirates descended on the territory and raided British commercial ships on the busy trade route.
In 1810, the British forces descended on Mauritius in large numbers, overpowered the French and began a long period of British rule that lasted until 1968. The British pledged to respect the language, laws, customs and traditions of the inhabitants, many of whom were of Creole heritage and spoke the French dialect of the language.
Rapid social changes occurred during the 19th century, most notably the abolition of slavery in 1835. The plantation owners received total compensation of around £2 million for giving up their slaves. The plantation owners brought in labourers from India and Pakistan to work in the sugar cane fields after slavery was abolished.
Today’s Mauritian population is mainly descended from a mixed culture of European and Asian settlers, African slaves and Indian and Pakistani immigrants. Later, Chinese traders joined the community, creating today’s rich and culturally diverse heritage.
The Creole population, of mixed heritage, make up 28% of the population today, while around two-thirds of the community is of Indian and Pakistani descent. There are also a small number of people of Chinese heritage.
A monument, Le Morne Brabant, located at the southwestern end of the island, symbolises Mauritius’ resistance to slavery. The location had been a refuge for slaves, who would hide on the cliffs after running away from cruel slave masters.
At the base of the mountain, the International Slave Route Monument comprises ten sculptures, made by artists from Mauritius, Reunion Island, Mozambique, Madagascar, India, China and Malaysia, so future generations will never forget.
Language of Mauritius
English is the official language of Mauritius but is spoken in day-to-day life by only a small percentage of the population. French-based Creole is spoken by around four-fifths of the population. It is the lingua franca of Mauritius, making communication possible between people who don’t share a first language.
Mauritian people commonly speak two, three or more languages, while the education system provides lessons in many different languages. Other dialects spoken include the Indo-Aryan language Bhojpuri, French, Chinese, Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Marathi and Telugu.
The term Creole refers to more than just a group of people. It also describes the language that almost all Mauritians speak. In 2017, Étienne Sinatambou, Mauritius’ Minister of National Solidarity, proclaimed, “We are all Creole.”
In doing so, he invoked a spirit of national identity that encompassed all of the island’s many cultures and traditions. The original population of Mauritius who identified themselves as Creole numbered less than 100 when the first Madagascan slaves arrived in the 17th century.
Today, the language is now spoken by almost everyone and censuses since 1944 have indicated a “remarkable shift to Creole”, with many local publications and advertisements now written in Creole.
Although English remains the one official language of Mauritius, an officially approved spelling for the Creole dialect is now used in schools, including for primary-age children, ensuring the dialect will continue for future generations.
Creole Heritage in Mauritius
Mauritius is filled with the Creole architecture of bygone times, with many of its historic buildings dating from the French colonial era. As the French administration expanded, the islands witnessed the emergence of properties that combined European designs with additions borrowed from Creole culture.
In the capital, Port Louis, in particular, houses featured the typical detached kitchens, wrap-around porches and few interior hallways that typified Creole architecture. Historians have recognised hundreds of these Creole dwellings across Mauritius. The towns have stylistically identical dwellings, combining French architectural and distinctly Creole elements.
There was a massive building programme utilising Creole architecture from 1659, when the French founded Saint-Louis, until 1810, when French rule ended.
Historians today have described the architecture of Mauritius as having some of the most economically relevant building traditions from the colonial world. They typify the emergence of the covered porch, known as the Creole gallery.
Creole Cuisine of Mauritius
Creole cuisine is eaten by every Mauritian and has its influences from African, Indian and French cuisine. Mauritian Creole meals involve the use of plenty of seafood, corn, fresh vegetables, beans and pulses. The most commonly used vegetables are onions, tomatoes, eggplants – known locally as brinzel – chayote or “chou chou”, chillies and garlic.
Rice is a staple of many meals, while the most common seafood includes salted fish, shrimp, smoked blue marlin, octopus, crayfish and prawns. Spices such as cloves, chilli peppers and cardamon are added for the distinct Creole flavour.
Side dishes include noodles, boulettes – a combination of meatballs, fish balls and vegetables in broth – a dish known as roti served with tomato sauce and pickles and vinnday, a spicy accompaniment made with mustard seeds, vinegar and turmeric.
The Mauritians have their own versions of chutney, curry, rougaille and pickles, with a unique local Creole flavour that can differ significantly from the original Indian recipes.
Creole Music and Dance in Mauritius
A bright and vibrant style of music and dance, known as sega, is the traditional Creole music of Mauritius. It blends musical aspects from Africa, Europe, India and Madagascar, creating lively rhythms combined with Western harmonies and melodies.
Just as the Creole heritage has evolved over the centuries through the interaction of people with mixed cultures, music has evolved in the same way. Today’s sega music originated among the slave population of Mauritius in the 1700s.
It seamlessly blends rhythms influenced by the simple beat of European dance music with the more complex syncopation and rhythms that are traditionally African. Typical sega music mixes a smooth vocal melody with a string accompaniment and lots of percussions.
A sega band favours traditional rhythmic percussion instruments. These include a rattle known as a maravanne; the moutia hand drum; a large shallow-framed drum, often made of goat skin, known as a ravanne; a metal triangle and a musical bow called the bobre, with a single string stretched end-to-end along a wooden stick to make an audible twang.
Sega music usually includes dancing, when typically, the women will dance together at the same time, using loosely coordinated movements as a group.
Importance of Creole Culture
The Creole ancestors of today’s islanders have influenced almost every aspect of modern life and are extremely important to Mauritius. The heritage has grown across the islands, from an initial 105 slaves arriving in the 17th century to an estimated 353,000 people who class themselves as Creole today.
The French-influenced Creole dialect is already spoken by around 80% of the population. With an officially-recognised version being used in primary schools, the language looks set to continue gaining ground in Mauritius.
Monuments such as the moving International Slave Route Monument at Le Morne Brabant are a continual reminder for future generations of how the nation’s heritage began. They mark the hardships suffered by the ancestors of today’s Creoles to turn Mauritius into a modern-day vibrant community.