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Mauritius

island sovereign state off of East Africa in the Indian Ocean

17 dated entries naming Mauritius, drawn from 16 separate years between 1512 CE and 2022 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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16th century

  • 1512Pedro Mascarenhas discovers Diego Garcia, and reaches Mauritius in the Mascarene Islands.source
  • 1598September 17 – Second Dutch Expedition to Indonesia: Jacob Corneliszoon van Neck and three ships commanded by him are separated from the Dutch Republic fleet of Admiral Wybrand van Warwyck, and land on a Portuguese-charted island, Ilha do Cisne. Van Neck names the island Mauritius, after Maurice, Prince of Orange. Although Diogo Fernandes Pereira and sailors from Portugal had, in 1507, become the first Europeans to find Mauritius, van Neck's men apparently are the first to sight the dodo, a now extinct bird.source

17th century

  • 1638April 14 – The Netherlands colonizes Mauritius, with colonists from the ship Dragon going ashore after sighting it the day before, an event chronicled by British traveler Peter Mundy.source
  • 1662February 20 – The survivors of the wreck of the Dutch freighter Arnhem strike reefs but are able to make their way to an uninhabited island, probably the Ile D'Ambre or Ilot Fourneau both islands within the territory of Mauritius. During more than two months while shipwrecked, the survivors kill and eat the local wildlife, including the last surviving dodo. They are rescued by the English ship Truroe in May.source
  • 1662May – The last credible report of a sighting of the dodo bird, now extinct, is made by Volkert Evertsz, a survivor of the shipwreck of the Dutch ship Arnhem, which struck reefs on February 12. The survivors had made their way in a small boat to Ile d'Ambre, an island in the Indian Ocean 200 km northeast of Mauritius. When rescued by the English ship Truroe in May, Evertsz reports that he and his group had survived by eating the local wildlife, including the dodo.source

18th century

  • 1710February 17 – Mauritius, a Dutch colony since 1638, is abandoned by the Dutch.source
  • 1729June 8 – The Botanic Gardens of Pamplemousses, one of the most popular tourist attractions on the island republic of Mauritius, are started by Pierre Barmond, who sets aside thousands of acres for the purpose of preservation of the islands flora. The gardens come to occupy 97 square miles or 251 square kilometers.source

19th century

  • 1834November 2 – The ship Atlas docks in Mauritius carrying the first group of laborers (from Calcutta) under the Indian indenture system to work on sugar plantations following the abolition of slavery in the British Empire.source
  • 1835February 1 – Slavery is finally abolished in British-administered Mauritius, with compensation to slaveowners.source

20th century

  • 1940November 25 – Patria disaster: As British authorities attempt to deport Jewish refugees (originating from German-occupied Europe) from Mandatory Palestine to Mauritius, aboard the requisitioned emigrant liner at Haifa, the Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah sinks the ship with a bomb, killing around 250 refugees and crew.source
  • 1968March 12 – Mauritius achieves independence from British rule.source
  • 1969Common African, Malagasy and Mauritian Organization (OCAMM) (Organisation Commune Africaine Malgache et Mauricienne) is established.source
  • 1981December 7 – Rotary International charters the Rotary Club of Grand Baie, Mauritius.source
  • 1987November 28 – South African Airways Flight 295 crashes into the Indian Ocean off Mauritius, due to a fire in the cargo hold; the 159 passengers and crew perish.source
  • 1993October 13 – The fifth summit of the Francophonie opens in Mauritius.source

21st century

  • 2020August 15 – The Japanese bulk carrier Wakashio, which stranded on a reef in Mauritius last month, breaks in half. Approximately 1,000 tonnes of oil are spilled into the ocean, becoming the largest environmental disaster in the history of Mauritius.source
  • 2022February 5 – Cyclone Batsirai kills a total of 123 people across Madagascar, Mauritius, and Réunion two weeks after Tropical Storm Ana killed 115 people in the same region.source

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