1810: the Battle of Grand Port and the British conquest

An island caught up in the Napoleonic Wars

In the early 19th century, Isle de France was a thorn in Britain's side: its privateers and frigates threatened ships sailing between India and Europe. London decided to put an end to it. In July 1810 the British captured the neighbouring island, then called Île Bonaparte (Réunion). Isle de France was next.

The Battle of Grand Port (August 1810)

In August 1810 a British squadron tried to force its way into Grand Port bay on the south-east coast. The channel was narrow and winding, lined with coral reefs. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, the fighting lasted from 22 to 27 August. One British ship ran aground on a sandbank; two more, misled by buoys the French had moved, ran onto the coral and were set on fire; a fourth was battered into a wreck. The last one, still trying to leave the bay, surrendered when French reinforcements arrived.

The toll for the Royal Navy was heavy: four frigates lost and nearly 300 killed or wounded, against one ship and about 150 killed or wounded on the French side. The French commander Guy-Victor Duperré and British captain Nesbit Willoughby were both badly wounded. Britannica describes it as Britain's worst naval defeat of the Napoleonic Wars.

The November landing and the surrender

The French victory was short-lived. London gathered an armada and, on 29 November 1810, British and Indian troops landed on the beaches of Bain Boeuf in the north of the island, near Cap Malheureux. More than 10,000 men faced a far smaller garrison under Governor-General Charles Decaen.

Talks began on 2 December and the capitulation was agreed on 3 December 1810. Its terms were considered remarkably tolerant, and it was the British governor Robert Farquhar who applied them. A month after the capture, free inhabitants swore allegiance to King George III.

The Treaty of Paris, 1814

The conquest was made official by the 1814 Treaty of Paris, which redistributed colonies after Napoleon's fall. Britain kept Isle de France, which officially went back to the name Mauritius, along with dependencies such as Rodrigues; Bourbon (Réunion) was returned to France. Some territorial questions in the region still trace back to this division.

A British colony that spoke French

The new flag did not change society overnight. The legal system kept its Napoleonic Code foundations, later combined with British common law, which is why Mauritian law today is a mixed system. French remained the language of the press and of much of daily life, while English took hold in administration and education. This dual heritage explains why visitors today hear French, English and above all Creole.

On the trail of 1810

• Vieux Grand Port and Mahébourg: the bay where the battle was fought, facing Île de la Passe.
• Bain Boeuf: a monument to the British landing was unveiled on 2 December 2010, for the bicentenary.