Before the settlers: Arab sailors, the Portuguese and an empty island

An island without a first people

Mauritius belongs to a small group of countries with no indigenous population. When Europeans began calling there, the island was covered in forest and home to birds, reptiles and giant tortoises, but no humans. The Encyclopædia Universalis notes that the Mascarene Islands, "until then uninhabited", were only truly settled through European colonisation. The human history of Mauritius is therefore a story of arrivals: passing sailors first, then settlers, enslaved people, indentured workers and migrants.

Arab sailors and "Dina Arobi"

Arab navigators, who crossed the Indian Ocean long before Europeans, knew the archipelago existed. The clearest evidence is a map. The so-called "Cantino" map, dated 1502 and now held at the Biblioteca Estense in Modena, Italy, is the earliest known depiction of the Mascarenes. It carries names of Arabic origin: Dina Arobi for Mauritius, Dina Morgabin for Réunion and Dina Morare for Rodrigues.

The map has a spy-story past. It gathered the discoveries of Portuguese sailors, which were then closely guarded secrets, and was smuggled to Italy by Alberto Cantino, an agent of the Duke of Ferrara. The Arabic names on it show that the Portuguese drew on older nautical knowledge passed on by Indian Ocean pilots.

No lasting Arab settlement is documented: for these sailors, the island was most likely a landmark on the route rather than a destination.

The Portuguese in the early 16th century

After rounding the Cape of Good Hope, the Portuguese came to dominate the sea route to India. During the first half of the 16th century they made the archipelago known in Europe. The name "Mascarenes" itself comes from one of their navigators, Pedro de Mascarenhas.

Yet the Portuguese founded no colony. Their stopovers were for taking on water, timber and fresh meat before sailing on to India or East Africa. For almost another century, Mauritius remained a place ships passed through.

Untouched nature, soon to be upset

The first visitors found an ecosystem that had evolved without land mammals or human predators. Its most famous inhabitant was the dodo, a flightless bird about a metre tall and weighing around 20 kg, according to Oxford University's Museum of Natural History. The forests also held ebony, a precious wood that would soon attract the Dutch.

Sailors brought rats, pigs, dogs and cats, intentionally or not. These animals attacked the eggs and habitats of native species, starting an ecological upheaval that sped up in the 17th century.

Key points

• Mauritius had no indigenous population.
• Arab sailors knew the island: the Cantino map (1502) calls it Dina Arobi.
• The Portuguese made it known in Europe in the 16th century but did not settle.
• The name "Mascarenes" comes from the navigator Pedro de Mascarenhas.

Going further

The Frederik Hendrik Museum at Vieux Grand Port displays old maps and traces the first centuries of visits to the island. It is a good stop for understanding how Mauritius went from a simple port of call to a land of settlement.