Profile manager: Jacquès Julie [send private message]

Welcome To The Mauritius Project

The Mauritius Project are now a part of the official Global Project. All members will soon be receiving the Global Badge. Thank you to all that are active and to all that have joined our team!

Are you interested in joining our team? Please post a comment here on this page, in G2G using the project tag, or send us a private message. Thanks! Keep in touch and contact us there!

You can join our Facebook group here: The Mauritus Project.

Brief Mauritian History

The island of Mauritius was first discovered by the Arabs in 975 AD. The islands were called Mascarenes (Réunion, Mauritius and Rodrigues) and in old Arab cartography they were named Dina Margabin, Dina Arobi, and Dina Moraze. The medieval Arab world called the Indian Ocean island region Waqwaq.

The first Europeans to have visited Mauritius were the Portuguese at the beginning of the sixteenth century (around 1507 till 1513). Portuguese naval explorers stumbled upon it in the wake of Vasco de Gama's voyage around the Cape of Good Hope in 1498 and had named the island Ilhas Mascarenhas. Still, apart from introducing pesky monkeys and rats, the Portuguese did little to influence the island. This was left to the next wave of immigrants, the Dutch.

In 1598, Vice Admiral Wybrandt van Warwyck came ashore and claimed the island for the Netherlands, christening it after his ruler, Maurice, Prince of Orange and Count of Nassau - The island was named Prins Mauritz van Nassaueiland. It was another 40 years before the Dutch began to settle the country, preferring instead to use it as a supply base on the route to Java. Among other things, the Dutch introduced sugar cane and the Java Deer before leaving in 1710 where they had found in the mean time a far better settling place: The Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

Five years later, French captain Guillaume Dufresne d'Arsal claimed the island, renamed it Île de France and gave it over to the French East India Company to run as a trading base. Popular settlement began in 1721, and within 15 years the first sugar mill had been built, along with a road network and hospital. During the second half of the 18th century, the island's capital, Port Louis, became a free trading base and haven for corsairs - mercenary marines paid by a country to plunder the ships of its enemies. Tired of the competition, the British moved in on the corsairs (and on Mauritius) in 1810. After an initial defeat at the Battle of Vieux Grand Port, the Brits landed at Cap Malheureux on the northern coast and took the island.

Mauritian Timeline

• 975 AD - Arab traders knew of Mauritius as early as the 10th century but never stopped to settle it. Réunion, Mauritius and Rodrigues were known as Dina Margabin, Dina Arobi, and Dina Moraze.
• 1507–1513 - Discovered again by the Portuguese, Mauritius and surrounding islands were known as the Mascarene Islands or Ilhas Mascarenhas named after Portuguese explorer Pedro Mascarenhas. The Portuguese took no interest in these isolated islands.
• 1598 - The Dutch take possession of Mauritius naming her Prins Mauritz van Nassaueiland after the son of William the Silent, Prince Maurits and eventually abandon her in 1710. Grand Port during Portuguese reign was known as Port de Warwick.
• 1715 - The French take control of the island, renaming it Isle de France.
• 1810 - Mauritius is captured by Britain and becomes British Mauritius
• 1965 - Three years prior to it's independence, the Brits split the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritian territory to form the British Indian Ocean Territory. Britain then expel the archipelago's local population and lease its biggest island.
• 1992 - 24 years after it's independence, Mauritius becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations.

Our Goal

The goal of this project is to trace back Mauritian Ancestry and provide detailed sources and entries of Mauritian ancestors here at Wikitree. Most common decedents are of Portuguese, French, Dutch and British decent. Slavery also brought many people from India, Africa and Asia to name a few. We are also in the process of gathering links and resources so that future Wikitreer's and genealogists are better able to research and trace their roots with ease. We love the idea of "One Family Tree" and are doing all we can to contribute.

I am Jacquès Julie and have started this project. My Mauritian heritage has been traced back to France and England around 1592. My great great grandfather also brought an end to slavery in Mauritius in the 1800's and the history of Mauritius fascinates me. See Adrien D'Epinay.

Here are some of the tasks that need to be done. We will be working on them too and could use your help! Join us below.

• Firstly make sure that you have signed the Honor Code and that you are a WikiTree Genealogist. The Pre-1700 certification is a definite must as well and is highly recommended. Once you've recieved your Pre-1700 badge and are ready to take it up a level, you can apply for the Pre-1500 certification.

• Populate the Mauritian Ancestors List with Mauritian/Mauritius families and their ancestors. Assist in tracing origins etc. For example, French, Indian, Dutch, British etc. Anybody that is linked to Mauritius in any way is important! Use the sticker and tags below in order to add to this project.

• Find sources to backup entries and give detailed descriptions for each individual. We love stories, detailed descriptions of occupations, war stories, complications and family affairs! Get creative when adding facts and writing biographies.

• Research and provide documentation, citations & transcriptions as well as birth certificates, marriage records and death records for each entry if possible.

• Assist with finding and providing valuable links to archives and online databases/websites containing birth records, marriage records, death records and any other valuable information you feel is of interest to our cause. Sites like The National Archive of Mauritius are of importance so if you happen to stumble across valuable sites similar to this please share below or drop our project leader a message!

• Last but most importantly, Have fun!

Style Guides, Source Citations and Footnotes

Kindly refer to Wikitree formatting and style guides. We ask that you cite your sources. We try our best to keep our profile style guides, sources and citations as accurate, neat and as detailed as possible. See the following:

• Styles and Standards
• Formatting Help
• Sources Guide
• Footnotes Guide

Text Box Format

== Biography ==

=== Birth ===

=== Death ===

=== Marriage ===

== Notes ==

=== Footnotes ===

== Sources ==
<references />

See also:

• Elsie Hawes Smith, Edmund Rice and His Family Boston, MA: Meador press (1938)

A Few Links and Resources To Get You Started

Below are a couple of vital links and resources that are constantly being updated. Feel free to add any valuable links to sources or information that you might have and feel would better our cause.

Cercle de Généalogie Maurice

3rd Party Organization. Online Transcriptions, Birth, Death, Marriage Certificates. Link: See [Cercle de Généalogie Maurice] Also see: [CGMR Database]

• 200.945 Naissances/Baptêmes/Birth Records
• 76.976 Mariages/Marriage Records
• 128.972 Décès/Sépultures/Death Records
• 12.206 Actes divers/Diverse/Other

AMA: Mauritius Archives Association

Online Transcriptions, Birth, Death, Marriage Certificates. Link: See [AMA: Mauritius Archives Association] AMA have also taken it to a whole new level by creating a single tree with all their records from the database over at Geneanet. You can find the the tree here: [Geneanet - Patricia Chasteauneuf]

• 25.747 Naissances/Baptêmes/Birth Records
• 5.266 Mariages/Marriage Records
• 25.310 Décès/Sépultures/Death Records
• 17.180 Actes divers/Diverse/Other

Index of Acts of Mauritius

Online Property, Transcriptions, Birth, Death, Marriage Certificates: See [Index of Acts of Mauritius]

See a detailed list of vital resources and links

A list created by us that is constantly being updated by us here at Wikitree. Mauritian Ancestry & Genealogy Links and Resources.

Adding people and profiles to the Mauritius Project

Add the tag {{Mauritius Sticker}} to the top of your profile above the Biography if you would like to add a Mauritian to the Mauritius Project (just copy and paste) this will add the profile to our project. If the person in question has ties to Mauritius or for example, had a child that settled or migrated to Mauritius, add the {{Mauritius Sticker|roots}} tag. See examples of how this will look on your profile here: Sticker Examples To see if changes were made and if tagging was successful, see the project's index below.

Adding Mauritian people and profiles to the Project by Location

See the tags below to add family members to a specific location or district of Mauritius. We would kindly appreciate if you could use both the sticker above including one of the tags below depending on where the person was born. Add the {{Unsourced|Mauritius}} tag if you would like the team to research and find sources for the person in question.

See more on our Categories.

Browse The Project's Index/Records

You can browse our entire index by checking the Ancestors A-Z list or if you would like to narrow it down and search by district check the Mauritian Index by District.

Mauritius, Places On this page you will find Mauritius Places including Ile De France, Agaléga, Réunion and more
The Mauritius Project Index See the project index.
Mauritian Ancestors List A-Z This includes our entire index both Mauritians and Settlers/Ancestors.
Mauritian Ancestry & Genealogy Links and Resources
Needs Sources or Research - Uncertain Existence - To all members, please assist in finding sources and proof of existence. We would also like to ask that you assist in tidying up these profiles and placing them in the correct district.

Members of The Mauritius Project

Our current members include: Team Leader Jacques Julie As well as Coordinators Liesel (Breckle) Olivier, Lesley Leamon, Christine Murphy, Chris Hampson, Greg Lavoie, Jerry Baraboo, April (Olivier) Davis, Elizabeth White and Laurence Hudson.

Become a Team Member

Please post a comment here on this page, in G2G using the project tag, or send us a private message. Thanks! Feel free to join our Facebook group and share on conversations and findings: Mauritian Ancestry Facebook and keep in touch or contact us there! Thanks to all involved