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In Unit 2, you learnt about the discovery of the Mascarene Islands by the Europeans. In
this unit, you will learn about the beginning of settlement in these islands. You will nd
out that the Dutch were the rst to settle in our island. They were followed by the French
and the British who also settled in the islands.
You will explore their reasons for settling in the islands and the various activities carried
out by them during the period of their settlement.
At the end of this unit, you will be able to:
•identify features of a settlement;
•list the factors that led the Europeans to settle in the Mascarene Islands;
•describe the activities of the settlers on the islands;
•give reasons for their departure from the islands.
Settlement
in Mauritius & Rodrigues At the end of this topic, you will be able to:
•dene the term ‘settlement’;
•list reasons for the Dutch settlement in Mauritius;
•describe the activities of the Dutch settlers in Mauritius;
•explain the failure of the Dutch settlement in Mauritius;
•describe the settlement of François Leguat in Rodrigues.
A settlement is a place where people live.
Let’s look around in Mauritius. We can nd people living in either villages, towns or in the city.
You can observe in Picture 1 that each settlement has important facilities available such as:
houses, shops/markets, school and hospital.
People choose to settle in a place for various reasons.
Can you think of one reason why your parents chose to settle in the place you live in?
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Now,let’slearnaboutthepeoplewhorstsettledinMauritiusandRodrigues.
THE Dutch Settlement in Mauritius topic 1 topic 1
1.0 What is settlement?
Settlements can be of different sizes. It can be a small village with hundreds
of people or a big town or a city with thousands of people.
Did you know ?
village town
city
chemin grenier curepipe port louis
pic. 1 Types of settlement in Mauritius