Colonisation (1664-1764)

The true colonisation of Bourbon Island (Reunion Island) was the work of the political figure, Colbert. For him, Bourbon Island was to serve as a stop over or a stepping-stone towards the conquering of the island of Madagascar.

In order to compete with other European countries, Louis XIV and Colbert set up the East India Company in 1664. So as to make money out of it, they accorded the company commercial monopoly in the Indian Ocean for 50 years and gave it the sovereignty of Madagascar, its neighbouring islands and future territories that remained to be conquered.

The aim of the East India Company was to assure the progress of Bourbon Island and its development thanks to its coffee plantations.

As the journeys were long (between four and six months, or more) the East India Company set up commercial trading posts in the Indian Ocean, notably in Africa and Madagascar (at Fort Dauphin), and then in the archipelago of the Mascareignes (Bourbon Island) and in India.

Bourbon Island received its first settlers in 1665 and it is from this dates onwards that we can be sure of female presence on the island. This new colony was made up of around 20 people led by Etienne Régnault from the East India Company, the first official commander of Bourbon Island.

In 1667, more than 200 French people landed on the island and in 1671, a new contingency of 13 settlers arrived in Madagascar; a few black slaves accompanied them and five of them had found Malagasy wives for themselves.
The lack of French women was first brought to light in 1674: “The unhappy settlers asked for women, most of them having been obliged to marry their female Negro slaves”.
A few years later, a small number of French girls were brought to the island, having been ‘recruited’ from the ‘Hopital Général de la Salpêtrière’ (Paris) and judged to be ‘suitable for the islands’. In November 1678, fourteen young girls from India came to the island and found themselves almost immediately married; they were at the source of 109 Reunion births.

In 1690, there were 200 inhabitants on Bourbon Island. They were mainly French, but there were also some Italians, Spanish, Portuguese, Germans, English, Dutch, Indians and Malagasies (slaves). At the very end of the XVIII Century, Bourbon Island was home to 297 women among a total population of 734 inhabitants.
In order to avoid the term ‘slaves’, one referred to them as ‘servants’, ‘domestics’ or ‘Blacks’.

In 1764, the East India Company went bankrupt. The King of France bought Bourbon Island.