Slavery

Due to the island’s need for a workforce for the coffee plantations, spices and later on, the sugar cane, the settlers turned to slavery in order to develop Bourbon Island’s economy.
The first Malagasy slaves arrived in 1671. It is known that on 28th August 1670, at the request of the political minister, Colbert, the Council of State of the Kingdom formalised the idea of slavery in France.
Slavery had rapidly insured the economic prosperity of the settlers of the West Indies.

In March 1685, the famous ‘Black Code’ was announced. It had been drawn up by Louis XIV, with the aim of regulating and chastening the system of slavery as well as making the masters’ and the slaves’ roles clear.
It is a well-known fact that the ‘Black Code’ that remained in operation in the West Indies and in French Guyana until 1848 (the date of the abolition of slavery in France), was rarely respected and the owners often did as they wanted.
In as far as Bourbon Island is concerned, no official text seems to have taken notice of the application of the ‘Black Code’.
However, the governors were quickly inspired by it and took on decrees according to the model from the West Indies, as the French imported black people as early as the end of the XVII Century.
In 1696, there were 269 inhabitants on the island, made up of 200 white people and 69 blacks.
In 1700, there were 750 inhabitants, of which 320 were black.

In 1704, the population of the island had tripled: one could count 734 inhabitants, of which 423 where French (men and women), 311 slaves and 4 black people known as ‘domestics’.
Historians have noticed a slight progression by 1708 with 894 inhabitants (507 whites and 387 blacks). In 1711, Bourbon Island reached a total of 1000 inhabitants with 57 whites and 467 blacks. There were fewer blacks than whites until 1713, at which time there was a total population of 1171 inhabitants (633 whites and 538 blacks).

In 1723, the famous ‘Black Code’ of 1685 was adapted for use in the Mascareignes and the patented letters written by Louis XV, written in the form of a decree, were registered in the town of Saint Paul on 18th September 1724, by the superior Council of Bourbon Island.
The new ‘Black Code’, which had been adapted to Bourbon Island’s situation, brought about the arrival of thousands of slaves, from 1725 onwards. They came mainly from Madagascar and East Africa to work in the coffee and spice plantations. This important labour force appeared to be necessary in order to allow the East India Company to continue the economic expansion of Bourbon Island.
However, the slaves did not wait for the abolition of slavery of 1848, before trying to escape from their enslavement and re-obtain their freedom. This phenomenon that was also known by the term ‘marronage’ (brownery) in the West Indies and in the Indian Ocean, remained inseparable from the history of slavery in Bourbon Island, where it had reached a particularly elevated degree by the middle of the XVIII Century. In 1732, the island’s population had reached the figure of 8000 inhabitants, of which 6000 were black slaves. Bourbon Island’s slaves were recruited in East Africa, through Arab and Portuguese trading posts based in Mozambique and Madagascar. The most spectacular rise came about between 1735 and 1765, during which time the number of slaves went form 6000 to 21000 for a total population of 25000 inhabitants. The blacks definitely held the majority. When Bourbon Island was sold by the East India Company to the King in 1764, new immigrants arrived from France, as well as black people from Africa and the Comoros. Women also came from France, Madagascar, India and Portugal. Thanks to Pierre Poivre, the Organising Commissioner and General Intendant of France’s islands (1767-1772), the archipelago of the Mascareignes became a colony that was prosperous, organised and envied. Poivre introduced printing, acclimatised a number of spices (cloves, nutmeg, pepper, cinnamon etc) and vegetable varieties, particularly fruit trees. He was also the instigator of the first laws drawn up to protect the nature and improved the moral and social climate of the Mascareignes by improving the slaves’ conditions. The importation of the slaves had its consequences on the ethnic composition of the island: it profoundly modified the original population, as, in 1779, there were 29000 slaves among a total number of 36000 inhabitants.
When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, there were 61300 inhabitants in Bourbon Island, of which 10000 were white, 1200 free domestics and 50000 slaves.

In 1793, following the execution of Louis XVI during the French Revolution, the island was re-baptised by the Convention and called Reunion Island (Ile de La Réunion), in remembrance of the “meeting” (‘Reunion’ in French) between the locals from Marseille and a number of National Guard battalions at the time of the military attack on the Tuileries; this merger between the two parties had allowed the overthrow of the monarchy. On 27th July 1793, the Paris Convention announced the banning of the treaty and a few months later, on 4th February 1794, slavery was banned. The decree talked of the “immediate abolition” and did not plan anything concerning compensation for the owners or the future of the “freed populations”. The Colonial Assembly of Reunion Island (and that of France) declared themselves to be against this decree and insisted, in front of the Commission, that it be simply and purely suppressed. The inhabitants of Reunion Island received a reprieve and therefore decided not to put the decree of abolition into practice. Slavery continued in Reunion Island in all impunity, despite the unlawfulness of the situation. On 20th May 1802, the first Consulate of the Republic, Napoléon Bonaparte, partially reintroduced slavery. Economic interests seemed more urgent than revolutionary ideals of liberty and equality. The settlers of Reunion Island that had not applied to the rules of the decree drawn up by the National Convention were obviously reassured. To the great relief of all of everyone, nearly all the reforms made following the Revolution were suppressed, including the ‘Declaration of the right of man and citizen’ that had been adopted by the National Assembly in 1789: “From birth onwards, men remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions can only be founded of common utility.”

In 1803, the General Decaen arrived on the island to impose the new regime, having been sent by Bonaparte.

In 1806, Bourbon Island was once again re-baptised, in the name of the French Emperor, Bonaparte Island. The colony was immediately taken over by administrators appointed by Napoleon and the island slowly lost all of its autonomy; the local leaders were obliged to take note of the decisions made by the administrators of France’s Island (today known as Mauritius).

In 1808, there were 65000 slaves on Bonaparte Island. However, the Franco-British rivalries, already rife in the West Indies, spread to the Indian Ocean: to the archipelago of the Mascareignes, the archipelago of the Seychelles, the archipelago of the Comoros and the island of Madagascar.

The situation was to become even more tragic in Bonaparte Island (Reunion Island) as the English had organised a naval blockade and the food shortage brought about devastation.