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Slavery and Colonial Identity in Eighteenth-Century Mauritius

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Megan Vaughan
Megan Vaughan
Affiliation:
The Institute of Historical Research, London
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Extract

On 25 May 1785, a M. Lousteau arrived at the police station in Port Louis, Isle de France (now Mauritius) to complain that his slave Jouan had been abducted. He described Jouan as an ‘Indien’, ‘Lascar’ and ‘Malabar’, and said that he had learned that he had been smuggled on to the royal ship Le Brillant, bound for Pondicherry in southern India, by one Bernard (whom Lousteau describes as a ‘creol libre’ but who later is described as ‘Malabar, soi-disant libre’ and ‘Topa Libre’). The story of the escape had been told to him by a ‘Bengalie’ slave called Modeste, who belonged to the ‘Lascar’ fisherman, Bacou. A number of people had apparently assisted Jouan's escape in other ways—most importantly his trunk of belongings had been moved secretly from hut to hut before being embarked with him. Lousteau was a member of that ever-growing professional group of eighteenth-century France and its colonies: the lawyers. He was clerk to the island's supreme court, the Conseil Superieur. He supported a large family, he said, and the loss of Jouan represented a serious loss to their welfare. Jouan, it turned out, was no ordinary slave. He was a skilled carpenter who earned his master a significant sum every month; he was highly valued, and Lousteau had refused an offer of 5,000 livres for him. What is more, he could be easily recognised, for he was always exceptionally well turned-out and well-groomed. To facilitate in the search for his slave, Lousteau provided the following description of him:

He declares that his fugitive slave is of the Lascar caste, a Malabar, dark black in colour, short in height, with a handsome, slightly thin face, a gentle appearance, with long hair … that he is very well dressed, abundantly endowed with clothes, such as jackets and shorts … wearing small gold earrings, a pin with a gold heart on his shirt, and on the arm a mark on the skin which he thinks reads DM.

Type
Identities and Empires
Information
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 8 , December 1998 , pp. 189 - 214
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1998

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References

1 National Archives of Mauritius (hereafter NAM) JB 47, Procedure Criminelle, 1785: Evasion of Jouan, slave of M. Lousteau.

2 Archives d'Outre-Mer, Aix-en-Provence (hereafter AOM), E293 (Personnel): Loustean, contains further information on Lousteau's career.

3 Of course in analysing such court cases we cannot exclude the possibility that some or all of the witnesses were pressurised, intimidated or otherwise persuaded to give evidence—particularly in this slave-holding society.

4 Chronologies differ. See Foucault, Michel, The History of Sexuality, vol. 1 (Harmondsworth, 1981)Google Scholar; Hunt, Lynn discusses homosexuality in the writings of Sade in The Family Romance of the French Revolution (London, 1992), 45–6Google Scholar; Nye, Robert A., Masculinity and Male Codes of Honour in Modern France (New York and Oxford, 1993)Google Scholar; Reid, Roddey, Families in Jeopardy: Regulating the Social Body in France, 1750–1910 (Stanford, 1993)Google Scholar.

5 This raises the question of whether an ‘identity’ can exist without contemporaries possessing a term for it. For this debate as it relates to sexuality, see Boswell, John, ‘Revolutions, Universals and Sexual Categories’ in Hidden From History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past, ed. Duberman, Martin, Vicinus, Martha, and Chauncey, George Jr (New York, 1989), 17–36Google Scholar; Nye, Masculinity, Introduction.

6 For a more detailed discussion of this see Megan Vaughan, ‘The Character of the Market: Social Identities in Colonial Economies; Oxford Development Studies vol. 24, no. 1 (1995). 61–77.

7 Isle de France was first appropriated by the French in 1715. In the seventeenth century it had been briefly colonised by the Dutch. In 1810 it became the British colony of Mauritius.

8 Amongst whom were the Abbe de la Caille, Bernardin de St Pierre, Pierre Poivre, M.J. Milbert, Guillaume le Gentil, J. Bory de St Vincent, M. Sonnerat.

9 le Poivre, M., The Travels of a Philosopher, Being Observations on the Customs, Manners, Arts, Agriculture and Trade of Several Nations in Asia and Africa (trans. London, 1769), 4Google Scholar.

10 Congregation de la Mission (Paris), receuil 1504, f. 171: Voyage des trois missionaires, 1732.

11 Congregation de la Mission, Receuil 1504, f. 195, Caulier(?), 1765.

12 Congregation de la Mission, Receuil 1504, ff. 189, Teste, 1764.

13 For discussions of gender and sexual politics in Paul et Virginie see Hunt, , Family Romance, 29–32Google Scholar; Reid, , Families in Jeopardy, 101–36Google Scholar.

14 Milbert, M.J., Voyage Pittoresque a l'Ile de France, au Cap de Bonne-Esperance et a l'Ile de Tenerife 2 vols. (Paris, 1812), vol. 1: 274Google Scholar.

15 Though the production of sugar did begin to expand in the 1790s: NorthCoombes, M. D., ‘Labour Problems in the Sugar Industry of Ile de France or Mauritius, 1790–1842’ (M.A. thesis, University of Cape Town, 1978)Google Scholar, Chapter 1.

16 On the history of slavery on Isle de France and Mauritius see Allen, R. B., ‘Creoles, Indian Immigrants and the Restructuring of Society and Economy in Mauritius’ (Ph.D. thesis, University of Illinois, 1983)Google Scholar; Jumeer, Muslim, ‘Les Affranchis et les Indiens Libres a l'Ile de France au XVIII siècle’ (Doctoral thesis, Université de Poitiers, 1984)Google Scholar; Teelock, Vijaya, ‘Bitter Sugar: Slavery and Emancipation in Nineteenth Century Mauritius’ (D.Phil., University of London, 1993)Google Scholar; Nwulia, M. D. E., The History of Slavery in Mauritius and the Seychelles, 1810–1875 (London and Toronto, 1981)Google Scholar; Barker, Anthony, Slavery and Antislasery in Mauritius 1810–33 (Basingstoke and New York, 1996)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

17 Toussaint, A., Port Louis. Deux Siecles d'Histoire (1735–1935) (Port Louis, 1936)Google Scholar.

18 ‘Yolof’ or ‘Wolof’ referred to slaves of West African origin who had been imported in the early part of the eighteenth century (of which more later), while ‘Malabar’ referred to those, slave or free, who were of South Indian origin.

19 On the acquisition of property by manumitted slaves, see especially Allen, ‘Creoles’.

20 NAM. OA 58: Bureau de Police, Journal pour la consignation des rapports de police, 15 avril 1785–31 mars 1787; Z2B/6: Journal de police, I juillet 1790–29 juillet 1791.

21 Carter, Marina, ‘Indian Slaves in Mauritius, 1729–1834’, Indian Historical Review, XV (1–2): 239Google Scholar.

22 Indian slaves were always a small minority within the slave population as a whole. In 1761 they formed 7 per cent of the slave population: Carter, , ‘Indian Slaves’: 233–4Google Scholar; Napal, D., Les Indiens a I‘Ile de France (Port Louis, 1965)Google Scholar.

23 Though Carter argues that the large free ‘Malabar’ community (rather than ‘white’ masters) may have been responsible for the growth in manumitted Indians: Carter, , ‘Indian Slaves’: 240Google Scholar.

24 This is documented by Richard Allen in ‘Creoles’. This property-owning class of women of Indian origin was, on a very small scale, not unlike the more famous and enduring ‘signares’ of eighteenth-century Senegal, also under French Company rule. The origins of this latter group, however, lay in an earlier period of Portuguese influence. See Searing, James F., West African Slavery and Atlantic Commerce: the Senegal River Valley, 1700–1860 (Cambridge, 1993)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

25 This issue is discussed by Benjamin Moutou in his history of the Christian population of Mauritius. Moutou refers to this Indian free population of the eighteenth century as the ‘Pondicheriens’ and takes issue with Hazareesingh's claim that they became completely Christianised and Europeanised. The documentary evidence is, in fact, contradictory, indicating perhaps that within the population of Indian origin different responses existed to the circumstances of life on Isle de France. Moutou, Benjamin, Les Chrétiens de l'Ile Maurice (Port Louis, 1996), 160–1Google Scholar.

26 See the entry in Governor Dumas' diary in 1768: ‘There are, on Isle de France, several Asian families of the Muslim religion, from two different nations—the Malabars and the Lascars—the former are workers, the latter fishermen.’ The Prefet Apostolique (M. Igou) had complained to Dumas about their public practice of the Muslim religion. Dumas observed that: ‘these Asians are connected by bonds of blood, of nationality and of religion to the peoples inhabiting the coasts of Coromandel, of Malabar and of Orissa and asked whether it might not be impolitic to remove from those who come to Isle de France their freedom to practice their religious ceremonies’. Archives Nationales, Paris [AN] C/4/21.

27 Bayly, Susan, Saints, Goddesses and Kings: Muslims and Christians in South Indian Society, 1700–1900 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 73–9Google Scholar.

28 Carter, , ‘Indian Slaves’, 242Google Scholar.

29 Bayly, Saints, Goddesses and Kings, chapter 7.

30 Bayly, , Saints, Goddesses and Kings, 395Google Scholar.

31 Carter, , ‘Indian Slaves’, 246Google Scholar.

32 For this point I am indebted to participants in the Imperial and Commonwealth History Seminar, University of Cambridge, and in particular to Timothy Harper and Chris Bayly.

33 Curtin, Philip, Economic Change in Pre-Colonial Africa: Senegambia in the Era of the Slave Trade (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1975), chapter 3Google Scholar.

34 Searing, James, West African Slavery and Atlantic Commerce: The Senegal River Valley, 1700–1860 (Cambridge, 1993)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

35 Curtin, , Economic Change, 107Google Scholar.

36 Searing, , West African Slavery, 71–2Google Scholar.

37 M. David, Governor of Isle de France in the 1750s, had in fact been Company director in Senegal in the 1740s.

38 AOM: C4/7: Lozier-Bouvet, 31 decembre 1753.

39 AOM: C4/86: Diary of M. Magon, Governor, July 1756, referring to the forge owned by M. M. Rostaing and Hermans.

40 In the latter case, this group included more women than men: AOM: GI/505, piece 7:recensement general des noirs, negresses et enfants appartenant a la Compagnie, existant au 20 avril 1761.

41 Jumeer, Musleem, ‘Les Affranchis et les Indiens Libres a l'lle de France au XVIIIe siècle’ (Doctoral thesis, Universite de Poitiers, 1984)Google Scholar.

42 I have taken this way of conceptualising creolisation from the very illuminating work of Burton, Richard, Afro-Creole: Power, Opposition and Play in the Caribbean (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1997)Google Scholar.

43 In any case, as we have noted, the term ‘Wolof’, and that of ‘Guinée’, as used to describe slaves in Isle de France was a broad one which was likely to have incorporated and blurred other West African identities. Although in the court case on Jouan we are introduced to a witness, Pierre Moussa, who is described as ‘Bambara’, it is also the case that many ethnically Bambara slaves were counted amongst the ‘Wolof’ and ‘Guinée’. Fear of Wolof insubordination and disloyalty led the French on the island of Gorée to rely for some purposes on slaves who came from further up-river, most notably those known as ‘Bambara’: Searing, West African Slavery, 29, 60. An additional complication is the presence on Isle de France of slaves exported from the French post of Ouidah on the Bight of Benin. These slaves were likely to have been culturally very different from those exported from Senegambia and the Guinée coast. Evidence for the presence of slaves from Ouidah in the first half of the eighteenth century is provided by Philip Baker and Chris Corne in their study of the evolution of a Creole language on Isle de France: Isle de France Creole: Affinities and Origins (Ann Arbor, Michigan, Karoma, 1982): 180–1Google Scholar. On the French slave trade see also Filliot, J.M., La Traite des Esclaves vers les Mascareignes au XVIIIe siècle, ORSTROM (Paris, 1974)Google Scholar and Stein, Robert Louis, The French Slave Trade in the Eighteenth Century: an Old Regime Business (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1979)Google Scholar.

44 Milbert, M.J., Voyage Pittoresque a l'Ile de France, Au Cap de Bonne Esperance et a l'Ile de Teneriffe (Paris: A. Nepven, 1812), vol. 11: 163Google Scholar. Milbert's observations were made in 1801. Gamble's ethnographic study of the Wolof makes no mention of any tradition of body tattooing, though this is noted as a feature of Serer culture—the Serer being an ethnic group partially incorporated by the Wolof: Gamble, David P., The Wolof of Senegambia (1957) 103Google Scholar.

45 Though once again it was Milbert who noted that ‘Parmi les Mozambiques, il y en a qui sont originaires de l'etablissment portugais de ce nom; d'autres de Querimbas, sur la meme cote; d'autres de Quiloa et de Zanzibar, parmi lesquels se trouvent quelques Abyssins. Cette classe, selon M. de Cossigny, forme quinze divisions de peuples qui ne s'entendent point, et qui etaient destines a se combattre.’ Milbert, , Voyage Pittoresque, vol. 11: 162Google Scholar. In the records of the ships which transported East African slaves to Isle de France the ethnicities of slaves were noted, though no doubt they were very rough categories. See for example NAM: OC71 Bureau de Controle de la Marine: Pieces relatives aux operations de traite de la flute Roi Les Bons Amis sur la cote orientale de l'Afrique, 1779–85.

46 Baker dates the first identification of Mauritian creole in an advertisement of 1773: Baker, and Corne, , Isle de France Creole: 248Google Scholar.

47 See entries of ‘Bantu’ derivation in Baker, Philip and Hookoomsing, Vinesh Y., Diksyoner Kreol Morisyen (Paris: Editors L'Harmattan, 1987)Google Scholar.

48 At least this is what Milbert seems to imply: ‘La population de Madagascar s'etant formée par le concours de plusieurs nations, il en resulte que ces insulaires n'ont pas tous, a beaucoup pres, les meme caracteres physiques; leur couleur est tres variée, tous n'ont point les cheveux crepus. Ces insulaires font, avec les Indiens, un tier des esclaves de l'Ile de France. Quoiqu'ils apprennent facilement toute espèce de metiers, on prefère les employer comme domestiques.’ Milbert, Voyage Pittoresqw, vol. 11: 164Google Scholar.

49 For Malagasy veneration of ancestors and burial practices see Bloch, M., Placing the Dead. Tombs, Ancestral Villas and Kinship Organisation in Madagascar (London, Seminar Press, 1971)Google Scholar. For an overview of the complexity of Malagasy history and culture see Mack, John, Madagascar: Island of the Ancestors (London: British Museum Publications, 1986)Google Scholar.

50 NAM: JB4: Procedure Criminelle, 1746.

51 NAM: JB6: Procedure Criminelle, 1750–1.

52 NAM: JB29: Procedure Criminelle 1777, cases against Joseph and against la Poeze.

53 There are many such examples: e.g. in 1784 that of Louis Bergincourt, a ‘free black’ carpenter, who complains to the police that two brothers (the brothers Sieurs le Goy) have composed a song which defames his family and have pinned the text of this song to the door of his house.

54 My impression (but this is only an impression) is that cases involving the reputations of ‘free blacks’ increased in the revolutionary years. This would not be surprising given the importance of the issue of ‘free blacks’ in revolutionary politics and the debate which led to the abolition of slavery in 1794.

55 NAM: JB27, Procedure Criminelle, 1777 no. 14.

56 A ‘punition infamante’ was one which involved the loss of civil rights. In using this term Giraud demonstrates that not only is he well-versed in French law, but that he is a free man with rights which could be lost.

57 Unfortunately I have not been able to discover from the surviving documentation what had gone on between Giraud and Foucault in the past, through details on Foucault's career can be found in AOM: E Series (Personnel Colonial Ancien): E 190.

58 Here Giraud appears to be emphasising not only his legal status as a free person, but his ‘racial’ origins as a ‘mulatto’.

59 There were seven circumstances of the person or of the offence which could aggravate culpability and penal severity. These included ‘rank or social condition, if the offended was infamous …’; ‘if the victim was an illustrious personage …’; ‘if the crime was committed in … a public square …’; ‘if the crime was committed by assault or surprise … or with blatant scandal’. Andrews, Richard Mowery, Law, Magistracy and Crime in Old Regime Paris, 1735–1789 (Cambridge, 1994), vol. 1, 498Google Scholar.