The recent publication of Jean Claude de l?Estrac?s Mauriciens, Enfants de Mille Races marks the birth of a new trilogy of Mauritian history books, which will make an important contribution to the study of our country?s rich, complex, and unique past. This first volume covers the period when Mauritius was under French rule while, at the same time, it takes a brief look at the Portuguese discovery of the island as well as the era of Dutch colonial occupation.

The book?s objectives

Through its more than 260 pages and 11 chapters, this new history book provides an in-depth, analytical and vivid narrative on the gradual emergence of the multi-ethnic colonial society of Ile de France between 1721 and 1810. In fact, Jean Claude de l?Estrac has followed in the footsteps of other important historians, who have written books on the French colonial period of Mauritian history, such as Albert Pitot, St. Elme Le Duc, Auguste Toussaint, Huguette Ly Tio Fane Pineo, and Marcelle Lagesse, but with a major difference when compared with these writers.

With this new publication, Jean Claude de l?Estrac, while fulfilling his duty as a social historian and professional writer, has succeeded in producing an objective, non-ethnocentric, and multi-faceted history of Ile de France. Furthermore, this work sheds new light on the genesis of Mauritian colonial society under French rule during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and how the various ethnic components of the Mauritian nation were either brought by force or willingly came to this small Indian Ocean island.

In his preface, the author eloquently explains that one of the major objectives of this first volume is ?une nouvelle contribution à la compréhension de l?histoire du peuplement de Maurice?. When it comes to his approach in the writing of Mauritian history, he makes it clear that: ?Ce texte est donc, en premier lieu, un travail de synthèse. Il s?appuie sur d?abondantes sources, connues et moins connues, considérées comme fiables, pour tenter de restituer à chacun des acteurs de la société mauricienne la part qui lui est propre, la part essentielle sans laquelle le tout se dissout.?

The new historians

It was partly through Jean Claude de l?Estrac?s wide experience as an active politician and key figure in the Mouvement Militant Mauricien (MMM) between the 1970s and first half of the 1990s, which helped shape his view of Mauritian history. At the same time, along with other social historians such as Dr Vijaya Teelock, Dr Satteeanund Peerthum, Sada Reddi, and Sydney Selvon, he forms part of a group called the ?New Historians? that have gradually emerged over the past three decades. Therefore, ever since the 1970s, this small group of historians and writers have brought about an intellectual revolution in their country?s national historiography by focusing on ?the people?s history? of Mauritius.

For more than thirty years, as a career journalist and later as an editor in chief, Jean Claude de l?Estrac has regularly written articles on various aspects of Mauritian history namely slavery, indenture, the maroons, and the three different periods of European colonization. In Mauriciens, Enfants de Mille Races, he shows, with a great deal of clarity, that the free coloureds were important actors in the historical process and our slave and maroon ancestors were not docile, but actively resisted their oppressors and fought for their freedom. One of the central themes of this book is that the Mauritian people came from Africa, Asia, and Europe and, therefore, Mauritians are the children of a modern worldwide diaspora.

The historian?s craft

While embarking on his new career as a writer of Mauritian history books, Jean Claude de l?Estrac has successfully shown that, under French rule, the transformation of our island from a no-man?s land into a flourishing colony was a joint enterprise between the various segments of the Mauritian population. He also places a lot of emphasis on the fact that the slaves and the indentured labourers of India and Europe were the builders of Ile de France and the Mauritian people are their inheritors. After all, it was they who built Port-Louis, its harbour, its streets and turned Mauritius into an important French possession.

Through his detailed knowledge of history and mastery of the French language, Jean Claude de l?Estrac has been able to capture the essence of this crucial period in our country?s early history. Thus, he provides his readers with a rare insight into the epic struggles of ordinary Mauritians, who formed part of the lower classes of Mauritian colonial society, and how they have left an indelible mark on this country?s rich past, while not neglecting the importance of great governors like Mahé de Labourdonnais.

During the mid-80s, John Tosh, a famous British social historian, explained: ?History is the collective memory, the storehouse of experience through which people develop a sense of identity and their future prospect.? Through his recent publication, Jean Claude de l?Estrac stresses on the fact that, by learning about the past, the young Mauritian nation can mould a national identity as well as a national heritage, which are vital pillars in the process of nation building for Mauritius in the early 21st century. Without doubt, during the coming weeks and months, Mauriciens, Enfants de Mille Races will find a place on a bookshelf in every Mauritian home.