Mauritius Creoles Can Now Retrace the Roots of Their Ancestral Past

The Creole population of Mauritius who are mainly the descendants of slaves will now have the opportunity to retrace their ancestral past through a website that has been set up in the United Kingdom.

Lindsay Morvan, a member of the board of trustees of the Nelson Mandela Centre for African and Creole Culture (NMCACC) writes in a communiqué issued Saturday by the NMCACC that the project “Origins” which had been initiated by the organization and Ms Vijaya Teeluck, a lecturer at the University of Mauritius was to try and give an opportunity to Mauritians of African and Malagasy descent the possibility to retrace their ancestral past.

But unfortunately, due to the fact that French colonizers who ruled the country from 1715 to 1810 destroyed all traces of the past of their slaves, it has been very difficult for the Creoles to set up their genealogical tree.

Morvan indicated that a new British website -ancestry.co.uk- will now fill the gap and some of the descendants of slaves in Mauritius will be able to learn about their ancestry during the period from 1812 to 1834 as the British government had kept records on the slaves and their masters after they captured the island in December 1810.

Though the slave trade had been abolished by the British government in 1807, the trade continued to flourish until the British decreed the abolition of slavery in 1834.

The website has compiled the files of some 2.7 million slaves and their owners from 17 former British colonies, including Mauritius.

Morvan pointed out that searches can be carried out by using the name of the slave, approximate birth year and by gender. The name of the master also can be of help as sometimes slave owners gave their own names to their slaves.

Morvan added that in talks with officials of the Mauritius government last week, it has been decided to revive the Slavery Reparation Committee which was set up in 1998, but which after some time became a stillborn committee.

Source African Press Agency

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