Mauritius was probably visited by the Arabs before the 10th century, the Malays in the 1400s, and the Portuguese in the early 1500s. It was occupied in 1598 by the Dutch, who named it for Maurice of Nassau, then stadtholder of The Netherlands. The Dutch left in 1710, and in 1715 the French took possession, renaming it Île de France. It was captured by the British in 1810 during the Napoleonic Wars and was formally ceded to Britain in 1814. To offset the labor problem arising from abolition of slavery in the British Empire, the planters were allowed to import indentured laborers from India, and since 1861 the population has been mainly Indian.

The customs, laws, and language remained French, but the name Mauritius was reinstated. Slavery was abolished in 1835, and the slaves were replaced by Indian labourers. Mauritius prospered in the 1850s, but competition from beet sugar caused a decline. The malaria epidemic of 1866–68 drove shipping away from Port Louis, which further declined after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. During World War I, when sugar prices rose, the economy prospered, but the depression of the 1930s changed the situation drastically, culminating in labour unrest in 1937. World War II did not improve the economic situation, and after 1945 economic reforms were introduced. Political and administrative reforms were also initiated, which led to the 1968 independence of Mauritius within the Commonwealth of Nations. The effects of Cyclone Claudette in late 1979 and of falling world sugar prices in the early 1980s led the government to initiate a vigorous program of agricultural diversification and to develop the processing of imported goods for the export market.

Mauritius was granted independence on March 12, 1968. A member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Afro-Malagasy Mauritian Common Organization, and the Organization of African Unity, Mauritius also has a special arrangement with the European Union under the Lomé Convention. The Mauritius Labor Party (MLP), headed by Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, governed Mauritius during the first 14 years of independence. The opposition Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM) gained strength throughout the 1970s and in 1982 swept to power, under the leadership of Anerood Jugnauth. Ousted from the MMM in a power struggle, Jugnauth formed a new party, the Mauritian Socialist Movement (MSM), which, in alliance with the MLP, won a parliamentary majority in 1983. Jugnauth’s coalition was reelected in 1987 and 1991.