"The history of Mauritius begins around 900 AD, when Arab sailors, engaged in trade with people from the East African coast, the Comoros, and Madagascar, first laid eyes on what they called Dina Arobi (Abandoned Island). Since the Arabs were first and foremost traders and a journey as far into the Indian Ocean as the Mascarene Islands was a rather dangerous venture in their small dhows, there was no incentive to establish a settlement on the island. At the end of the fifteenth century, Europe started to cast its eyes to the East. Attracted by its treasures, of which spices were most important, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to sail around the Cape of Good Hope and explore the Indian Ocean. Vasco da Gama was the first to do so, and on his famous voyage in 1498 he was the first European to learn about the existence of the Mascarene Islands by way of a map shown to him by his Indian pilot. Mauritius was indicated by its Arab name the very first time it appeared on a European map in 1502, two years after the Portuguese navigator Diogo Dias became the first European to discover the island. The Portuguese did not settle on Mauritius, for the island did not possess any of the riches they were after. They did, however, stop occasionally on the island to obtain food and water before continuing their journeys to the East. They gave the island several names, of which Ilha do Cerne (Swan Island) was preferred in the end. Up to 1598 the Portuguese (as well as pirates from various regions) were the only ones to visit the island, and therefore it was regarded by many as a Portuguese possession."

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3 years ago