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ABSTRACT
The article presents a critical investigation of the historiography of the Chagos archipelago and in particular the expelled islanders, known as Ilois, and more recently as Chagossians. A brief survey of the discovery and settlement of the atolls is provided, along with a more detailed summary of key events in the history of workers on the archipelago from the late-eighteenth to mid-twentieth century. Finally, the paper discusses the challenges of framing a workers’ history characterized by exploitation and marginalization alongside the romanticized collective representation of life in the archipelago which has been adopted as a ‘narrative of exile’ by the Chagossians.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributor
Marina Carter is a Research Fellow, and member of AHRC Funded Becoming Coolies team.
Notes
1. The term ‘Chagossian’ replaced the use of the term Ilois relatively recently [in the 1990s]. In this article, slave, or worker, or laborer or ‘Ilois’ is used wherever historical references are made; the word Chagossian is used when referring to the present day.
2. There are virtually no substantive works on Chagos written by professional historians. Previous works covering aspects of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century history of the archipelago include Scott (Citation1961), Edis (Citation1993), Fry (Citation1967), Stoddart (Citation1971), Chelin (Citation2012). An attempt to address this lacuna has been made by Wenban-Smith and Carter (Citation2016). Much of the documentation in this article is derived from research undertaken for this book.
3. Archives Nationales [AN] Paris, 3JJ 358 Mémoire anonyme, 1780.
4. Royal Society of Mauritius Archives [RSA], Papiers Doyen 22/36 Despatch of Vicomte de Souillace, 31 October 1786.
5. Slaves and other non-white workers were usually ethnically categorized according to their place of birth at this time.
6. Mauritius Archives [MA] TB 3/2. The island was also said to abound in seabirds, turtles, fish and wild hens, but water was difficult to find and brackish.
7. RSA, Papiers Decaen 22/36 Despatch of Vicomte de Souillac, 31 October 1786.
8. Maharashtra State Archives, Secret & Political Diary no 33A, Bombay Government to Governor General and Council, Fort William, 18 March 1786, ditto to President and Council, Fort St George, 31 March 1786.
9. Maharashtra State Archives, Secret & Political Diary no 33A, Bombay Government to John Richmond Smyth, 27 November 1786.
10. According to the notes of Baron d’Unienville, made shortly after the British took possession of Mauritius, these de facto arrangements were not formalized because the French administration was still flirting with the idea of setting up a lazaret for lepers at Chagos, see MA TB 3/2.
11. Their fate is unknown but it is likely that the navy retained only those slaves who had maritime skills and disposed of the others in British settlements around the Indian Ocean.
12. Royal College of Physicians Archive, London, OFFIP/4000/1 and National Archives, London [NA] Colonial Office [CO] 167/107 enclosures to Governor's dispatch dated 20 May 1829 for Jones and Greville reports respectively.
13. See for example MA IG 59 No 5353 for details of 52 slaves belonging to Ozille Majastre in 1832
14. NA CO 167/182, Governor's dispatch of 16 February 1835.
15. NA CO 167/204 Mr Special Justice Anderson to Colonial Secretary 5 Sept 1838.
16. MA RA 1135 Petition of John Sanpath, Marie Orelie, Both Hyanth, Pascalle, Eloise Celina, Desire, Desire, Mozambique, and Estelle, 18 September 1851.
17. MA RA 1386 Statement of Chaccoo, 1857.
18. MA RA 1386 Statement of Chaccoo, Report of Peyton, 27th January 1857.
19. NA CO 167/412 Report, dated 14 July 1859 enclosed with Mauritius dispatch No.113
20. NA CO 167/452 Johnstone dispatch, 17 October 1863.
21. NA CO 170/93 Appendix, p. 250. In
22. NA CO 170/96 Appendix p. 1484.
23. NA CO 170/98 Report of Magistrate Ackroyd, 1878.
24. Since Eugene Genovese published his pathbreaking study Roll Jordan roll the world the slaves made, New York, Pantheon Books, 1974, historians have investigated ways in which subaltern groups have sought to express their humanity and contest their oppression through culture, music and religion.
25. NA CO 167/784 Governor's dispatch 11 May 1908.
26. See NA CO/167/861/10 and 865/4 for details of magistrates’ reports 1927-1929.
27. Berenger report enclosed in dispatch no 481 of 19 December 1928, NA CO 167 862/8; Hanning report enclosed in dispatch of 16 Nov 1931 NA CO 167/875/12.
28. Mauritius Blue Books NA CO 172/154-9.
29. As late as 1946 it was found that some workers had been signing contracts at rates of Rs 8 per month. This was considered to have enabled managers to dock the actual earnings of non-performers. NA CO 167/912/10 Report of Rousset, 26 June 1946.
30. NA CO 167/912/10 Report of Lavoipierre, Glover & Rousset, 26 June 1946
31. See Wenban-Smith and Carter, Citation2016, chapter 20 which draws heavily on transcriptions of interviews conducted by Robert Furlong and additional material from interviews with Fernand recorded for the book.
32. The population of Chagos increased from 980 in 1947 to 1151 in 1952. CO 1032/132 Enclosure to Despatch of 31 Oct 1951.
33. Reports of de Broglio on Diego Ltd are held in NA CO 1036/421; Lucie-Smith's report is in NA CO 1036/502
34. Personal diary of R. H. Maingard, September 1961.
35. Maingard, R. H. ‘Report on a visit to the Oil Islands’, unpublished report.
36. Details of the formation of the Chagos-Agalega company and the financial background are taken from the report of Robert Newton, NA CO 2114/64.
37. The persistence of racist attitudes towards the Chagossians in Mauritius is exemplified by the comments of Sir Satcam Boolell ‘Diego Garcia and the International Community’, l’Express, 24 March 1995 and the subsequent critique of those remarks.