Just over a hundred years later, the English arrived, staying a short time and providing written accounts of their encounters during their stay. The French arrived in the mid 18th century, seeing off the last of the pirates and bringing the Minister for France, Jean Moreau de Sechelles, after whom the region acquired its name.
The British liked what they had seen in their earlier visits to the islands and hence decided to take on France for control in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Facing a vastly superior army, French leader Jean Baptiste Queau de Quincy realised the futility of resistance and on several occasions ordered his forces to surrender to the British in order to minimise casualties. The surrender of Mauritius in 1812 and the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1814 marked the beginning of formal British control.
A coup d’etat in 1977 saw the removal of the first president James Mancham and the instatement of France Albert Rene in the same position. Two years later the nation signed its first constitution which created a socialist one-party state system which remained the status quo until 1993 when a new constitution was ratified. The nation has since enjoyed political stability and a relatively stable economy.
