Chapter 1 introduces the geopolitical and scientific–colonial context of eighteenth-century Mauritius, primarily from the perspective of its governance. Mauritius was a French colony, and a very expensive one to run. It was managed by the Compagnie des Indes (CIO) until 1763 and then, in the aftermath of the Seven Years War (and dissolution of the CIO), was purchased by the French crown. By setting out the hidden dynamics of empire, this chapter provides a detailed discussion that explains why Mauritius was primarily a stopping-off point in the period under review rather than an island of commerce. A key finding concerns the internal divisions within the island over its management and policy, which is an important revision to prevailing assumptions in the historiography that such interests would be divided between policymakers in the metropole and those in the colony, where each has been assumed to represent a unified view. Hence, it examines the various experiments in colonial autonomy undertaken on Mauritius between the 1760s and the 1780s, including the complex alternatives relating to the agents who tried to build networks through alliances with local actors and Indigenous populations in the Indo-Pacific region. Lastly, this chapter spotlights the use of enslaved people in various projects in the island.

Featuring an explanation of Enlightenment thought on agronomy and political economy, Chapter 3 examines the efforts to make Mauritius a self-sufficient island through the importation and naturalisation of plants (primarily foodstuffs and fodder, also some industrial materials, and a few ornamental plants). It explores how newly introduced and ‘old’ plants were cultivated and how local knowledge, which was gathered together with the plants in their countries of origin, was implemented. It highlights the practical significance of knowledge about plants in relation to their cultivation of Malagasy and non-European communities across Asia. It seeks to understand how settlers sought to cultivate foreign, newly introduced staple crops, such as rice, root vegetables, and fruit trees. Stressing the importance of non-European knowledge, the chapter looks at the interplay of this knowledge between its practical implementation and environmental factors. The chapter reveals that cultivation techniques were difficult to implement and often led to a crop’s failure.