Objectives

    From its establishment as base for naval activities by France in the early 18th century until the advent of steamships in the second half of the 19th, Mauritius, or Ile de France as the French called it, was the key to the Indian Ocean. The first capital was at Grand Port on the south-eastern side of the island. The French administration soon found that Port Louis, on the western side, offered a superior harbor. Thus the capital was moved to its present location. Grand Port, however, retained very considerablestrategic importance, a position that it did not loose when the last Frenchgovernor established the town of Mahebourg to replace Grand Port in response to the silting up of the river and lagoon at the original site. Ile de la Passe is a small coral islet on the main protecting reef which commands the deep-water channel and pass leading into Grand Port. Control of Ile de la Passe was, therefore,of crucial importance for Mauritius and, by extension, for the entire Indian Ocean. During the Napoleonic Wars Britain was to be forced to take the Indian Ocean islands of Mauritius and Reunion from the French in order to protect her shipping. At the outbreak of the Mauritian campaign the British lost the Battle of Grand Port in an engagement that lasted several days. This, the last major naval victory by the Napoleonic fleet, is commemorated on the Arc de Triumph in Paris and immortalized in Patrick O'Brian's best selling historical novel The Mauritius Command.
     Some of the best-preserved and most important examples of French coastal defenses in the southern hemisphere, and probably anywhere, are still to be seen on Ile de la Passe. Their survival was in part due to the fact that British possession of Mauritius was not seriously threatened throughout the remainder of the 19th century, with the result that no major rebuilding of the defenses were undertaken, and also because when the islet was re-established as a military base during WW II the commanding officers appreciated and displayed considerable respect towards the earlier structures.
     The National Heritage Trust of Mauritius, inresponse to growing local interest as well as international tourism, wishes to raise the profile of the islet as a way of ensuring that both physical and administrative measures are taken to ensure preservation. It is expected that Ile de la Passe will be promoted for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List in the foreseeable future and that active measures will be taken to restore and preserve some of the structures (particularly those which have WW II period concrete roofs) as a matter of considerable urgency.