African Studies Centre Leiden The Netherlands Mauritius and the Netherlands: Current linkages and the heritage of connections Ton Dietz (African Studies Centre Leiden) ASC Working Paper 144 / 2018 African Studies Centre Leiden P.O. Box 9555 2300 RB Leiden The Netherlands Telephone +31-71-5273372 Website www.ascleiden.nl E-mail
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[email protected]) Mauritius and the Netherlands: current linkages and the heritage of connections Ton Dietz (African Studies Centre Leiden)1 Current linkages For a country bearing a name that refers to the Netherlands, the current linkages with the Netherlands are quite limited. Mauritius is named after a Dutch political hero: Prince Maurits of Nassau, stadholder of Holland and Zealand between 1585 and 16252, and the son and successor of the ‘Father of the Nation’, William of Orange after he was murdered in 1584. Maurits successfully led the revolt (‘opstand’) against Spain, the former ruler of the Netherlands. The island received its name ‘Mauritius’ (or earlier spelt as “‘t Eylant Mauwerijcye de Nassau”; Moree, 2012) in 1595. During that year Maurits was twenty-eight years old. Figures 1, 2 and 3: Maurits of Nassau in 1588, in 1607 and in 16143, and Figure 4: Maurits on a Mauritian postage stamp celebrating the 400th anniversary of Dutch landing 1598-19984. 1 Emeritus professor of African Development at the University of Leiden and former director of the African Studies Centre Leiden;
[email protected]; earlier publication about Mauritius: Norder et al., 2012. 2 In 1590 he also became stadholder of Utrecht, Gelre and Overijssel, and in 1620 of Groningen and Drenthe.