Our story is bound to both Mauritius and Rodrigues. Like Alexis, the young protagonist of Franco-Mauritian author J.M.G. Le Clézio's novel Le Chercheur d'Or, we come from Mauritius. We carry its natural beauty and its quiet multiculturalism, while dreaming of the untouched shores of Rodrigues. This is the story of our home: the island of Mauritius.

Born of Fire, Undisturbed for Millennia

Millions of years ago, a chain of underwater volcanoes rose from the Indian Ocean to form the Mascarene Islands, of which Mauritius and Rodrigues, alongside Réunion, are part. Mauritius' isolation kept it free of human presence until the 10th century, and in that time, the island built an ecosystem found nowhere else on earth.

Its best-known resident was the dodo. The same qualities that led to its extinction, its stillness, its lack of fear, are markers of an island that had never needed to be afraid. The dodo lived without predators, in dense ebony forest, alongside pink pigeons, kestrels, giant tortoises, and fruit bats. Human arrival changed that quickly. Hunting, and the accidental introduction of rats, pigs, and Javan deer, pushed many of these same unhurried species toward decline, and in some cases, extinction.

Colonialism, Culture, and Change

Uninhabited for millions of years, the Mascarene Islands were first sighted by Arab sailors in the 10th century, who called Mauritius Dina Arabi. Portuguese navigators mapped it in the 16th century, though it was the Dutch who made the first real attempt at settlement, between 1598 and 1710. The island's name is their legacy: Mauritius, in honor of Maurice van Nassau. Dutch settlers brought enslaved people from Madagascar and East Africa, and their hunting, along with the species they introduced, hastened the loss of the dodo and the island's giant tortoises.

Cyclones and a failed settlement led the Dutch to abandon Mauritius in 1710. The French East India Company claimed it in 1715 and held it until 1810. Governor Mahé de Labourdonnais is credited with founding Port Louis, still the island's capital today, and the French expanded shipbuilding and agriculture, continuing to bring enslaved people to the island. During the Napoleonic Wars, French-funded corsairs raided British ships travelling between Europe and India, drawing a British invasion that, in 1810, brought Mauritius, Rodrigues, and the Seychelles under British control. Britain allowed the island to keep its French language and customs, a decision still visible today in a country that moves easily between French and English.

The British reshaped the island while leaving much of its past intact. Governor Robert Farquhar strengthened agriculture and grew the sugar industry into an economic force that endures. In 1835, Britain abolished slavery on the island and introduced an indentured labor system that, over the following century, brought hundreds of thousands of workers from across the empire to its fields. Colonization, slavery, and indenture, taken together, are what shaped Mauritius' multiculturalism. Today, the island holds South Asian, East Asian, African, and European communities side by side, along with a food culture built from the same layered history: Indian, Chinese, and Creole traditions, sharing a table.

Learn More About The History of Rodrigues 

Independence, Mauritius, and Rodrigues

Through the mid-20th century, as former colonies across the British Empire moved toward self-rule, Mauritius did the same. On the 12th of March 1968, the island gained independence, and Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam became its first Prime Minister.

At independence, Britain transferred sovereignty of Mauritius, Rodrigues, Agalega, and St Brandon to the new nation. Rodrigues, meanwhile, was governed from the mainland as the island's 10th district until 2001, when the Rodrigues Regional Assembly Act granted it a measure of self-governance. Since then, Mauritius and Rodrigues have shared a close, easy relationship, built on mutual respect and a common regard for the environment.

What Mauritius Chooses to Remember

Mauritius' history, layered and at times difficult, has shaped a democracy grounded in trust and coexistence. Sites like the Aapravasi Ghat and the Slavery Museum, not far from Port Louis' central market, hold that history in place, preserving what is often a painful past rather than smoothing over it.

The island has taken the same care with its natural world. A Protected Area Network now spans the mainland and its offshore islets, twenty state-protected areas covering more than 8,000 hectares, alongside three Ramsar wetlands of international importance: the Rivulet Terre Rouge Estuary Bird Sanctuary, Blue Bay Marine Park, and Pointe d'Esny.

The simplicity of its people, its basalt landscapes, its lagoons, and its reefs still shape how we think and work. Mauritius holds our values close, and remains, to this day, the home of our team, just as it holds the memory of the island that first drew us toward Rodrigues.

Fragrances have this extraordinary power to move us through incredible and unforgettable journeys to faraway places. Voyage à Rodrigues is more than just a fragrance line; it is an olfactory odyssey inspired by the hidden gem of the Indian Ocean: the Island of Rodrigues. Each scent in the collection is a poetic tribute to the island’s rich biodiversity, capturing the essence of its ecosystem, carefully preserved by local communities. Embrace this journey with Rodrigues Island and its planters, join us in unveiling this treasured long-guarded secret.