The first historical evidence of the existence of an island now known as Mauritius is on a map produced by the Italian cartographer Alberto Cantino in 1502.

As a stopover, the Comoros to the north proved to offer a shorter and safer route on the way to Arabia and India.

They landed and decided to name the island "Prins Maurits van Nassaueiland", after Prince Maurits (Latin version: Mauritius) of the House of Nassau, the stadtholder of the provinces of the Dutch Republic except for Friesland, but also after the main vessel of the fleet which was called "Mauritius".

In 1615, the shipwrecking and death of governor Pieter Both, who was coming back from India with four richly laden ships in the bay, caused the route to be considered as cursed by Dutch sailors and they tried to avoid it as much as possible.

Numerous governors were appointed, but continuous hardships such as cyclones, droughts, pest infestations, lack of food and illnesses finally took their toll, and the island was definitively abandoned in 1710.

In 1644, the islanders were faced with many months of hardships, due to delayed shipment of supplies, bad harvests and cyclones.

In 1664, a second attempt was made, but this one also ended badly as the men chosen for the job abandoned their sick commander, Van Niewland, without proper treatment, and he died.

From 1666 to 1669, Dirk Jansz Smient administered the new colony at Grand Port, with the cutting down and export of Ebony trees as the main activity.

Lamotius governed until 1692, when he was deported to Batavia for judgment for persecuting a colonist whose wife had refused his courtship.

[6] Even if he tried to develop the island, Deodati faced many problems, like cyclones, pest infestations, cattle illnesses and droughts.

Less admirable was the decimation by the Dutch of the local dodo and giant tortoise population for food, also aided by the introduction of competing species and pests.

In 1948 a monument and plaque was erected in Ferney, Vieux Grand Port to commemorate the first Dutch landing which had taken place 350 years earlier.

[9] On 18 November 2010, the Frederik Hendrik Museum was opened by Ad Koekkoek, ambassador of the Netherlands in Tanzania, and Mookhesswur Choonee, Minister of Culture of Mauritius.