Themed visits

The museum also offers to teachers the opportunity to organise themed visits for their students.

The visit can therefore focus on one specific exhibition room, based on the class curriculum.

For example, Standard 4 pupils can spend more time in the section devoted to Dutch, French or British colonisation in the “The Island Builders” exhibition room.

On the other hand, the exhibition room devoted to the story of “Paul et Virginie” can be visited by secondary school literature students who have the novel in their school curriculum. Likewise, the different exhibition rooms of the museum enable the exploration of various other themes and can be customised accordingly.

Navigation

Learning:
  • Knowledge of boats
  • Reading navigation maps and symbols
  • Determining longitude and latitude
  • Discovering ancient navigational instruments
  • Imagining a sailing expedition in the 18th century, life on board, boarding another ship

Mauritius under Dutch rule

Discovering:
  • The commercial context
  • The first visits
  • The fauna and flora
  • The settlement
  • The population
  • Agriculture and livestock farming
  • Difficulties encountered
  • The abandonment of the territory

Mauritius under French rule

Understanding:
  • The geopolitical and strategic issues
  • The French East and West India Companies
  • The taking over of the island
  • The early days of settlement
  • The population
  • Slave trade and slavery
  • The agricultural and commercial development
  • Privateers and commerce raiding at sea

The battle of Grand Port

Grasping:
  • The historical context
  • The opposing forces
  • The strategy
  • The unfolding of the battle day after day
  • The outcome

Mauritius under British rule

Knowing:
  • The expansion of the Empire in the Indian Ocean
  • The taking over of the Mascarene Islands
  • The Battle of Isle de France
  • The terms and implications of the capitulation of the French
  • The abolition of slavery
  • Indentured labour
  • Commercial, manufacturing and sugar sector development

Port Louis, port and capital

Understanding:
  • The topography of the place
  • The development of the port and town since 1736
  • The capital between 1801 and 1853 as it appears in 25 ancient lithographs
  • Comparative photographs showing the changes that have occurred to date
  • The history of the town and of the port through a detailed analysis of the images

Postal history

Knowing:
  • The beginnings of postal services during the Dutch period
  • The organisation of means of communication in Isle de France
  • The importance of postal services and mail delivery routes in the Indian Ocean
  • Ship mail in the days of sail and steam navigation
  • Inland mail in the days of stagecoaches and trains
  • Air mail before, during and after World War II

The first postage stamps issued in Mauritius

Discovering:
  • The journey of the engraver, Joseph Osmond Barnard, from Portsmouth to Port Louis in 1838
  • The mystery of the world-famous Post Office Mauritius stamps
  • All of the first series of postage stamps issued in Mauritius and their story
  • The stamp-making process
  • How to collect postage stamps
  • Philately and the values it carries

“Paul et Virginie”, a tale of exotic adventure

Grasping:
  • The origins of the novel
  • The motivations of the author, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre
  • The influences of Romanticism
  • The story of “Paul et Virginie” in the context of the time it was written
  • The dimension of a publishing success for over 200 years
  • The exotic in the prints, paintings and sculptures inspired by the novel