HISTORY HOUR
From Goa to Mauritius:
French and Portuguese trade and commerce
in the 18th-century Indian Ocean
Vijayalakshmi Teelock
Historian; Former Professor of History, University of Mauritius
Moderated by
Sushila Sawant Mendes
Historian; Former Professor of History, Government College of Arts, Science & Commerce, Quepem
Thursday, 12 March 2026 | 6 pm
Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Porvorim, Goa
Please join us for a History Hour lecture on ‘From Goa to Mauritius: French and Portuguese trade and commerce in the 18th-century Indian Ocean’ by Vijayalakshmi Teelock and moderated by Sushila Sawant Mendes on Thursday, 12 March 2026 at 6 pm at the Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Porvorim, Goa.
Please join us for tea at 5:30 pm.
DOWNLOAD BROCHURE
From Goa to Mauritius:
French and Portuguese trade and commerce
in the 18th-century Indian Ocean
This lecture presents the early findings of a research project examining the historical connections between Goa and Mauritius during the eighteenth century, with particular attention to the role of Goan intermediaries employed by French merchants and officials. The research begins with an analysis of private correspondence exchanged between Goans and French merchants, drawing primarily on the extensive archival collections held at the Xavier Centre of Historical Research.
The study seeks to understand how a relatively small island such as Mauritius developed extensive commercial networks across the Indian Ocean during the eighteenth century. As an initial point of entry into this broader question, the research focuses on the Afro-Malagasy slave trade to Mauritius. Unlike the Atlantic system, Indian Ocean slave trading networks were closely intertwined with the circulation of a wide range of commodities, including enslaved peoples.
Mauritius: A Major Centre of Slave Trading in the Indian Ocean © Le Chantier / SLAFNET
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Vijayalakshmi Teelock
Vijayalakshmi Teelock was Associate Professor of History at the University of Mauritius until 2021, where she founded the Centre for Research on Slavery and Indenture in 2006. She served as Chairperson of the Aapravasi Ghat Trust Fund, a parastatal body created to prepare the nomination dossier for the Aapravasi Ghat’s inscription as a World Heritage Site, which was achieved in 2006. She was also Vice-Chairperson of the Mauritius Truth and Justice Commission, a Presidential Commission established to enquire into and make recommendations on the consequences of slavery and indenture in Mauritius. She is currently undertaking independent research on the history of Mauritius and is a Visiting Scholar at the Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Goa.
Sushila Sawant Mendes
Sushila Sawant Mendes is a historian, whose work focuses on the intellectual and political history of Goa. She completed her postgraduate studies in History at the University of Bombay and earned her PhD from Goa University in 2012. Mendes served for several decades as Professor of History at the Government College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Quepem, where she also headed the Department of History for over thirty years and earlier served as Vice-Principal. Her research examines nationalism, liberal thought and the colonial press in Goa. She has published several research papers and authored the monograph, Luis de Menezes Bragança: Nationalism, Secularism and Free Thought in Portuguese Goa (2014).
Xavier Centre of Historical Research
B B Borkar Road, Porvorim, Goa 403521, India
xchr.in | in...@xchr.in
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