In 1735, Bertrand-François Mahé de Labourdonnais arrived on Île de France as the new governor of the French East India Company's struggling outpost. Over the next decade, he transformed the island from a neglected supply stop into the strategic heart of French power in the Indian Ocean. This episode explores Labourdonnais's ambitious infrastructure projects—building Port Louis into a proper port, constructing roads, fortifications, and the first sugar mills—and his brutal reliance on enslaved labor to do it. We also look at his naval campaigns against the British, his controversial legacy, and how his vision set the stage for the plantation economy that would define Mauritius for centuries. Names and places: Bertrand-François Mahé de Labourdonnais, Port Louis, Compagnie des Indes, Île de France, Mascarene Islands, Bourbon (Réunion), Fort Dauphin, Mahé (Seychelles).
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