The island of Mauritius is located in one of the most strategic positions in the Indian Ocean. Known as the “Star and Key” of the Indian Ocean, whoever controlled Mauritius, controlled trade between Asia and Europe. When the Dutch Admiral Wybrand Van Warwyk discovered the island of Mauritius in 1598, little did he realize that this tiny uninhabited island would one day play an important role in the World. Eventually the Dutch left because the island would get harsh cyclones. The French who were eyeing the island came in 1715 to fill the void left and renamed the island “Isle de France”. They developed the harbor, brought slaves and continued agricultural expansion. Meanwhile the British had been building their navy, were yearning the key island located on the India maritime route, and in 1810 battled the French navy during a merciless confrontation where they emerged victorious. With the capitulation of the French during the “Battle of Grand Port”, Mauritius becomes under the British Empire. Mauritius becomes their sugar colony with all the slaves working in the plantations until the proclamation signed by Queen Victoria abolishing slavery. The liberated slaves refusing to work in the plantations created a vacuum for labor thus in 1835, with the passage of the Emigration Act Indian coolie workers are brought by masses to the island. Harsh and unfair treatment of this newly created class of labor lead in 1872 to the first Royal Commission appointment to enquire into the living and working conditions of the Indians. The most notable event was the introduction of the sugarcane crop by the Dutch settlers. Sugar has defined the economy, labor, politics and fate of the island for nearly 400 years. Because of the impact the mono crop agricultural based economy had over the coolie laborers, the agrarian labor force organized during the 1940s thus laying the foundations to independence from the United Kingdom.