Abstract
In the years immediately prior to legal emancipation, dozens of enslaved people approached the Protectors of Slaves in Mauritius to demand their freedom. They argued that they had been illegally introduced to the island after the slave trade was abolished by the British. Their testimonies offer insights into the development of Afro-Creole communities in the Mascarenes and how people successfully advocated for increased autonomy. Historians of the transatlantic slave trade have argued for the significance of shipmate bonds for people who endured the Middle Passage and labored in the Americas. Such communities were also important in the Indian Ocean world for those who sought manumission. Those who were illegally enslaved shared memories of capture, transportation, and forced acculturation. Their memories and bonds highlight the complex diasporic communities that coexisted on Mauritius during the first half of the nineteenth century.
