Paper short abstract:

During the early 1700s, the Compagnie des Indes attempted to enforce a system of racial categories on the Ile de Bourbon. Using GIS technology, eighteenth-century maps and ethnographic materials, this project tracks the results of that attempt and offers methods of disseminating its conclusions

Paper long abstract:

During the early eighteenth century, officials of the French Compagnie des Indes instituted a colonial regime on the Île de Bourbon based on an emerging discourse of racial categories. This system of laws and social practices was being implemented in the Compagnie's possessions in Louisiana and elsewhere. Despite its size, this small outpost in the Indian Ocean constitutes an excellent site for a case study. Through close analyses of censuses and supporting documents that were created during the 1700s, the project seeks to demonstrate that the initial attempts to create a racial hierarchy faltered. As the century wore on, the Compagnie succeeded in forging a racially divided social landscape as the island's economy shifted from provisioning ships on their ways to and from South Asia to exporting agricultural commodities such as coffee and sugar.

This study is unique for two reasons. The first is that it focuses on a corporate entity rather than political and legal institutions as the creator of a racial discourse. The other reason involves a methodology little used by historians. Rather than relying strictly on a qualitative assessment of textual documents, this project employs a quantitative approach utilizing Geographic Information Systems software. This application suite enables spatial and statistical analyses to literally map the demographic transformation of the island over time. Thus, it seeks to visualize the formation of racial categories on the Île de Bourbon as they occurred between the 1690s and 1730s.

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