Naissance d'une police coloniale

The "Île de France" island (Mauritius), in the southwest Indian Ocean, was a crucial military base for the security of the French fleets to India. From 1766 onward, the King of France established a royal administration there, which gave rise to the colony's first police force. Miraculously preserved, and little known to historians, the archives of the police office are a treasure for finding information on the operation of this new police force. The book meticulously explores them to under-stand how a police force was established in a slave society, and how it transformed from the French model to a colonial inno-vation.