Eastward to the Islands: The Other Diaspora

The Indian Ocean islands of Mauritius, Réunion, and Seychelles, named the "Mascareignes" after a Portuguese explorer, are products of an eastward African diaspora, almost invisible in the West except to a few historians. Empty of human population until European exploitation settled them with a few colonists and thousands of slaves from East Africa and Madagascar, their multicultural history demonstrates the astonishing durability of African and Malagasy cultures. Folktales provide the finest window into that history and its values. Through that window, creolization is revealed in its actual occurrence.