Cap Malheureux

Cap Malheureux is a village in Mauritius located in Rivière du Rempart District. The village is administered by the Cap Malheureux Village Council under the aegis of the Rivière du Rempart District Council.[2] According to the census made by Statistics Mauritius in 2011, the population was at 5,070.[1]

Cap Malheureux
Village
Notre Dame Auxiliatrice at Cap Malheureux
Cap Malheureux
Coordinates: 19°59′10″S 57°36′43″E
Country	Mauritius
Districts	Rivière du Rempart District
Government
Population  (2011)[1]
• Total	5,070
• Density	509.5/km2 (1,320/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+4 (MUT)
Area code(s)	230
ISO 3166 code	MU

The name "Cap Malheureux", meaning "Cape of Bad Luck", was given by the French who held the island from 1715 to 1810.

The island was often the bone of contention of many great explorers of the time, including the British. In 1810 the British decided to take the island in order to stop the raids on British fleets by the Mauritian corsairs (notably Surcouf. The British domination of the seas had cut the island off from supplies from France). Following an unsuccessful attempt to invade via Grand Port in the south (claimed as the only defeat in the Napoleonic Wars of the Royal Navy by the French), the British took the French by surprise by attacking from the North of the island, where the French defences were weakest. As a result, the French were defeated and the name "Cap Malheureux" was named after their defeat by the English who invaded and took over the island from that place.