Tromelin Island: Survival and Resilience of Marooned Slaves

https://www.ihadnoclue.com/article/1082586063144091649

In 1761, the French ship Utile crashed on a remote Indian Ocean island (later named Tromelin) while illegally transporting enslaved Malagasy people. After the shipwreck, the French crew built a boat and abandoned the island, leaving behind approximately 80 enslaved individuals with an unfulfilled promise to return quickly. For 15 years, these marooned survivors demonstrated remarkable resilience on this tiny, barren island measuring just 1 kilometer by 700 meters. Archaeological excavations revealed their ingenious survival methods: they constructed coral shelters, repurposed shipwreck metal into tools, developed sophisticated rainwater collection systems, and maintained aspects of their Malagasy cultural practices. When rescue finally arrived in 1776, only seven women and an infant had survived. This extraordinary story of human endurance remained largely untold for centuries. Still, recent archaeological work has brought attention to both the survivors' remarkable adaptability and the brutal realities of slavery and colonialism.