 The island was under the administration of the French East India Company, which maintained its presence until 1767.From 1767 to 1810, except for a brief period during the French Revolution when the inhabitants set up a government virtually independent of France, the island was controlled by officials appointed by the French government.Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre lived on the island from 1768 to 1771, then went back to France, where he wrote "Paul et Virginie", a love story that made the Isle de France famous wherever the French language was spoken.