# Revolts and other forms of resistance  
Campbell and Alpers (2005) explain that revolt, in which mostly males took part, was a rarity in the Indian Ocean region, where enslaved females were predominant. The notable exceptions were European possessions, including the French Mascarene Islands and the Cape Colony. According to Vink (2003, pp. 170-171), there are a number of reasons for the absence of major slave revolts in the Indian Ocean. Among other factors, he mentions the closer personal relations between masters and enslaved people, the absence of famine, the prevalence of small-scale slavery, the lack of political tension between the colonies and the VOC, and a relatively equal ratio between enslaved and free people. Worden and Groenewald (2005, p. 21) are of the opinion that the limited extent of creolization prevented rebellions over a prolonged period, since a predominance of enslaved foreigners was conducive to desertion and revolt. Nevertheless, the colonials constantly feared revolts by the servile population, as shown by the fact that enslaved people in both colonies were denied the right of association (Worden, 1985, pp. 115-121).  
Ironically, the only revolts on a scale comparable to those observed in the Antilles occurred after the Dutch and French possessions were occupied by forces from Britain, where the slave trade had recently been abolished. Some enslaved people took inspiration from the abolitionists, and they regarded the arrival of the British as a turning point. On the Cape, there were two attempted revolts, one in 1808 and the other in 1825 (Ross, 1983, p. 96). The first was led by Louis van Mauritius, who raised a force of over 300 men seeking the abolition of enslavement, but was defeated before he arrived. The second attempt was  
more isolated and took place far from the Cape settlement, but its aim was also to secure greater protection for the servile population (Worden, 2007).