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Geography |
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Capital |
Port Louis (pop. 146,319). |
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Area |
1,865 sq. km. (720 sq. mi.), about the size of Rhode Island; 500
miles east of Madagascar, in the Indian Ocean. |
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Terrain |
Volcanic island surrounded by coral reefs. A central
plateau is rimmed by mountains. |
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Climate |
Tropical; cyclone season mid-December-April. |
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People |
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Nationality |
Noun and adjective--Mauritian(s). |
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Population |
(2005): 1,248,592, including Rodrigues, Agalega, and St.
Brandon. |
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Groups |
Indo-Mauritians 68%, Creoles 27%, Sino-Mauritians 3%,
Franco-Mauritians 2%. |
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Religions |
Hindu, Roman Catholic, Muslim. |
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Languages |
Creole (common), French, English (official), Hindi,
Urdu, Hakka, Bhojpuri. |
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Government &
History |
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Official Name |
Republic of Mauritius |
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Government |
Republic. |
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Independence |
March 12, 1968 (became a republic in 1992). |
While Arab and Malay sailors knew of Mauritius as early as the 10th
century AD and Portuguese sailors first visited in the 16th century,
the island was first colonized in 1638 by the Dutch. Mauritius was
populated over the next few centuries by waves of traders, planters
and their slaves, indentured laborers, merchants, and artisans. The
island was named in honor of Prince Maurice of Nassau by the Dutch,
who abandoned the colony in 1710.
The French claimed Mauritius in 1715 and renamed it Ile de France.
It became a prosperous colony under the French East India Company.
The French Government took control in 1767, and the island served as
a naval and privateer base during the Napoleonic wars. In 1810,
Mauritius was captured by the British, whose possession of the
island was confirmed 4 years later by the Treaty of Paris. French
institutions, including the Napoleonic code of law, were maintained.
The French language is still used more widely than English.
Mauritian Creoles trace their origins to the plantation owners and
slaves who were brought to work the sugar fields. Indo-Mauritians
are descended from Indian immigrants who arrived in the 19th century
to work as indentured laborers after slavery was abolished in 1835.
Included in the Indo-Mauritian community are Muslims (about 17% of
the population) from the Indian subcontinent.
Franco-Mauritians control nearly all of the large sugar estates and
are active in business and banking. As the Indian population became
numerically dominant and the voting franchise was extended,
political power shifted from the Franco-Mauritians and their Creole
allies to the Hindus.
Elections in 1947 for the newly created Legislative Assembly marked
Mauritius' first steps toward self-rule. An independence campaign
gained momentum after 1961, when the British agreed to permit
additional self-government and eventual independence. A coalition
composed of the Mauritian Labor Party (MLP), the Muslim Committee of
Action (CAM), and the Independent Forward Bloc (IFB)--a
traditionalist Hindu party--won a majority in the 1967 Legislative
Assembly election, despite opposition from Franco-Mauritian and
Creole supporters of Gaetan Duval's Mauritian Social Democratic
Party (PMSD). The contest was interpreted locally as a referendum on
independence. Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, MLP leader and chief
minister in the colonial government, became the first prime minister
at independence, on March 12, 1968. This event was preceded by a
period of communal strife, brought under control with assistance
from British troops. |
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