IPA: /məˈrɪʃəs/; French: Maurice/mɔʁis/; Mauritian Creole: Moris), officially the Republic of Mauritius (French: République de Maurice), is an island nation off the coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about 900 kilometers (560 mi) east of Madagascar. In addition to the island of Mauritius, the republic includes the islands of St. Brandon, Rodrigues and the Agalega Islands. Mauritius is part of the Mascarene Islands, with the French island of Réunion 200 km (125 mi) to the southwest and the island of Rodrigues 570 km to the East-northeast.

History

Main article: History of Mauritius

The first record of Mauritius comes from Arab and Malaysailors as early as the tenth century.^[3] The Portuguese sailors first visited it in 1505, and established a visiting base leaving the island uninhabited. Three ships of the eight DutchSecond Fleet that were sent to the Spice Islands were blown off course during a cyclone and landed on the island in 1598, naming it in honour of Prince Maurice of Nassau, the Stadtholder of the Netherlands.^[4] In 1638, the Dutch established the first permanent settlement. Because of tough climatic conditions including cyclones and the deterioration of the settlement, the Dutch abandoned the island some decades later. The French who controlled the neighbouring Bourbon island (now Réunion) moved in to seize Mauritius in 1715 and later renamed it Ile de France (Isle of France). The French got the economy well underway with a prosperous sugar production industry. One of the great initiators of this economic leap was St-Malo born governor François Mahé de Labourdonnais. The French however harboured the outlawed "corsairs" (privateers or pirates) who frequently took British vessels as they sailed between India and Britain, laden with valuable trade goods. In the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815)the British set out to gain control of the island. Despite winning the Battle of Grand Port, Napoleon's only naval victory over the British, the French lost to the British in the north of the island, at Cap Malheureux (Hapless Cape) three months later. They formally surrendered on 3rd December 1810, on terms allowing them to keep their land and property, and to use the French language and law of France in criminal and civil matters. The British reverted to the use of the former name.

In 1965, the United Kingdom split the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius to create the British Indian Ocean Territory in order to use the strategic islands for defence purposes in co-operation with the United States. Although the Government of Mauritius agreed to the move at the time, subsequent administrations have laid claim to the islands stating that the divestment was illegal under international law, a claim recognised by the United Nations.



Mauritius attained independence in 1968 and the country became a republic within the Commonwealth in 1992. Mauritius has been a stable democracy with regular free elections and a positive human rights record,^[5] and has attracted considerable foreign investment earning one of Africa's highest per capita incomes.^[6]

Politics

Main article: Politics of Mauritius

Mauritius is a parliamentary democracy based on the United Kingdom model.^[7] The head of state of Mauritius is the President, who is elected for a five-year term by the National Assembly, the unicameral Mauritian parliament. The National Assembly consists of 62 members elected directly by popular vote, with between four and eight further members appointed from "best losers" election candidates to represent ethnic minorities, if under represented after the elections. The government is headed by the prime minister and a council of ministers.

The Government is elected on a five-year basis. The most recent general elections took place on 3 July2005 in all the 20 mainland constituencies, as well as the constituency covering the island of Rodrigues.

Historically, elections have always had a tendency to adhere to a system comprising two major coalitions of parties.

In international affairs, Mauritius is part of the Indian Ocean Commission, the Southern African Development Community and the Commonwealth of Nations and La Francophonie (French speaking countries) amongst others. A more complete list can be found in the main Politics of Mauritius article.

In 2006, Mauritius asked to be an observing member of Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) in order to become closer to those countries.^[8]

Districts and dependencies

Main article: Districts and dependencies of Mauritius

The island of Mauritius itself is divided into nine districts:

1. Black River (Capital: Bambous)
2. Flacq (Capital: Centre de Flacq)
3. Grand Port (Capital: Mahebourg)
4. Moka (Capital: Quartier Militaire)
5. Pamplemousses (Capital: Triolet)
6. Plaines Wilhems (Capital: Rose Hill/ Curepipe)
7. Port Louis (Capital of Maurtius)
8. Rivière du Rempart (Capital: Mapou)
9. Savanne (Capital: Souillac)

Dependencies of Mauritius:

• Rodrigues, an island 560 kilometers north-east of Mauritius, which attained limited autonomy in October 2002.^[9][10] Had the status of the 10th administrative district of Mauritius before autonomy was attained.^[11]
• Agalega, two small islands about 933 kilometers (580 mi) north of Mauritius.
• Cargados Carajos Shoals, also known as the Saint Brandon islands, about 402 kilometers (250 mi) north of Mauritius.

Other Mauritian territories:

• Soudan Banks (including East Soudan Bank)
• Nazareth Bank
• Saya de Malha Bank
• Hawkins Bank

Mauritius also claims the following islands:

• In French possession: Tromelin Island, Île Saint-Paul, Île Amsterdam
• In Seychellois possession: Île Platte and Coëtivy Island
• In British possession: Chagos Archipelago

Geography

Main article: Geography of Mauritius

Together with Réunion and Rodrigues, Mauritius is part of the Mascarene Islands. This archipelago was formed in a series of undersea volcanic eruptions, as the African plate drifted over the Réunion hotspot. Mauritius and Rodrigues were formed 8-10 million years ago. They are no longer volcanically active, and the hotspot now rests under Réunion. The island of Mauritius itself is formed around a central plateau, with its highest peak in the southwest, Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire at 828 metres (2,717 ft). Around the plateau, the original crater can still be distinguished from several mountains.



The local climate is tropical, modified by southeast trade winds; there is a warm, dry winter from May to November and a hot, wet, and humid summer from November to May. Cyclones affect the country during November-April.

The island's capital and largest city is Port Louis, in the northwest. Other important towns are Curepipe, Vacoas, Phoenix, Quatre Bornes, Rose-Hill, Beau-Bassin and Quartier Militaire.

The island is well known for its natural beauty. AuthorMark Twain, for example, noted in Following the Equator, his personal travelogue, "You gather the idea that Mauritius was made first and then heaven, and that heaven was copied after Mauritius".

Economy

Main article: Economy of Mauritius

Since independence in 1968, Mauritius has developed from a low-income, agriculturally based economy to a middle income diversified economy with growing industrial, financial, and tourist sectors. For most of the period, annual growth has been of the order of 5% to 6%. This has been reflected in increased life expectancy, lowered infant mortality and an improved infrastructure.

Estimated at $16.28 billion for 2005, Mauritius has the second highest GDP per capita in Africa. It is only exceeded by Equatorial Guinea, which derives most of its revenue from oil exports. The economy is mainly dependent on sugarcane plantations, tourism, textiles, and services, but other sectors are rapidly developing as well. Mauritius and the Seychelles are the only two African nations with a "high" Human Development Index rating.

Sugar cane is grown on about 90% of the cultivated land area and accounts for 25% of export earnings. However, a record-setting drought severely damaged the sugar crop in 1999. The government's development strategy centres on foreign investment. Mauritius has attracted more than 9,000 offshore entities; many aimed at commerce in India and South Africa while investment in the banking sector alone has reached over $1 billion. Economic performance during the period from 2000 through 2004 combined strong economic growth with unemployment at 7.6% in December 2004. France is the country's biggest trading partner, has close ties with the country, and provides technical assistance in various forms.

In order provide locals with access to imports at lower prices and attract more tourists going to Singapore and Dubai, Mauritius is gearing towards becoming a duty-free island within the next four years. Duty has been eliminated for several products and decreased for more than 1850 products including clothing, food, jewelry, photographic equipment, audio visual equipment and lighting equipment.^[12] In addition, reforms aimed at attracting new business opportunities have also been implemented. Recently, in the 2007-2008 budget, Finance Minister Rama Sithanen reduced corporate tax to 15%.

A plan by ADB Networks calls for Mauritius to become the first nation to have coast-to-coast wireless internet access. The wireless hot spot currently covers about 60% of the island and is accessible by about 70% of its population. By the end of 2006, antennas should have provided access to 90% of the island. However, this has not yet happened.

Mauritius ranks first in respect of FDI inflows to India amongst all the countries, with cumulative inflows amounting to US$10.98 billion. The top sectors attracting FDI inflows from Mauritius between January 2000 and December 2005 are electrical equipment, telecommunications, fuels, cement and gypsum products and services sector (financial and non-financial).^[13]

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Mauritius

Mauritian society is highly multi-ethnic. Most of the island residents are the descendants of people from the Indian subcontinent. Mauritius also has large immigrant populations from continental Africa, Madagascar, France, Great Britain, and China, among other places.

The official language of Mauritius is English. All government administrative documents are therefore drawn up in English. Together with English, French is also used in instruction in the educational system. French, however, predominates in the media, both broadcast and printed as well as with business and in corporate affairs. Mauritian Creole, which is derived from French with influences from the other dialects, is widely spoken on the island and is considered the native tongue of the country. Creole was the language used by the African slaves to communicate with their French masters. Today, Creole is used in everyday life by all Mauritians. When Franco-Mauritians engage in conversations with Creole speakers, French is more commonly employed than Creole. The majority of Mauritians are fluent in French, and both English and French are taught at school. American and other English-Language movies and TV programmes shown in Mauritius are dubbed in French. Most Mauritians speak French, Morisyen and English. Hindi is also widely spoken, though restricted to the Indian community. Several other languages, including Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Punjabi and dialects of Chinese, such as Cantonese, Hakka and Mandarin, are also spoken. The Indian languages are spoken by descendants of the labourers brought from British India during the British rule.

The Indo-Mauritians (when the ethnic groups are combined) compose approximately 70% of the total population, the remaining 30% being mostly Creoles. There are approximately 30,000 Mauritians of Chinese descent, from the Hakka, Mandarin, and Cantonese language groups. More than 90% of the Sino-Mauritian community are Roman Catholic, the remainder are largely Buddhist.

Small groups of foreign students from Europe or the Indian Ocean region are also present. Recent years have seen a steady flow of foreign workers into the textile industry (primarily Chinese Women), the construction industry (primarily Indian workers), and harbour-related activities (primarily Taiwanese men). Immigration policy does not provoke much debate in Mauritius, and the relative economic stability of the island serves to attract foreign workers.

The majority of Mauritians practice Hinduism (52%). Roman Catholic 28%, Islam (16.6%), Buddhism (2.5%), Adventist Protestants (2%), Sikhism (0.3%) and other religions are also followed.^[14]

Culture

Main article: Culture of Mauritius

The cuisine of Mauritius is a blend of Indian Cuisine, Creole, Chinese and European. It is common for a combination of cuisines to form part of the same meal. The "cari poule" or chicken curry, for example, is a very popular dish. Other common Mauritian dishes include the "dholl puri" (a type of bread, made from lentils) the "mine-frit" (Chinese fried noodle), and "niouk nien" (dumplings). A common Mauritian drink is "alouda", a milk-based drink containing basil seeds.

The production of rum is common throughout the island. Sugarcane was first introduced on the island when the Dutch colonised it in 1638. Even then, the propensity of making rum out of sugarcane was strongly recognised. Sugarcane was mainly cultivated for the production of "arrack", a precursor to rum. Only much later, after almost 60 years, the first proper sugar was produced. However, it was during the French and English administration that sugar production was fully exploited, which considerably contributed to the economical development of the island. It was Pierre Charles François Harel who in 1850 initially proposed the concept of local distillation of rum in Mauritius. In part due to his efforts, Mauritius today houses three distilleries (Grays, Medine and St Aubin) and is in the process of opening an additional three.

The sega is a local folklore music. Sega has African roots, and main traditional instruments for producing the music are goat-skin percussion instruments called ravane and metallic clicks using metal triangles. The songs usually describe the miseries of slavery, and has been adapted nowadays as social satires to voice out inequalities as felt by the blacks. Men are usually at the instruments while women perform an accompanying dance. Shows are regularly hosted in the coastal hotels.



In 1847, Mauritius became the fifth country in the world to issue postage stamps. The two types of stamps issued then, known as the Red Penny and the Blue Penny are probably the most famous stamps in the world, being very rare and considered to be the among the most valuable in the world.

When discovered, the island of Mauritius was home to a previously unknown species of bird, which the Portuguese named the dodo (simpleton), as they appeared not too bright. However, by 1681, all dodos had been killed by settlers or their domesticated animals. An alternate theory suggests that the imported wild boar destroyed the slow breeding dodo population. Nevertheless, the dodo is prominently featured as a supporter of the national coat-of-arms (see above).



The island has also given rise to a diversified literature, prominent in French, English, Creole and Hindi languages.

International rankings

Republic of Mauritius
Flag of Mauritius Flag Coat of arms
Motto "Stella Clavisque Maris Indici"  (Latin) "Star and Key of the Indian Ocean"
Anthem Motherland
Location of Mauritius
Capital (and largest city)		Port Louis
Official languages		English1
Government		Republic
-	President	Anerood Jugnauth
-	Prime Minister	Navinchandra Ramgoolam
-	Vice President	Angini Chettiar
Independence		from the United Kingdom
-	Date	March 12 1968
-	Republic	March 12 1992
-	Water (%)	0.05
Population
-	2006 estimate	1,219,2202 (153rd)
GDP (PPP)		2006 estimate
-	Total	$16.0 billion  (119th)
-	Per capita	$13,703 (51st)
HDI (2004)		0.800 (high ) (63rd)
Currency		Mauritian rupee (MUR)
Time zone		MUT (UTC+4)
-	Summer (DST)	not observed (UTC+4)
Internet TLD		.mu
Calling code		+230
1	[1][2]

Organisation	Survey	Ranking
Heritage Foundation/The Wall Street Journal	2007 Index of Economic Freedom	34 out of 157
Reporters Without Borders	Press Freedom Index (2006)	32 out of 168
Transparency International	Corruption Perceptions Index 2006	42 out of 163
United Nations Development Programme	Human Development Index 2006	63 out of 177

See also

•  • [ e] Republic of Mauritius-related topics
Districts	Black River Flacq Grand Port Moka Pamplemousses Plaines Wilhems Port Louis Rivire du Rempart Savanne
Dependencies and territories	Agalega Islands Cargados Carajos Shoals (St. Brandon) Rodrigues Soudan Banks Nazareth Bank Saya de Malha Bank Hawkins Bank
Territorial claims	Chagos Archipelago Tromelin
Politics and government	National Assembly Political parties Elections
Economy	Currency Companies Communications Foreign relations Transport Educational sector
People and culture	Creole Franco-Mauritian Indo-Mauritian Sino-Mauritian Prominent Mauritians Hinduism in Mauritius Islam in Mauritius Music of Mauritius
	History Military Geography

Miscellaneous topics

• Tertiary education in Mauritius
• University of Technology, Mauritius
• Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport
• Air Mauritius - National Airline
• The Mauritius Scout Association

Notes and references

• Entry on [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mp.html Mauritius] in the CIA World Factbook
• Dependencies of Mauritius

Further reading

• Dodd, Jan and Madeleine Philippe. Lonely Planet Mauritius Reunion & Seychelles. Lonely Planet Publications, 2004. ISBN 1-74059-301-4
• Lee, Jacques: Mauritius: Its Creole Language - The Ultimate Creole Phrase Book and Dictionary, Paperback 160 pages (August 15, 2005), Publisher: Nautilus, ISBN 0-9511296-4-3.
• Lee, Jacques: Sega: The Mauritian Folk Dance, Paperback 104 pages (December 1990), Publisher: Nautilus, ISBN 0-9511296-1-9
• Khal Torabully, Coolitude : An Anthology of the Indian Labour Diaspora (with Marina Carter, Anthem Press, London, 2002) ISBN 1843310031

External links

• Government of Mauritius (official site)
• Board of Investment, Mauritius (official site)
• Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (official site)
• Mauritius at the Open Directory Project
• Mauritius Weather Actual weather report from the Mauritius region.

Geographic locale

•  • [ e] Countries of Southern Africa Angola Botswana Lesotho Madagascar Malawi Mauritius Mozambique Namibia South Africa Swaziland Zambia Zimbabwe  •  • [ e] Countries of Africa Sovereign states Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Comoros Cte d'Ivoire Djibouti Egypt1 Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea-Bissau Guinea Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa Sudan Swaziland So Tom and Prncipe Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe Dependencies    •  • [ e] Countries and territories bordering the Indian Ocean Africa Comoros Djibouti Eritrea Kenya Madagascar Mauritius Mayotte Mozambique Seychelles Somalia Somaliland South Africa Sudan Tanzania Asia Bahrain Bangladesh Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands India Indonesia Iran Iraq Kuwait Malaysia Maldives Myanmar Oman Pakistan Qatar Saudi Arabia Sri Lanka Thailand United Arab Emirates Yemen Oceania Australia Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Islands Bahrain British Indian Ocean Territory Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Madagascar Maldives Mauritius Mayotte Seychelles Sri Lanka

International membership

•  • [ e] Southern African Development Community (SADC) Angola Botswana Democratic Republic of the Congo Lesotho Madagascar Malawi Mauritius Mozambique Namibia Seychelles South Africa Swaziland Tanzania Zambia Zimbabwe  •  • [ e] African Union (AU) Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Cte d'Ivoire Djibouti Egypt Eritrea Ethiopia Equatorial Guinea Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic So Tom and Prncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe  •  • [ e] Member states and observers of La Francophonie Members Albania Andorra Belgium (French Community) Benin Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada (New Brunswick Quebec) Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Cyprus1 Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Cte d'Ivoire Djibouti Dominica Egypt Equatorial Guinea Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia France (including French Guiana Guadeloupe Martinique Saint Pierre and Miquelon) Gabon Ghana1 Greece Guinea Guinea-Bissau Haiti Laos Luxembourg Lebanon Madagascar Mali Mauritania Mauritius Moldova Monaco Morocco Niger Romania Rwanda St. Lucia So Tom and Prncipe Senegal Seychelles Switzerland Togo Tunisia Vanuatu Vietnam Observers Armenia Austria Croatia Czech Republic Georgia Hungary Lithuania Mozambique Poland Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Ukraine 1 Associate member.      •  • [ e] Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) Members: Angola Brazil Cape Verde East Timor Guinea-Bissau Mozambique Portugal So Tom and Prncipe Observers: Equatorial Guinea Mauritius  •  • [ e] Regions with an official Indo-Iranian language Dardic  Afghanistan  India  Pakistan Nuristani  Afghanistan Iranian  Afghanistan  India1  Iran  Tajikistan Balochistan and NWFP (Pakistan) Kurdistan (Iraq) North Ossetia-Alania2 (Russia) South Ossetia3 (Georgia) Taxkorgan4 (China (PRC)) Indo-Aryan The template is . Please use instead. This usage is deprecated. Please replace it with {{tdeprecated|Mauritius|Country}}. '''The template is deprecated. Please use instead. The template is . Please use instead. This usage is deprecated. Please replace it with {{tdeprecated|Mauritius|Country}}. '''The template is deprecated. Please use instead.  Guyana  India  Maldives  Mauritius    The template is . Please use instead. This usage is deprecated. Please replace it with {{tdeprecated|Mauritius|Country}}. '''The template is deprecated. Please use instead.  Pakistan The template is . Please use instead. This usage is deprecated. Please replace it with {{tdeprecated|Mauritius|Country}}. '''The template is deprecated. Please use instead.  Suriname The template is . Please use instead. This usage is deprecated. Please replace it with {{tdeprecated|Mauritius|Country}}. '''The template is deprecated. Please use instead. 1 Pashto is spoken by 776,000 Pathans in small pockets of India.    2 Autonomous republic of Russia. 3 Self-proclaimed unrecognized republic within Georgia's internationally recognized borders.    4 A Tajik-majority autonomous county in Kashgar Prefecture.  •  • [ e] Commonwealth of Nations Sovereign states Antigua and Barbuda Australia Bahamas Bangladesh Barbados Belize Botswana Brunei Cameroon Canada Cyprus Dominica Fiji The Gambia Ghana Grenada Guyana India Jamaica Kenya Kiribati Lesotho Malawi Malaysia Maldives Malta Mauritius Mozambique Namibia Nauru New Zealand Nigeria Pakistan Papua New Guinea St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Solomon Islands South Africa Sri Lanka Swaziland Tanzania Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tuvalu Uganda United Kingdom Vanuatu Zambia Dependencies Australia Ashmore and Cartier Islands Australian Antarctic Territory Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Coral Sea Islands Heard Island and McDonald Islands Norfolk Island India Andaman and Nicobar Islands Lakshadweep New Zealand Cook Islands Niue Ross Dependency Tokelau United Kingdom Akrotiri and Dhekelia Anguilla Bermuda British Antarctic Territory British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Falkland Islands Gibraltar Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey Montserrat Pitcairn Islands St. Helena (including Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha) South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Turks and Caicos Islands