Mauritius

:Not to be confused with Mauritania.

Conventional long name	Republic of Mauritius
Common name	Mauritius or L'ile Maurice
National motto	"Stella Clavisque Maris Indici"(Latin)"Star and Key of the Indian Ocean"
National anthem	"Motherland"
Official languages	English
Capital	Port Louis
Languages type	Vernacular
Languages	Mauritian Creole, French, English, Rodriguan Creole
Demonym	Mauritian
Largest city and capital	Port Louis
Government type	Parliamentary republic
Leader title1	President
Leader name1	Sir Anerood Jugnauth
Leader title2	Prime Minister
Leader name2	Navin Ramgoolam
Legislature	Parliament
Cabinet	Cabinet of MinistersPtr-MSM-PMSD
Lower house	National Assembly
Sovereignty type	Independence
Sovereignty note	from the United Kingdom
Established event1	Date
Established date1	12 March 1968
Established event2	Republic
Established date2	12 March 1992
Area rank	179th
Area magnitude	1 E9
Area km2	2,040
Area sq mi	787
Percent water	0.05
Population estimate	1,288,000
Population estimate rank	151st
Population estimate year	2008
Population census	1,179,137
Population census year	2000
Population density km2	631.4
Population density sq mi	1,636.5
Population density rank	18th
Gdp ppp	$18.061 billion
Gdp ppp year	2010
Gdp ppp per capita	$14,097
Gdp nominal	$9.729 billion
Gdp nominal year	2010
Gdp nominal per capita	$7,593
Hdi	0.701
Hdi rank	72nd
Hdi year	2010
Hdi category	high
Currency	Mauritian rupee
Currency code	MUR
Country code	230
Time zone	MUT
Utc offset	+4
Utc offset dst	+5 (2008 only)
Drives on	left
Cctld	.mu
Calling code	230
Free label 1	Dependencies
Free 1	Rodrigues, Agalega Islands}}

Mauritius (; Mauritian Creole: Moris; , ), officially the Republic of Mauritius (Mauritian Creole: Republik Moris; ) is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar. In addition to the island of Mauritius, the Republic includes the islands of Cargados Carajos, Rodrigues and the Agalega Islands. Mauritius Island is part of the Mascarene Islands, with the French island of Réunion to the southwest and the island of Rodrigues to the northeast. Mauritius's area is 2040 km²; its capital city is Port Louis.

The British took control of the islands during the Napoleonic Wars, and Mauritius became independent from the UK in 1968. It is a parliamentary republic and is a member of the Southern African Development Community, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the African Union, La Francophonie and the Commonwealth of Nations. Mauritius has an upper middle income economy.

The main languages spoken in Mauritius are Mauritian Creole, French and English. English is the only official language but the lingua franca is Mauritian Creole and the newspapers and television programmes are usually in French. Rodriguan Creole is a minority language and is spoken in certain parts of the country only. The country is composed of several ethnicities, including Asian, African, Chinese and French. The first European explorers found no indigenous people living on the island.

The island of Mauritius is renowned for having been the only known home of the dodo. This bird was an easy prey to settlers due to its weight and inability to fly, and became extinct fewer than eighty years after the initial European colonization.

History

For a long time the island of Mauritius was unknown and uninhabited. It was first visited by the Arab sailors during the Middle Ages who named it Dina Arobi. In 1507, Portuguese sailors visited the island uninhabited and established a visiting base. The Portuguese sailor Domingo Fernandez Pereira was probably the first European to land on the island at around 1511. The island appears with a Portuguese name `Cirne' on early Portuguese maps, probably because of the presence of the Dodo, a flightless bird which was found in great numbers at that time. Another Portuguese sailor, Don Pedro Mascarenhas, gave the name Mascarenes to the group of islands now known as Mauritius, Rodrigues and Reunion. The Portuguese did not stay long as they were not interested in these islands.

In 1598, a Dutch squadron, under the orders of Admiral Wybrand Van Warwyck, landed at Grand Port and named the island "Mauritius", in honour of Prince Maurice Van Nassau, "Stathouder" of Holland. However, it was not until 1638 that there was a first attempt of Dutch settlement. It was from here that the famous Dutch navigator Tasman set out to discover the western part of Australia. The first Dutch settlement lasted only twenty years. Several attempts were subsequently made, but the settlements never developed enough to produce dividends and the Dutch finally left Mauritius in 1710. They are remembered for the introduction of sugar-cane, domestic animals, and deer.

France, which already controlled neighboring Île Bourbon (now Réunion), took control of Mauritius in 1715 and later renamed it Île de France (Isle of France). The arrival of French governor, Mahé de La Bourdonnais in 1735 coincided with the development of a prosperous economy based on sugar production. Mahé de La Bourdonnais established Port Louis as a naval base and a ship-building centre. Under his governorship, numerous buildings were built, a number of which are still standing today - part of Government House, the Chateau de Mon Plaisir at Pamplemousses, and the Line Barracks. 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 came under the control of officials appointed by the French government. During the Napoleonic wars, the "Isle de France" became a base from which French corsairs organised successful raids on British commercial ships. The raids continued until 1810 when a strong British expedition was sent to capture the island. Despite winning the Battle of Grand Port, Napoleon's only naval victory over the British, the French surrendered to a British invasion at Cap Malheureux three months later. They formally surrendered on 3 December 1810, on terms allowing settlers to keep their land and property and to use the French language and law of France in criminal and civil matters. Under British rule, the island's name reverted to the original one. Mauritius then went on to become independent in 1968. It became a republic in 1992.

The British administration, which began with Robert Farquhar as governor, was followed by rapid social and economic changes. Slavery was abolished in 1835. The planters received two million pounds sterling in compensation for the loss of their slaves who had been imported from Africa and Madagascar during the French occupation. The abolition of slavery had important repercussions on the socio-economic and demographic fields. The planters turned to India, bringing in a large number of indentured labourers to work in the sugar cane fields. Between 1834 and 1921, around half a million indentured labourers were present on the island. They worked on sugar estates, factories, in transport and construction sites. Additionally, the British brought 8740 Indian soldiers to the islands.

Indians mainly originated from Calcutta, Madras and Bombay. The first group arrived in 1721 from Bengal and Pondicherry. Most were Bengali Muslims or Tamil Christians. Port-Louis was divided into three sectors, with the Indian community in the eastern suburb of ‘Camp de Malabar’. A great number of Hindus from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were brought as indentured labourers. There was also massive immigration from Madagascar, Southern and Eastern Africa, Mozambique and Comoros. Chinese immigrants who were in commerce also arrived later and the colony was transformed into a predominantly Asiatic population. The expanding marketing sector also attracted many Muslim traders from North India.

As the Indian population became numerically dominant and the voting franchise was extended, political power shifted from the Franco-Mauritian and their Creole allies to the Indo-Mauritian. Cultivation of sugar cane flourished, for export of sugar to England. Economic progress saw improvement of the means of communication and a gradual upgrading of infrastructure.

Politics

Mauritius is a democracy with a Government elected every five years. A general election took place on May 5, 2010 in all the 20 mainland constituencies, as well as the constituency covering the island of Rodrigues. Historically, elections have tended to be a contest between 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.

According to the 2009 Ibrahim Index of African Governance, which measures governance using a number of different variables, Mauritius' government earned the highest rank for "participation and human rights" and "sustainable economic opportunity", as well as earning the highest score in the index overall. Mauritius came second in "rule of law", and fourth in terms of "human development".

!Office Held!!Office Holder!!Incumbency
President of the Republic of Mauritius	President	Anerood Jugnauth
Vice President of Mauritius	Vice President	Monique Ohsan Bellepeau
List of Prime Ministers of Mauritius	Prime Minister	Navin Ramgoolam
Deputy Prime Minister	Rashid Beebeejaun
Deputy Prime Minister	Vice Prime Minister	Xavier Luc Duval
Deputy Prime Minister	Vice Prime Minister	Anil Bachoo
Senior Minister	Sheila Bappoo
Leader of Opposition	Leader of the Opposition	Paul Raymond Berenger

Geography

Together with Réunion and Rodrigues, Mauritius is part of the Mascarene Islands. This archipelago was formed in a series of undersea volcanic eruptions 8-10 million years ago, as the African plate drifted over the Réunion hotspot. 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 . Around the plateau, the original crater can still be distinguished from several mountains.

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

Climate

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. Anti-cyclones affect the country during May to September. Cyclones affect the country during November–April. Hollanda (1994) and Dina (2002) were the worst two last cyclones to have affected the island.

Environment

The environment in Mauritius is typically tropical in the coastal regions with forests in the mountainous areas. Seasonal cyclones are destructive to the flora and fauna, however they recover quickly.

Mauritius has a Ministry of Environment that is responsible for the cleanliness of the island. One of its tasks is garbage and litter collection at public places, and it does an admirable job in the areas it services. Environmental complaints can be filed online and requests for Environmental Awareness can also be made. The estuaries are becoming polluted due to garbage which is dumped into the inland ravines by the refuse companies contracted by the Ministry of Environment. This creates a huge problem with regards to toxic water flow into the various estuaries which also has a adverse effect on various marine life.

Demographics

The population estimate for the whole republic is 1,283,415. For the island of Mauritius only, as at 31 December 2010, it is 1,245,289. Mauritian society includes people from many different ethnic groups. The republic's residents are the descendants of people from India (Indo-Mauritian), continental Africa (Mauritian Creole people usually known as 'Creoles' in Mauritian Creole), France (Franco-Mauritian) and China (Sino-Mauritian), among other places.

Religion

{{bar box |title=Religion in Mauritius |titlebar=#ddd |left1=religion |right1=percentage |float=right |bars= }} Hindus make up 52%, Roman Catholic 27.5 %, other Christians 8.6%, Muslims 16.6% and non-religious 0.4% while other religions up to 2.5%, and an additional 0.3% didn't specify their religious beliefs.

Most Franco-Mauritians and Mauritian Creoles are Christian. A small minority of the Muslim and the Hindu population are of South Asia origin [needs clarification]. However, many Mauritians are of mixed descent; this is due to the fact that many of the slaves were mixed up causing many 'mixed races'. These languages are still preserved through the existence of different socio-cultural organizations and with the school systems obliging primary schools' students to study an oriental language. A minority of people are of Chinese descent, many of whom have embraced Christianity, following mainly Roman Catholicism. Some follow Buddhism and Confucian traditions.

Districts and dependencies

The island of Mauritius itself is divided into nine districts:

# Black River (Capital: Bambous) # Flacq (Capital: Centre de Flacq) # Grand Port (Capital: Mahébourg) # Moka (Capital: Quartier Militaire) # Pamplemousses (Capital: Triolet) # Plaines Wilhems (Capital: Rose-Hill) # Port Louis (Capital of Mauritius) # Rivière du Rempart (Capital: Mapou) # Savanne (Capital: Souillac)

Dependencies

Rodrigues, an island east of Mauritius, which attained limited autonomy in October 2002. It had the status of the 10th administrative district of Mauritius before autonomy was attained.

Agalega Islands, two islands 1100 km north of Mauritius

Cargados Carajos

Fishing banks

Four fishing banks fall within EEZ limits:

Soudan Banks (including East Soudan Bank)

Nazareth Bank

Saya de Malha Bank

Hawkins Bank

Claimed as dependencies

Mauritius also claims the following territories:

Tromelin Island, currently in French possession.

Chagos Archipelago, currently a British possession as the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT).

Economy

, the capital 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%, far above the sub-Saharan African average. Despite the rapid growth, that growth has been equitable and income equality has improved as its Gini coefficient fell from 0.457 to 0.389 between 1980 and 2006. This has been reflected in increased life expectancy, lowered infant mortality and improved infrastructure.

Estimated at US$12,356 for 2009 at purchasing power parity (PPP), Mauritius has the sixth-highest GDP per capita in Africa, behind Seychelles (US$19,274 at PPP), Equatorial Guinea (US$16,853 at PPP), Gabon (US$14,421 at PPP), Libya (US$14,381 at PPP) and Botswana (US$13,417 at PPP). The economy is mainly dependent on sugarcane plantations, tourism, textiles, and services, but other sectors such as seafood processing, information technology and medical tourism are rapidly developing as well. Mauritius, Libya, and Seychelles are the only three African nations with a "high" Human Development Index rating. Réunion, as part of France, is not listed by the UN in their Human Development Index ranking.

Sugar cane is grown on about 90% of the cultivated land area and accounts for 25% of export earnings. Mauritius is a good example of a monocrop economy but since it is no more dependent only upon agriculture, using this term would not be apt. However, a record-setting drought severely damaged the sugar crop in 1999. The government's development strategy centres on foreign investment. Mauritius has attracted over 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.

Mauritius in 2005 abolished an 80% tax on around 1,850 different types of goods as part of a plan to transform the Indian Ocean island into a a duty free "shopping paradise for tourists". In addition, reforms aimed at attracting new business opportunities have also been implemented. However, one of the biggest impediments is the traffic movement between the towns, which is slowing the development of Mauritius. The corporate tax has recently been reduced to 15% to encourage non-resident companies to trade or invest through a permanent establishment or otherwise.

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

Mauritius is one country that has achieved successful economic and human development with a dual-track approach to economic liberalisation, whereby poorer sections of society have participated in its economic growth. The experience of Mauritius has been used, alongside a number of other countries that have adopted a dual-track approach, to highlight the benefits to both economic growth and human development. However, inflation and its impact on living costs remains a major issue. Between 2006 and 2008, the average rate of inflation was 9.1%; between 2007 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index, which gives an idea of the cost of products that are commonly consumed, rose from a yearly average of 103.8 points to 120.2 points.

Military and police

Mauritius does not have a standing army. All military, police, and security functions are carried out by 10,000 active-duty personnel under the command of the Commissioner of Police. This consists of an 8,000 member National Police which is responsible for domestic law enforcement, a 1,500 member Special Mobile Force (SMF), and a 500 member National Coast Guard.

Transportation

The only available means of inland public transport are via taxi cabs and buses. There are 75 km of motorways, 1000 km of main roads, 398 km of other roads with a total of 2066 km. Many roads in Mauritius have only two lanes, often with heavy traffic. At the end of December 2009 there were 366,520 vehicles registered at the National Transport Authority (NTA). The fleet consisted of 45% (165,036) cars and dual purpose vehicles and 42% (152,935) auto/motor cycles. The remaining 13% comprised vans (25,622), lorries and trucks (12,950), buses (2,803) and other vehicles (7,174).

Transport is problematic around Port-Louis, the capital city, due to severe traffic jams. These are caused by both a lack of planning, and tolerance of hawkers or street vendors who occupy the pavements and streets of the capital. Transport in Mauritius has been free since July 2005 for students, the disabled and seniors. For tourists, the taxi prices are expensive, especially at night (starting from 400 Mauritian Rupees). The bus ticket prices depend on the number of stations you are going to pass.

The main airport is Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport, the home of the national airline, Air Mauritius.

Education

Education from pre-primary through to secondary is free for each citizen born in the country, and primary level net enrollment ratio consistently above 90% (93.3% in 1991 and 94.0% in 2009).

Before 2001, most prestigious schools used to be called "Star Schools" and each year, the CPE pupils would compete against each other to gain entrance to those schools based on a ranking system. In 2001, the government - with Steven Obeegadoo as minister of Education - decided that there would be an educational reform in Mauritius. The ranking system was abolished and replaced by the grading system coupled with the regionalisation system which advocates going to a school near one's residence. In February 2006, with Dharambeer Gokhool as minister of Education, the "A+" system, which is similar to the pre-2001 system, was introduced. CPE students now need to get "A+" in all their subjects to gain admission to "National Colleges" which consequently became as much coveted as the "Star Schools" were before the reform.

Language

The Mauritian Constitution makes no mention of an official language and its one million citizens speak mostly Mauritian Creole, a French-based creole, English and French. It is only in the Parliament that the official language is English, although any member of the National Assembly can still address the chair in French. However, English is generally accepted as the official language of Mauritius and as the language of government administration, the courts and business. The lingua franca is Mauritian Creole. In Mauritius, people switch languages according to the situation. French and English, which have long enjoyed greater social status, are favored in educational and professional settings. Also, most newspapers, such as Le Mauricien and L'Express, and media communications are in French. Mauritian Creole, which is spoken by the majority of the population, is considered to be the native language of the country and is used most often in informal settings. It was developed in the 18th century by slaves who used a pidgin language to communicate with each other as well as with their French masters, who did not understand the various African languages. The pidgin evolved with later generations to become a casual language.

Other languages spoken in certain parts of Mauritius by a limited number of people include Rodriguan Creole and Swahili. The school system of the country make it compulsory for all primary school students to study an oriental language which can be an Indian language (mostly being Hindi, Urdu, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, or Bhojpuri) or a Chinese language (either Hakka or Mandarin), Arabic or an African language such as Swahili. Most Mauritians are at least bilingual, if not trilingual.

Culture

in Pointe-aux-Piments, Mauritius]] The cuisine of Mauritius is a blend of Indian, African, Chinese and European influences. It is common for a combination of cuisines to form part of the same meal.

The production of rum, which is made from sugar cane, is widespread on the island. Sugarcane was first introduced to Mauritius by the Dutch in 1638. The Dutch mainly cultivated sugarcane for the production of "arrack", a precursor to rum. However, it was during the French and British administrations that sugar production was fully exploited. Pierre Charles François Harel was the first to propose the concept of local distillation of rum in Mauritius, in 1850. Beer is also produced on the Island, by the Phoenix Brewery.

The sega is a local folklore music. Sega has African roots and the main traditional instruments for producing the music are goat-skin percussion instruments called ravanne, the West African Djembe 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. The origin of Sega is not completely known however it is likely to have come from West African countries such as Ghana due to the similarities in the music.

In 1847, Mauritius became the fifth location in the world to issue postage stamps. The two types of stamps issued then, known as the Mauritius "Post Office" stamps, consisting of a "Red Penny" and a "Blue Two Pence" denomination, are probably the most famous and valuable stamps in the world.

When it was discovered, the island of Mauritius was the home of a previously unknown species of bird, which the Portuguese named the dodo (simpleton), as they appeared to be not too bright. By 1681, all dodos had been killed by the settlers or by their domesticated animals. An alternate theory suggests that the imported wild boars that were set free destroyed the slow-breeding dodo population. the dodo was the exclusive propagator of the seeds of the calvaria hardwood tree, of which only 13 dying trees remained 300 years after the dodo's demise in 1977. Dr Stanley Temple, an ornithologists from the University of Wisconsin, saved the calvaria tree by feeding the seed pods to turkeys, whose gastrointestinal tracks can also digest the thick hulls of the calvaria pod's hulls to enable the seeds to sprout. 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 in French, English and Creole. Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, the 2008 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, is of Franco-Mauritian origin and lives on the island for part of each year.

In Mauritius, the following festivals — Diwali, Mahashivratri, Christmas, Cavadee, Chinese New Year, Père Laval, and Eid Al-Fitr — are celebrated.

Recreational activities in Mauritius are quite varied to support the local tourism industry. Water sports are facilitated as the island is surrounded with coral reef, providing plenty of relatively shallow and calm water. Activities such as deep sea fishing, surfing, windsurfing, water-skiing, cruising in yachts and even submarines are some of the many water based recreations available. Although it seldom breaks, Tamarin Bay is one of the world's most famous surfing spots. Land-based leisure activities include golf, tennis, skiing, sky diving, deer hunting, quad (ATV) riding, mountain biking, abseiling, zip lining, horse riding and trekking.

Sports in Mauritius

Mauritius organised the Indian Ocean Island Games in 1985 and 2003. The most popular sport in Mauritius is football and the national team is the Club M, however the general population prefer to watch European championships rather than local football which saw a rapid decline in the year 2000 after the government changed its regional policies due to hooliganism, which proved effective in decreasing violence between supporters but costly to the popularity of the game. A professional league is expected to be formed in 2012. Mauritius has won only one Olympic medal in its history, it was in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing when Bruno Julie won a bronze medal in boxing in the bantamweight category. The Mauritians Richarno Colin, James Kennedy St.Pierre and Ludovic Bactora won the African Amateur boxing Championship in 2011 each in their respective categories. Mauritius has also been successful in athletics with the sprinter Stéphan Buckland reaching the final of the 200 m race in the 2004 summer Olympics. Horse-racing is also a famous sport in Mauritius. Eight races are held every Saturday from March to December afternoon at the Champ de Mars Racecourse(oldest racecourse in the southern hemisphere) in Port louis.

Electrical power

Mauritius uses a 240 Volt 50 Hz AC mains supply, and Type C and Type G plugs.

See also

Islets of Mauritius

References

External links

Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority

Mauritius Business Guide

Category:African countries Category:Countries of the Indian Ocean Category:English-speaking countries and territories Category:Extinct volcanoes Category:Former British colonies Category:Former colonies of France Category:Former Dutch colonies Category:French-speaking countries Category:Hotspot volcanoes Category:Island countries Category:Islands of Mauritius Category:Liberal democracies Category:Member states of La Francophonie Category:Member states of the African Union Category:Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations Category:Member states of the United Nations Category:Miocene volcanism Category:Republics Category:States and territories established in 1968 Category:Volcanoes of Mauritius