Mauritius

1
Mauritius

• Star and Key of the Indian Ocean

2
Geography

• Together with Réunion and Rodrigues, Mauritius is
  part of the Mascarene Islands. This archipelago wa
  s formed in a series of undersea volcanic eruption
  s 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 828 meters (2,717 ft).
  Around the plateau, the original crater can still
  be distinguished from several mountains.

3
Climate

• The 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.

4
History

• The island was known by Arab and Austronesian sail
  ors as early as the 10th century. The
  Portuguese sailors first visited it in 1507 and
  established a visiting base leaving the island
  uninhabited.
• Three ships of the eight Dutch Second 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 honor of Prince Maurice of
  Nassau, the Stadtholder of the Netherlands. 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 a few
  decades later.
• France, which already controlled the neighboring
  Île Bourbon (now Réunion) seized Mauritius in
  1715 and later renamed it Île de France (Isle of
  France). Under French rule, the island developed
  a prosperous economy based on sugar production.
  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 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.

5
History

• Under British rule, the island's name reverted to
  the original Mauritius. 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 defense 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
  recognized 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, and has attracted
  considerable foreign investment earning one of
  Africa's highest per capita incomes.

6
People

• Population (2007) 1,264,866 2 (151st)
• Hinduism is the majority religion in Mauritius
  followed by Christianity and Islam arrives in
  third position. Buddhist and Chinese faiths are
  also found. Hindus make up 52, Christians 28,
  Islam at 14.4 and other unspecified religions or
  atheists round up to 2 . There is supposedly
  also a significant migrant population of Bhumihar
  Brahmins in Mauritius who have made a mark for
  themselves in different fields. Churches and
  Chinese and Dravidian Tamil pagodas and temples
  are found in large numbers. However, in
  Mauritius, many people seem to confuse the term
  'ethnicity' with 'religion'. For example, those
  who are not of Asian descents are called Creole
  furthermore, they are referred as the 'general
  population', meaning that they are unclassified.
  The Creole community is nowadays advocating for
  an identity.
• The official language of Mauritius is English.
  All government administrative documents are
  therefore drawn up in English. Article 49 of the
  constitution also allows any member of the
  National Assembly of Mauritius to address the
  chair in French. Together with English, Mauritian
  Creole is also used in instructions in the
  educational system. However, all exams are taken
  in English as the education system follows the
  British education system. The majority of
  students in primary schools are taught
  an oriental language. Though French predominates
  in the media, a big proportion of television and
  radio programming are in oriental languages. In
  business and in corporate affairs, English and
  Creole prevail. The most widely-spoken language
  is Mauritian Creole, which has close ties with
  French pronunciation, but with a few marked
  differences. Mauritian Creole is considered to be
  the native tongue of the country. Most Creoles
  are Christian. Hindus include Bhojpuri, Marathi,
  Tamil and Telugu speakers, Muslims descended from
  Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and from Gujrat, mainly
  Surat. The Sino-Mauritian community follow mainly
  Roman Catholicism, Buddhism and Confucian
  traditions.
• The cuisine of Mauritius is a blend of Indian,
  Creole, Chinese and European influences. It is
  common for a combination of cuisines to form part
  of the same meal. The production of rum 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, which considerably contributed to the
  economical development of the island. Pierre
  Charles François Harel was the first to propose
  the concept of local distillation of rum in
  Mauritius, in 1850.

7
People

• 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 which is more often erotic.
• 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 pets. An alternate
  theory suggests that the imported wild boars that
  were set free destroyed the slow-breeding dodo
  population. The dodo is prominently featured as
  a supporter of the national coat-of-arms.
• The island has also given rise to a diversified
  literature, prominent in the French, English, and
  Creole languages. Mauritius should also be
  discovered in the back-country, where the culture
  is highly contrasting with what is seen in the
  cities. 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, windsurfing,
  water-skiing, cruising in yachts and even
  submarines are some of the many water based
  recreations available. Land based leisure
  activities include deer hunting, quad mountain
  biking, abseiling, zip lining, horse riding and
  trekking, but are only often practiced by the
  rich society.
• Life expectancy - 74 years.
• Infant mortality rate - 12.2/1000 (low)

8
Politics

• Mauritius is a parliamentary democracy similar in
  structure to the United Kingdom. The head of
  state of Mauritius is the President, who is
  elected for a five-year term by the National
  Assembly, the 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 these are 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 July 3 2005 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.

9
Politics

• In international affairs, Mauritius is part of
  the Indian Ocean Commission, the Southern African
  Development Community and theCommonwealth of
  Nations and La Francophonie (French speaking
  countries), amongst others. In 2006, Mauritius
  asked to be an observing member of Community of
  Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) in order to
  become closer to those countries.
• President - Sir Anerood Jugnauth 
• Prime Minister - Navin Ramgoolam

10
Economy

• GDP - (PPP)2007 estimate - Total14.026 billion
  - Per capita 11,125 
• GDP - (nominal)2007 estimate - Total 6.928
  billion - Per capita 5,495 
• Currency Mauritian rupee .03 US
• Despite having a low GDP, Mauritius is widely
  regarded as a developed country as the GDP is
  enough for all 1.3 million people.
• 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 US10,155 for 2005 at purchasing
  power parity (PPP), Mauritius has the
  seventh-highest GDP per capita in Africa. The
  economy is mainly dependent on sugarcane
  plantations, tourism, textiles, and services, but
  other sectors are rapidly developing as well.
  Mauritius, Libya, and Seychelles are the only
  three 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 centers on foreign investment.

11
Economy

• 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 to 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. In addition, reforms
  aimed at attracting new business opportunities
  have also been implemented. But, one of the
  biggest black spot 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.
• 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.
• Mauritius ranks first among all countries
  in FDI inflows to India, with cumulative inflows
  amounting to US10.98 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)

12
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