Mauritius

Although known to Arab and Malay sailors as early as the 10th century, Mauritius was first explored by the Portuguese in the 16th century and subsequently settled by the Dutch – who named it in honor of Prince Maurits van NASSAU – in the 17th century. The French assumed control in 1715, developing the island into an important naval base overseeing Indian Ocean trade, and establishing a plantation economy of sugar cane. The British captured the island in 1810, during the Napoleonic Wars. Mauritius remained a strategically important British naval base, and later an air station, playing an important role during World War II for anti-submarine and convoy operations, as well as the collection of signals intelligence. Independence from the UK was attained in 1968. A stable democracy with regular free elections and a positive human rights record, the country has attracted considerable foreign investment and has earned one of Africa’s highest per capita incomes.

Capital: Port Louis

Government: Parliamentary Democracy

Economy:

• Mainstays of the economy remain sugar, tourism, textiles, apparel and financial services with expansion into fish processing, information and communications technology and hospitality and property development.
• Sugarcane is grown on about 90% of the cultivated land area and accounts for 15% of export earnings.

Population: 1.3 million (UN 2011)

Land Size: 2,040 sq km (788 sq miles)

Major Ethic Groups:

• Indo-Mauritian: 68%
• Creole: 27%
• Sino-Mauritian: 3%
• Franco-Mauritian: 2%

Religions:

• Hindu: 48%
• Roman Catholic: 23.6%
• Muslim: 16.6%
• Other Christian: 8.6%
• Other: 2.5%
• Unspecified: 0.3%
• None: 0.4%

Language(s):

• Creole: 80.5%
• Bhojpuri: 12.1%
• French: 3.4%
• English (official; spoken by < 1% of the population)
• Other: 3.7%
• Unspecified: 0.3%

For more information about Mauritius, please visit

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mp.html