A bit of Geography
Mauritius is a small tropical and coral island of volcanic origin located 10,000km from France, 10 hours flight away in the huge Indian Ocean. It has a few mountains, the highest of which is the Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire (828m), located in the south-west. Mauritius is smaller than Corsica and Reunion Island, of which it is called the « Sister Island » and which is only 200km to the south-west. east and is 47km wide and 61km long.
The landscape
The beaches are superb with beautiful white sand and overlook a turquoise blue lagoon that surrounds the whole island. Deer and dolphins, sea turtles and beautiful fish of all colours can be found in the blue waters of the lagoon, sometimes during the southern winter (May to September) whales can also be seen giving birth to their young. The breed of dodo which is the emblem of Mauritius along with the deer, is long extinct and survives only in Lewis Carol’s « Alice in Wonderland ».
The weather
There are only two seasons in Mauritius, summer from October to end of April and winter from May to end of September. Temperatures in summer range from 25° to 45°C and in winter from 15° to 28°C. The prevailing winds are from the South East and the cyclone season is in the summer from 15 December to 15 April.
The History
Mauritius was discovered by the Arabs in 1500, then in 1505, the Portuguese approached and discovered a totally uninhabited island. It was the Dutch who first settled there from 1598 to 1710 to start the exploitation of ebony which has now become very rare. It was then colonised in 1715 by the French until 1810 when the British took the island back from them after a few battles, the first was a defeat against Napoleon in the south of the island, the second was their victory in the north of the island at Cap Malheureux where I live.
Mauritius was declared independent on 12 March 1968 and has been a republic since 1992. Here it is the Prime Minister who decides, we are under the English system.
The economy
Its main assets are sugar cane, tourism, textiles and computer and communication services.
There are luxury hotels located on all the beaches around Mauritius.
National Anthem: Motherland
En anglais :
Glory to thee, Motherland
O Motherland of mine.
Sweet is thy beauty,
Sweet is thy fragrance,
Around thee we gather
As one people,
As one nation,
In peace, justice and liberty.
Beloved Country,
May God bless thee
For ever and ever.
In french :
Gloire Ă toi ĂŽle Maurice,
Île Maurice, ô ma mère patrie,
Fraîche est ta beauté,
Doux est ton parfum,
Autour de toi réuni,
En un seul peuple,
Une seule nation,
En paix, justice et liberté,
Pays bien aimé,
Que Dieu te bénisse,
Pour toujours et Ă jamais
The flag of Mauritius is four-coloured:
- Red → for the Flamboyants
- Blue → for the sea
- Yellow → for the sand
- Green → for the vegetation
Demographics
We are 1.2 million inhabitants in Mauritius and are divided between Hindus, Catholics, Buddhists and Muslims. We are ALL Mauritians as we all arrived in successive waves to populate Mauritius, we are either descendants of the Dutch, French or British, or descendants of African slaves brought from Madagascar or Mozambique, or Indian or Pakistani immigrants who came as indentured labourers, or Chinese who have always been the world’s traders, or Arabs who came from Arab countries.
That’s why we call ourselves a Rainbow Nation.
Isa Mauritius 