Mauritius: Capital, Colonial History, and Current Political Context

Country Research Project
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Mauritius
Mauritius also known as the Republic de Maurice is an Indian Ocean island nation. Its largest city which also happens to be its capital is the Port Louis and its location is on Mauritius Main Island. Notably, the main island is located at almost 1,200 mi that is 2,000 kilometers from the southern coast of the continent Africa (Seetah, et al., 2017). The islands of St Brandon, Rodrigues and Agalega are also part of the island. The surroundings of the island are white sandy beaches and the world’s third-biggest coral reef that is protecting the lagoons against the open sea. Most of the islands that are uninhabited lying off the coast of Mauritius are used as a reserve for species that are endangered. Mauritius Island formed as a result of volcanic activities that took place over 8 million years ago. The country is now surrounded by mountain ranges that form a broken ring. Through the varied fauna and flora, and the many endemic species to the island Mauritius is well known too.
The island of Mauritius was discovered by the Arabs and the Europeans later followed in the early 16th century as per its appearance on the maps. It was colonized by the Dutch whose colonization began in 1638 ending in 1710 with some little interruptions in the years 1658 and 1666 (Allen & Allen 1999). Notably, after the many appointments of different governors, the cyclones that led to hardships, pest infestations drought leading to the lack of food and illnesses, the Dutch surrendered and abandoned the island in 1710. The French invaded the island in the year 1715 led by Guillaume Dufresne on his way to India. The French rule ended in 1810 after a successful attack by the British took place capturing the island (Meade, 2012). The British rule over the island before it gained its independence in 1968. However, even after independence, it remained under the British Monarchy until March 12th of 1992 where it became a republic on its own.
The British colonial rule led to a number of changes in the political structure to date. Its model of government is the British west minister. The island's economy is based on agriculture that is a low income to an upper-middle-income economy that concentrates on tourism, sugar, textiles and financial services (Durbarry, 2004). Majority of the Mauritian population are of the Hindu religion, followed closely by Christianity. There is freedom of religion as per its constitutional rights. The Mauritanian people’s culture is witnessed through the various festivities that are religiously celebrated throughout the year and some marked as public holidays. There is free education from pre-primary to the tertiary level provided by the government. There is no known official Language of the island. However, the official language in the national assembly is English and it is also okay for the members of parliament to address the chair in the French language. Notably, the island is multilingual with a majority of people speaki...