Mauritius

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Mauritius (disambiguation) .

Republic of Mauritius (English) République de Maurice (French)
Republic of Mauritius
flag coat of arms
Motto : Stella Maris Clavisque Indici Latin , "Star and Key of the Indian Ocean"
Official language	de jure : none de facto : English and French in Parliament
capital city	Port Louis
State and form of government	parliamentary republic
Head of state	President Prithvirajsing Roopun
Head of government	Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth
surface	2,040 km²
population	1.3 million ( 153rd ) (2019; estimate)
Population density	623 inhabitants per km²
Population development	+ 0.0% (estimate for 2019)
gross domestic product Total (nominal) Total ( PPP ) GDP / inh. (nom.) GDP / inh. (KKP)	2019 (estimate) $ 14 billion ( 130th ) $ 30 billion ( 135th ) 11,090 USD ( 68. ) 23,819 USD ( 64th )
Human Development Index	0.804 ( 66th ) (2019)
currency	Mauritian rupee (MUR)
independence	March 12, 1968 (from the UK )
National anthem	Motherland
Time zone	UTC + 4
License Plate	MS
ISO 3166	MU , MUS, 480
Internet TLD	.mu
Telephone code	+230

Mauritius (German [ maʊ̯ˈriːtsi̯ʊs ], English [ məˈɹɪʃəs ], French Maurice [ moˈʀiːs ], Creole Moris ) is an island nation in the southwest of the Indian Ocean about 870 kilometers east of Madagascar .

In addition to the main island of Mauritius with the capital Port Louis , Rodrigues , the Cargados-Carajos Islands and the Agalega Islands are part of the national territory. The Chagos Archipelago was part of the national territory of Mauritius, but was spun off from Great Britain shortly before the foreseeable independence from Mauritius in 1965.

geography

Mascarene

Together with Réunion , the islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues are part of the Mascarene Islands .

position

Spacious location

The island of Mauritius is located in the Indian Ocean about 1800 km east of the African continent .

Neighbore states

The island of Réunion, which belongs to France, is about 200 km to the west. To the north, the Seychelles are about 1750 kilometers away . India is located about 4000 kilometers to the northeast.

Associated islands

• Main island Mauritius: The state of Mauritius consists of two large and several smaller islands : The capital Port Louis is located on Mauritius itself, the largest island of the state .
• Small islands near Mauritius: Large parts of the main island are surrounded by a reef from which a few other small islands such as Amber Island rise. In close proximity to Mauritius, Gunner's Coin (Coin de Mire) (8 km from the north coast) and Round Island are also 22 km to the northeast.
• Rodrigues: The second larger island is Rodrigues with around 40,000 inhabitants. It is located around 600 km to the east at roughly the same latitude as the main island.
• Cargados Carajos Islands: The Cargados Carajos Islands (also St. Brandon) are located about 500 km northeast of Mauritius. This archipelago has a length of about 100 km and extends from north to south.
• Agalega Islands: The Agalega Islands are located more than 1000 km north of Mauritius and with about 650 km as the crow flies are much closer to the Seychelles .

See also : List of the islands of Mauritius

climate

Mauritius is located in the southern hemisphere. The seasons are opposite to those in the northern hemisphere. Due to the location in the summer humid tropics, the average temperature on the coast is around 23.3 ° C and on the heights around 19.4 ° C. The relative humidity fluctuates by 80%. Winter (June to October) is the driest, summer (December to April) the wettest season. The contrasts between the east and west coasts are striking: While the east coast is in the direct area of ​​influence of the SE trade winds, the west coast is well protected in the rain shadow (lee) of the mountains. This is why the east coast has about 2.5 times more precipitation (1960 mm per year) than the west coast (780 mm per year) over the course of the year. In addition, the west coast is slightly warmer than the east side on average over the year due to the leeward effect ( foehn ).

Cyclones

→ Main article : Cyclones in Mauritius

Over the south-western Indian Ocean (SW-Indic), in which Mauritius is located, an average of around 15 tropical storms are observed annually. The cyclone season in Mauritius lasts from November 15th to May 15th. Not every storm reaches the cyclone stage (wind speeds> 118 km / h), not every storm passes over the island. More often they graze foothills with heavy cloud cover, increasing wind and high waves on the coast.

geology

Mauritius lies on the African plate and is of volcanic origin. A distinction is made between three volcanic phases. An oldest phase began ten million years ago and ended five million years ago. A middle volcanic phase began 3.5 million years ago and ended 1.7 million years ago. A recent or current series began 700,000 years ago and extends at least until 20,000 years ago. Volcanism produced mainly basaltic lavas . The island of Rodrigues also consists of basaltic volcanic rocks, which radiometric dating showed an age of 1.54 million years. On the southwest side of Rodriguez, the coral debris builds up to a height of 62 meters.

mountains

The highest mountain in Mauritius is the Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire at 828 m . It is located in the Black River District in the Black River Mountain Range. It is followed by the two peaks of Pieter Both (820 m) and Le Pouce (811 m) of the Moka-Port-Louis chain.

See also : List of mountains or elevations in Mauritius

Flora and fauna

fauna

As is often the case on isolated islands, the fauna of Mauritius is not very species-rich, but has a high proportion of endemic species.

Before humans arrived, there were no land-dwelling mammals other than bats . These bats include the Mauritius grave bat , the Mascarene flying fox ( Pteropus niger ) and the now extinct Mascarene flying fox . In addition, other bat and flying fox species are native to the island. Because the Mascarene fruit bats are damaging the harvest of mangoes and lychees, the government decided in October 2015 to kill 20 percent of these fruit bats. Animal rights activists and the International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN warned that this could lead the species to the brink of extinction.

Numerous species of animals were introduced by humans, including rats , mice , mongooses , the maned deer, and the crab-eating macaque .

There are also over 100 bird species on Mauritius, in particular the endemic species are partly threatened or already extinct due to habitat changes and the introduced mammals. The best-known bird is the dodo ( Raphus cucullatus ), also represented in the island's coat of arms , which was exterminated around 1690. Other endemic species are the mascarene spectacled bird , the Mauritius falcon , the Mauritian parakeet and the rose pigeon . The Mauritius gray parakeet , the Mauritius goose , the Mauritius night heron , the Mauritius parrot , the Mauritius rail and the Mauritius duck , among others, have already become extinct . Among other things, the Shepherd Maina , the Rotohrbülbül and the Sperbertaube were introduced .

As on many islands in the western Indian Ocean, there were giant tortoises (genus Cylindraspis ) on Mauritius ; but they were exterminated around 1800. The other reptiles mainly include geckos (including Günther's day gecko and ornament day gecko ) and skinks such as the Telfair skink . The rare Round Island Boa is endemic to the small island in the north that it bears its name.

At the end of August 2020, 18 broad-billed dolphins perished on the beaches of Mauritius, which caused a greater media coverage due to the oil spill that occurred shortly before the Wakashio disaster . A connection with the disaster has not yet been proven.

flora

Of the 670 species of flowering plants , around half are endemic. Large parts of the island were originally covered by tropical rainforest . The endemic mallow family Trochetia boutoniana is considered the national flower .

National parks, nature reserves, Ramsar areas

There are two larger national parks on the main island of Mauritius (as of 2020), and 8 neighboring islands have been declared an island national park ( Islet National Park ):

• Black River Gorges National Park , since June 15, 1994
• Bras D'Eau National Park , since October 25, 2011

• Île D'Ambre (128 hectares)
• Ile aux Flamants (0.8 hectares)
• Île aux Fouquets (2.49 hectares)
• Ile aux Fous (0.3 hectares)
• Ile aux Oiseaux (0.7 hectares)
• Ilot Vacoas (1.36 hectares)
• Pigeon Rock (0.63 hectare)
• Rocher aux Oiseaux (0.1 hectare)

Another 7 islands are designated as nature reserves:

• Serpent Island (31.66 hectares)
• Round Island (168.84 acres)
• Flat Island (253.26 acres)
• Gabriel Island (42.21 hectares)
• Gunner's Coin (76 hectares)
• Ilot Mariannes (4.05 hectares)
• Île aux Aigrettes (26 hectares)

On the national territory of Mauritius there are currently (2020) three areas of international importance ( Ramsar Convention ) defined in accordance with the Convention on Wetlands, in particular as habitats for waterbirds and waders :

• Rivulet Terre Rouge Estuary Bird Sanctuary (RTREBS), since September 30, 2001
• Blue Bay Marine Park (BBMP), since January 31, 2008
• Pointe d'Esny , since September 16, 2011

Cities

The largest cities are (as of July 1, 2016):

1. Port Louis : 148,870 inhabitants
2. Vacoas-Phoenix : 106,253 inhabitants
3. Beau Bassin-Rose Hill : 104,544 inhabitants
4. Curepipe : 79,001 inhabitants
5. Quatre Bornes : 77,492 inhabitants

See also : List of cities in Mauritius

population

Shiva monument Ganga Talao

origin

About two thirds (68%) of the population are Indo-Mauritians, i.e. they come from the Indian subcontinent . A large part of the rest of the population are so-called Creoles (27%, descendants of slaves from Africa and Madagascar , mixed with other groups, especially Europeans). A good 3% of the Mauritians are of Chinese descent as Sinomauritians. The white minority is somewhat smaller, around 2% of the population are Franco-Mauritians . There are no indigenous people, as Mauritius was uninhabited before colonization and was only occasionally visited by Arab seafarers. In 2017, 2.3% of the population was born abroad.

Life expectancy in Mauritius between 2010 and 2015 was 74.1 years (men: 70.7 years, women: 77.7 years). Mauritius had the highest life expectancy of all countries in Sub-Saharan Africa . At the same time, it had the lowest birth rate with 1.5 children per woman.

year	1767	1787	1807	1830	1851	1871	1881	1891	1911	1931
population	18,777	40,439	77,768	96,945	180.823	316.042	359,874	370,558	368.791	393.238
source

Population pyramid Mauritius 2016

year	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2016	2019
population	493,000	660,000	826,000	966,000	1,056,000	1,185,000	1,248,000	1,262,000	1,270,000
source

languages

Morisyen , a Creole language based on French , is used by almost the entire population in everyday life and is spoken by over 86.5% as their mother tongue (in 2000 it was only 70.1%). Efforts are being made to give Morisyen official status. In addition, a mixture of North Indian languages and dialects is spoken, as well as Dravidian languages from South India, especially Tamil . The second most spoken language is Bhojpuri , which is similar to Hindi and is spoken by 5.3% of the population (12.1% in 2000). Some of the Chinese still speak different southern Chinese dialects. Another language is English (less than 1%), while French remains the mother tongue (4.1%) of the upper class, although the French have not ruled the country for over 200 years. The position of French is also strengthened by the related Morisyen. French dominates the mass media , while English and French can be found equally in public spaces. The official language of Parliament is English, but French can also be used.

Rodrigues is called Rodriguan Creole , the Agalega Islands Agalega Creole .

Since 2006, Mauritius has also had observer status in the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries .

Religions

The most widespread religion is Hinduism , which makes up 48% of the population. For Christian approximately acknowledge 32.7% of the population, with 26.3% Catholic ( Bistum Port Louis and Apostolic Vicariate Rodrigues ) and about 6.4% other Christians ( Protestants ) are. Almost all of the 17.3% Muslim population are Sunnis , even if there are a small number of politically and economically influential Shiites . The Bahá'ís make up a good 1% of the population. Buddhists make up only a small part of the population, and 0.7% do not belong to any religion. The vast majority of Hindus and Muslims are descended from Indian workers who were brought to the island by the British after the abolition of slavery and were used on the sugar cane plantations.

story

→ Main article : History of Mauritius

The island was known to Arabs and Malays as early as the 10th century.

Portuguese period (1505–1598)

The island was discovered by Europeans in 1505 (other sources mention 1507 or 1510) by the Portuguese Pedro Mascarenhas . The name of the Mascarene archipelago (consisting of Mauritius, Rodrigues and Réunion ) still reminds of him today . However, the Portuguese only used the island as a base and not as a colony.

Dutch period (1598-1710)

The Admiral Wybrand van Warwijck took possession of the island for Holland in 1598 and named it after Prince Moritz of Orange ( Netherlandish Maurits , Latin Mauritius ). From 1598 to 1710 Mauritius was owned by the Netherlands. It was only settled by the Dutch in 1638. France took possession of the neighboring islands of Rodrigues and Réunion in the same year . Numerous governors were installed as heads of the island, but many pressures and hardships such as cyclones , droughts , pests , food shortages and diseases took their toll and in 1710 Mauritius was finally abandoned by the Dutch. In the period that followed, pirates established themselves in Mauritius. They operated more and more brazenly in the Indian Ocean and caused considerable damage to merchant shipping. The trading power France intervened and fought against the well-organized piracy. The island was almost completely deforested and the animal populations (such as that of the dodos ) exterminated or severely decimated.

French period (1715-1810)

Rigobert Bonne : Isle de France (1791)

In 1715 the island was conquered by the French, who renamed the island "Île de France". Mahé de Labourdonnais was governor of Mauritius from 1734 to 1746 and founded Port Louis in 1735 and established the governor's seat there. The island was owned by the French East India Company until it went bankrupt in 1767 . She had sugar cane plantations built and cultivated by slaves from East Africa and Madagascar. From 1767 the island was a French crown colony .

British period (1810-1968)

In 1810 the British under Commodore Josias Rowley occupied the island after a successful campaign - the so-called Mauritius campaign - against France and renamed it Mauritius again. Rodrigues also fell permanently into British hands, while Reunion, which had also been conquered, was returned to France after the war. From 1814 Mauritius was a British crown colony and part of the British Empire . The British occupiers had little influence on events and conditions on the island. Many French influences were therefore retained, such as Napoleon's civil code and the French language .

Under the British, however, mass immigration from India began in the 19th century after the British colonial power had banned slavery from 1835 and the majority of the released slaves were no longer willing to work for the colonial masters in the fields. From 1871, when the Indians working on the plantations had reached sixty percent of the population, a ban on immigration was imposed on so-called “contract workers”.

Because of monocultures the economy on the island from development of was sugar cane - world market price vary much. The crisis in the sugar cane industry in Mauritius at the end of the 19th century led to the emigration of a large part of its population.

Despite more than 150 years of British rule, the population has remained French to this day due to the origins of the ruling upper class.

In the British island colony of Mauritius, representation had been restricted to the elite until the 1947 constitution extended the right to vote to all women and men over the age of 21 who could read and write. This introduced the right to vote for women . A new constitution in 1959 introduced universal suffrage for adults.

The British Colonial Office interned Jewish refugees before the Shoah who had traveled on the Mediterranean ship Atlantic from 1940 to 1945 in a former Napoleonic prison in the Beau Bassin , a few kilometers south of Port Louis .

Independence since March 12, 1968

Chapel "Notre Dame Auxiliatrice" at Cap Malheureux

Mauritius' east coast

View from the sea to the island

From 1958 Great Britain prepared Mauritius together with Rodrigues for its independence. Universal suffrage and political autonomy were granted. After 150 years of British rule, Mauritius gained independence on March 12, 1968 and joined the Commonwealth . The women's suffrage was confirmed.

The first prime minister became the leader of the Labor Party, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam , who ruled Mauritius for the first 14 years of its independence.

On March 12, 1992 Mauritius became a republic after the introduction of a new constitution .

Seewoosagur Ramgoolam's son Navin Ramgoolam was Prime Minister from 1995 to 2000 and from 2005 to 2014 .

politics

Political indices

Name of the index	Index value	Worldwide rank	Interpretation aid	year
Fragile States Index	37.2 out of 120	153 of 178	Stability of the country: very stable 0 = very sustainable / 120 = very alarming	2020
Democracy index	8.14 out of 10	20 of 167	Full democracy 0 = authoritarian regime / 10 = full democracy	2020
Freedom in the World	87 of 100	---	Freedom status: free 0 = not free / 100 = free	2020
Freedom of the press ranking	28.00 out of 100	56 of 180	Recognizable problems for the freedom of the press 0 = good situation / 100 = very serious situation	2020
Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)	53 of 100	52 of 180	0 = very corrupt / 100 = very clean	2020

Political system

Representative democracy

Since independence, Mauritius has been one of the few stable representative democracies in Africa with free elections and guarantees for human rights within the state. In the 2020 Democracy Index, Mauritius ranks 20th out of 167 countries, making the country the only African state that is considered to be “full democracy”.

National Assembly

The National Assembly of Mauritius consists of a minimum of 62 and a maximum of 70 members. These are elected every five years in the 21 constituencies . Each district has three MPs, with the exception of Rodrigues, who has two. The remaining eight are the “best losers” of all districts, which must belong to certain ethnic groups that are underrepresented in the “normal” election results. The usefulness of the best loser system , which is based on a census from the 1970s, is controversial and could be deleted in the course of a discussed electoral reform.

president

The head of state is the president, who is elected by parliament after the elections. He elects the prime minister from among the members of parliament, who heads the government and proposes candidates for the individual ministerial offices, which in turn are appointed by the president. The President has been Prithvirajsing Roopun since 2019 . His predecessor, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim , had held the post since 2015 and resigned in March 2018 after a corruption scandal. This was followed by Barlen Vyapoory until 2019 and Eddy Balancy as transitional president until Roopun took over the office.

Pravind Jugnauth has been Prime Minister since January 2017 .

Parties / government

The Mauritian Labor Party (MLP) ruled consistently from 1947 to 1982 either alone or in a coalition. The alliance of the Mauritian Militant Movement and the Mauritian Socialist Party (MMM / PSM) won the 1982 elections and received all 60 seats. In 1983 politicians defected from the MMM to the PSM, united to form the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) and formed a majority in the coalition with the MLP.

In July 1990 the MSM merged with the MMM. The coalition won 59 of the 62 directly elected seats in parliament in the September 1991 elections. In December 1995 the MLP won again, this time in coalition with the MMM. After Prime Minister Ramgoolam of the MLP had excluded the coalition partner MMM from government affairs in 1997, the MLP continued to rule alone with the help of small parties.

In 2000 the coalition of MMM and MSM won the national elections. Despite disputes between the two parties, they again ran together in the elections in July 2005 against the Social Alliance led by the MLP. The social alliance was able to achieve an outstanding victory - with 42 seats won.

Human rights

The human rights situation is good within the framework of the stable Mauritian democracy, but the national human rights commission detects occasional violations of human rights by the police. The criminal justice system works slowly. Freedom of the press and freedom of expression are guaranteed.

According to the US State Department , the Mauritius government generally respects the human rights of its citizens. However, some issues related to human rights were criticized: torture and ill-treatment of suspects and prisoners by security forces, overcrowded prisons, harassment and intimidation of journalists, violence and discrimination against women, abuse and sexual exploitation of children, discrimination against people with HIV / AIDS and from sexual minorities, restrictions on workers' rights, anti-union discrimination, forced labor (including children) and child labor in general. According to estimates by the International Labor Organization (ILO), around 1.4% of children between the ages of 10 and 14 were working in 2002.

According to the "Press Freedom Index 2020" by Reporters Without Borders , an international non-governmental organization that promotes freedom of the press, Mauritius is currently in 56th place.

Homosexual acts are prohibited by law in Mauritius. The "Morality Article" 250 provides for up to five years in prison for same-sex sexual contacts. However, the law rarely applies to consensual acts between adults. However, the Spartacus International Gay Guide warns of the risk and generally recommends "inconspicuous behavior".

Administrative division

This article or section is missing the following important information:

Local administration of the other islands belonging to the state of Mauritius

Help Wikipedia by researching and pasting it .

Nine districts:

The island of Mauritius is traditionally divided into nine districts:

Port Louis Skyline (2006)

For each district a first-instance district court's (District Court) set. In addition, the districts primarily serve statistical purposes.

→ Main article : District (Mauritius)  and court organization in Mauritius

The nine districts of Mauritius

District	District capital	Area in km²	resident	Population density in inhabitants / km²
Black River	Bambous	259.0	80,939	310
Flacq	Center de Flacq	297.9	138,460	460
Grand Port	Mahébourg	260.3	112.997	430
Moka	Quartier Militaire	230.5	83,251	360
Pamplemousses	Triolet	178.7	139.966	780
Plaines Wilhems	Beau Bassin-Rose Hill	203.3	368,621	1800
Port Louis	Port Louis	42.7	119,706	2800
Rivière du Rempart	Mapou	147.6	108.005	730
savannah	Souillac	244.8	63,585	280

Local administration

Local government is fundamentally regulated by the Local Government Act of December 15, 2011 . This sees the breakdown of the island of Mauritius in

• 1 City ( Port Louis ),
• 4 rural towns (Towns) ( Beau Bassin-Rose Hill , Curepipe , Quatre Bornes and Vacoas-Phoenix ) and
• 9 districts (Districts) with a total of 130 villages (Villages) before.

Although the self-governing districts bear the names of the traditional districts (except Port Louis and Plaines Wilhems), they are not completely congruent with these. For example, the village of Midlands from the Plaines Wilhems district is assigned to the Grand Port self-government district.

In detail, the following villages are assigned to the districts for local self-government:

• Black River: Albion, Bambous, Cascavelle, Case Noyale, Chamarel, Flic en Flac, Grande Rivière Noire, Gros Cailloux, La Gaulette, Le Morne, Petite Rivière, Richelieu, Tamarin
• Flacq: Bel Air (Rivière Sèche), Bon Accueil, Bramsthan, Brisée Verdiére, Camp de Masque, Camp de Masque Pavé, Camp Ithier, Center de Flacq, Clemencia, Ecroignard, Grand River South East, Grande Retraite, Lalmatie, Laventure, Mare La Chaux, Médine (Camp de Masque), Olivia, Poste de Flacq, Quatre Cocos, Queen Victoria, Saint Julien, Sebastopol, Trou d'Eau Douce
• Grand Port: Bambous Virieux, Bananes, Beau Vallon, Bois des Amourettes, Camp Carol, Cluny, Grand Bel Air, Grand Sable, Mahebourg, Mare d'Albert, Mare Tabac, Midlands, New Grove, Nouvelle France, Old Grand Port, Petit Bel Air, Plaine Magnien, Quatre Soeurs, Rivière des Créoles, Rose Belle, Saint Hubert, Seizième Mille, Trois Boutiques (Union Vale), Union Park
• Moka: Camp Thorel, Dagotière, Dubreuil, Espérance, L'Avenir, La Laura-Malenga, Melrose, Moka, Montagne Blanche, Nouvelle Découverte, Providence, Quartier Militaire, Ripailles, Saint Julien d'Hotman, Saint Pierre, Verdun
• Pamplemousses: Arsenal, Baie du Tombeau, Calebasses, Congomah, Crève Coeur, D'Epinay, Fond du Sac, Le Hochet, Long Mountain, Morcellement Saint André, Notre Dame, Pamplemousses, Plaine des Papayes, Pointe aux Piments, Terre Rouge, Triolet , Trou aux Biches, Ville Bague
• Rivière du Rempart: Amaury, Amitié-Gokhoola, Belle Vue Maurel, Cap Malheureux, Cottage, Espérance Trébuchet, Goodlands, Grand Baie, Grand Gaube, Mapou, Petit Raffray, Piton, Plaine des Roches, Poudre d'Or, Poudre d'Or Hamlet, Rivière du Rempart, Roche Terre, Roches Noires, The Vale
• Savannah: Baie du Cap, Bel Ombre, Bénarès, Bois Chéri, Britannia, Camp Diable, Chamouny, Chemin Grenier, Grand Bois, L'Escalier, La Flora, Rivière des Anguilles, Rivière du Poste, Saint Aubin, Souillac, Suriname, Tyack

business

Economy is still missing the following important information:

Infrastructure

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The seven-colored earth in the southwest near Chamarel

General

The stable political situation on the island after independence greatly attracted foreign investors , which brought Mauritius one of the highest per capita incomes in Africa. In the Global Competitiveness Index , which measures a country's competitiveness, Mauritius ranks 45th out of 137 countries (as of 2017-2018). In 2020, the country was ranked 21st out of 180 countries in the Index for Economic Freedom . This makes the country one of the most economically liberal in Africa. In recent years economic growth has been severely slowed by natural disasters and falling sugar prices, leading to protests over the standard of living of the predominantly Creole population. The cane sugar , which is grown on almost 90% of the cultivated area is one of the main labor sources of Mauritius, but accounts for only 2.2% of gross domestic product from. For a long time, an agreement concluded with the European Union secured prices for sugar cane farmers that were recently 36% above the world market level. This privilege was successively reduced between 2006 and 2015. The textile industry, an important branch of the economy, has also come under pressure due to limited export quotas. Another important factor is tourism, in 2008 around 930,000 visitors came, including around 62,500 from Germany.

Mauritius has been one of the 25 or so states without a military since gaining independence in 1968 . The former military airfield in the southeast of the island was therefore converted into a civil international airport and named after the Governor General Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport . The airport is also the home airport of the state-owned Air Mauritius .

Mauritius is a member of the African Union as well as COMESA and SADC . Mauritius has been cooperating with France and the neighboring island states since 1984 in the Indian Ocean Commission .

The unemployment rate is given as 6.9% in 2017. Youth unemployment is estimated at 23.3%.

On January 28, 2016, the EU Commission presented a package of measures to combat tax evasion , including Mauritius on the black list of tax havens .

After the Corruption Perceptions Index of Transparency International was Mauritius 2020 from 180 countries, along with Grenada , Italy , Malta and Saudi Arabia on the 52nd place, with 53 out of a maximum 100 points.

Key figures

All GDP values ​​are given in US dollars ( purchasing power parity ).

year	1980	1985	1990	1995	2000	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
GDP (purchasing power parity)	1.88 billion	3.04 billion	5.13 billion	7.35 billion	10.50 billion	13.88 billion	14.95 billion	16.25 billion	17.48 billion	18.15 billion	19.13 billion	20.28 billion	21.32 billion	22.35 billion	23.58 billion	24.67 billion	25.96 billion	27.45 billion
GDP per capita (purchasing power parity)	1,945	2,983	4,848	6,549	8,848	11,298	12.114	13,109	14.052	14,552	15,297	16,194	16,977	17,762	18,698	19,537	20,542	21,640
GDP growth (real)	−10.1%	6.9%	7.2%	4.3%	8.2%	1.4%	4.5%	5.9%	5.5%	3.0%	4.1%	3.9%	3.2%	3.2%	3.6%	3.5%	3.9%	3.9%
Inflation (in percent)	33.0%	8.3%	10.7%	6.0%	4.2%	4.9%	8.9%	8.8%	9.7%	2.5%	2.9%	6.5%	3.9%	3.5%	3.2%	1.3%	3.7%	5.1%
Public debt (as a percentage of GDP)	...	...	...	...	43%	51%	48%	45%	43%	51%	52%	52%	51%	54%	58%	60%	60%	60%

traffic

→ Main articles : History of aviation in Mauritius , rail transport in Mauritius  and illustration of the road signs in Mauritius

Left-hand traffic in Mauritius is a remnant of the English colonial era. Most of the traffic in Mauritius is carried out on the 1,600 km long road network, most of which is paved. However, many streets are narrow and some are also dilapidated. The main connection from north to south is the M2, a kind of motorway, from the small seaside resort of Grand Baie via the capital Port Louis to the international airport in Grand Port .

The Metro Express has been an efficient passenger rail service in the capital region since January 10, 2020 . This 8 miles (12.4 km) light rail connects Port Louis to Rose Hill . A second section from Rose Hill via Quatre Bornes and Vacoas to Curepipe is under construction . When it is fully operational, which is scheduled for September 2021, the route will be 25.95 km long.

There is a tight network of bus routes on the island that run regularly, but progress very slowly due to the many bus stops. A few long-distance connections move faster. The safety standard in Mauritius stipulates that the bus can only transport as many people as there are seats. At peak times, large taxis are often waiting at the stops in order to transport guests together faster and more comfortably.

Taxis are quite inexpensive and are often booked by tourists for day trips as the taxi drivers know the sights well.

There are daily flights to the island of Rodrigues .

Structural change

Before independence, the economy was almost entirely dependent on sugar cane cultivation. In the meantime there is also an industrial, banking and tourism sector , which led to the relatively high standard of living. Gemstone cutting in particular has developed into an important branch of industry. The government, which was voted out in July 2005, wanted to make Mauritius a cyber island and a destination for outsourcing .

Piracy

As in many holiday destinations, tourists are offered imitation branded clothing in many places. Often the shops are limited to simple T-shirts and polo shirts and the printing or embroidery of these with well-known brand names. However, there are also large, official-looking shops in all metropolitan areas that sell counterfeit branded items in large quantities and in all available sizes and colors. This is allowed in Mauritius as long as the rights holders have not registered their trademarks and designs locally with both the Intellectual Property Office and customs. Due to the small size of the island, of course, very few companies are willing to take on this bureaucratic effort, so that the sale of counterfeit branded clothing is hardly stopped on the island.

socialsystem

→ Main article : Social protection in Mauritius

State budget

The state budget in 2016 comprised expenditures equivalent to the equivalent of 2.9 billion US dollars , which was offset by income equivalent to 2.4 billion US dollars. This results in a budget deficit of 3.9% of GDP .
The national debt was 62.7% of GDP in 2016.

In 2006 the share of government expenditure (as a percentage of GDP) was in the following areas:

• Health : 3.9%
• Education : 3.9%
• Military : 0.3% (Mauritius has no regular military)

Culture

The colonial past is also reflected in the culture. In all areas there is a mixture of the influences of the two colonial powers as well as Africa and Asia.

kitchen

The culinary map of Mauritius contains elements from French cuisine , Indian and Chinese cuisine, as well as from Creole cuisine .

Postage stamps

Mauritius is also famous for its first series of stamps , the Red and Blue Mauritius - known in English as "Red Penny" and "Blue Penny" - which are on display in the Blue Penny Museum in Port Louis. They were printed in 1847 when Mauritius became the fifth country on earth to start using postage stamps. These stamps are very rare today and very valuable. The Mauritius Postal Museum in Port Louis provides information on the island's postal and telecommunications history.

music

European music first came to the island with the Dutch colonists in the 17th century. In the travel reports of seafarers and in the letters of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) there are sparse reports about songs and dances of the slaves from this period. Although the settlements of the Dutch were small, there appear to have been certain public musical performances that also attracted outside visitors, including pirates. The escaped slaves ( Maroons ), who lived in semi-nomadic groups in the interior of the country, cultivated musical forms from which the Sega dance music style emerged.

During the French period, a European classical music culture developed alongside military music. At the beginning of the 18th century, the Sega had spread across the island from the Maroons to the slaves working in the plantations and was performed in secret at night by the light of a fire. Around 1730 the nocturnal Sega dances had become the standard instrumental accompaniment with the frame drum ravanne , the raft zither maravanne and a triangle , which is still common today .

A well-known Sega group by the name of Cassiya was founded in 1988. In addition to the African musical traditions, there are influences from Indian and Chinese music as well as a western pop and rock music scene. A popular Mauritian-Indian band called the Bhojpuri Boys and sings songs in the Bhojpuri language . One of the most famous Mauritian pop singers is Linzy Bacbotte. Devout Muslims practice originating from South Asia Genre na`at . These are price songs for the Prophet Mohammed , in which no musical instruments are permitted.

The oldest opera house in the southern hemisphere is in Port Louis, built around 1820. Mauritius already has a long operatic tradition, which was lost in the second half of the 19th century. The building is currently not playable. However, since 2009 there have been efforts to revive the opera scene in Mauritius. The entrepreneur Paul Olsen, the singer Katrin Caine and the conductor Martin Wettges are committed to this. The Berlin Friends of the Opera Mauritius e. V. supports music education and the implementation of opera productions in Mauritius as well as the restoration of the opera building. The Mauritian association Friends of OperArts promotes the next generation and organizes concerts. There are now several choirs, including the adult choir Cantiamo! and the children's choirs Rainbow Voices directed by Katrin Caine, the L'Ensemble 415 and the music kindergarten Vent D'un Rêve.

So far there have been the following opera productions since 2009: Carmen (2010), Hansel and Gretel (2011), La Traviata (2012), Dido and Aeneas (2013), Orphée aux Enfers (2014,) and the last one was Franz Lehár's operetta in October 2018 La Veuve joyeuse listed.

The Conservatoire François Mitterrand has existed in Mauritius since 1987 . In 2017, the Indian Ocean Symphonic Orkestra (IOSO) was founded, an association of musicians from La Réunion, Mauritius and Madagascar. This expresses a musical exchange that is already taking place on other (musical) levels between the islands.

literature

The French writer Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre lived on the island from 1768 to 1771. His novel Paul et Virginie was published in 1788 , in which he tells a love story that takes place on the island and thus made the island famous in the French-speaking world.

The novel Georges by Alexandre Dumas the Elder, published in 1843, is set in Mauritius from 1810 to 1824. Dumas made racism and slavery in the French colony and the conquest of the island by the British the subject. In the novel he already used many of the ideas and narrative elements that his later novels such as B. Honoring the Count of Monte Christo .

Cultural monuments

→ Main article : List of cultural monuments in Mauritius

Sports

The island offers a wide range of sports for both locals and tourists. The geographical conditions favor mountain hiking , diving, snorkeling, fishing , hunting, sailing , surfing and kite surfing . In Saint-Pierre is the Côte d'Or National Sports Complex with a multi-purpose sports hall, a water sports center, a football and an athletics stadium.

Mauritius has already hosted the African Athletics Championships twice . The Mauritius Speedminton Open has also been held in Port Louis every November since 2010 . In cycling, the results of the Tour de Maurice attract international attention.

The Mauritian national soccer team has played international matches since 1947.

The rich coral reefs of Mauritius attract many divers and snorkelers . Mauritius is known for its giant moray eels and a wide variety of mussels and water snails .

From June to August the wind statistics for the kite spots promise 85% glide wind over 4 Beaufort, the mean water and air temperature is 25 ° C. The spot at Le Morne offers a very large flat water and standing area due to the reef lying far in the sea in the Ladicke enclosed by it.

The Champ de Mars in Port Louis is the oldest horse racing track in the southern hemisphere .

Personalities

Sons and daughters:

• Malcolm de Chazal (* 1902 Port St. Louis / Mauritius, † 1981 Curepipe / Mauritius), writer, painter
• Jean-Paul "Bluey" Maunick (* 1957), guitarist, composer and music producer as well as founder and member of the British acid jazz band Incognito
• Jerry Léonide (* 1984), French jazz pianist

Persons with relationship to Mauritius:

• Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio (* 1940 in Nice), writer, Nobel Prize for Literature , French and Mauritian citizen of Mauritian descent, spent a large part of his childhood here and sees himself as a Franco-Mauritian

gallery

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Walk to Rochester Falls

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Sunset from the Trou au Cerf crater

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Sugar cane and volcanic stones

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Sugar cane fields at Center de Flacq

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Landscape at Long Mountain

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Sugar cane on the coast at Roches Noir

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Road around the Baie du Cap

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Botanical garden in Pamplemousse

literature

Sunset at Grand Baie

• Wolfgang Därr : Mauritius . 3rd, updated edition, Dumont Reiseverlag, Ostfildern 2015, ISBN 978-3-7701-7783-7 .
• The discovery and description of the island of Mauritius in German-language texts, 17th to 19th centuries . In: Ulrich van der Heyden, Cornelia Beyer (Ed.): Cognoscere Historias . tape 24 . Edition Falkenberg, Bremen 2015, ISBN 978-3-95494-093-6 .
• Hermann Mückler: Struggle for Unity and Identity - Creole Culture in Mauritius. Notes on the history, ethnicity and political location of an ethnic minority . In: Werner Zips (Ed.): African Diaspora: out of Africa. Series Africa and its Diaspora . tape 1 . LIT, Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-8258-3971-0 , p. 151-172 .
• Walter Schicho: Central Africa, Southern Africa and the States in the Indian Ocean . In: Handbook Africa . tape 1 . Brandes and Apsel, Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 3-86099-120-5 .
• Ulrich Quack: Mauritius / La Réunion . Iwanowski, Dormagen 1998, ISBN 3-923975-20-1 .
• Kay Maeritz: Mauritius with Réunion . Bruckmann, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-7654-3044-7 .
• Alain Proust, Alain Mountain: Mauritius . New Holland, 1995, ISBN 90-5390-658-4 .
• Malo Guderjahn: Mauritius (and Réunion) . Goldstadtverlag, Pforzheim 1982, ISBN 3-87269-234-8 .

Web links

Commons : Mauritius  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Wikimedia Atlas: Mauritius  - geographical and historical maps

Wiktionary: Mauritius  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Wikivoyage: Mauritius  travel guide

• State Internet portal of the Republic of Mauritius
• Database of indexed literature on the social, political and economic situation in Mauritius
• State Incoming Agency for Tourism to Mauritius

Individual evidence

1. ↑ population, total. In: World Economic Outlook Database. World Bank , 2020, accessed March 28, 2021 . 
2. ↑ Population growth (annual%). In: World Economic Outlook Database. World Bank , 2020, accessed March 28, 2021 . 
3. ^ World Economic Outlook Database October 2020. In: World Economic Outlook Database. International Monetary Fund , 2020, accessed March 28, 2021 . 
4. ↑ Table: Human Development Index and its components . In: United Nations Development Program (ed.): Human Development Report 2020 . United Nations Development Program, New York 2020, ISBN 978-92-1126442-5 , pp. 344 (English, undp.org [PDF]).
5. ↑ (based on data from the Mauritius Meteorological Service, http://metservice.intnet.mu/?page_id=644 ).
6. ↑ http://www.wetteran.de/wirbel/tropicalstorms .
7. ↑ Mauritius. In: Geological Atlas of Africa . Pp. 160-161. doi : 10.1007 / 3-540-29145-8_38
8. ↑ http://www.iucn.org/?uNewsID=22044 .
9. ↑ 18 dolphins died on the beaches of Mauritius , on spiegel.de. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
10. ↑ http://npcs.govmu.org/English/AboutUs/Pages/Parks-and-Other-Reserve-Areas.aspx
11. ↑ http://npcs.govmu.org/English/Pages/Offshore-Islets.aspx
12. ↑ http://npcs.govmu.org/English/Documents/Wetland.pdf
13. ↑ Mauritius: Districts, Cities & Towns - Population Statistics, Maps, Charts, Weather and Web Information. Retrieved April 5, 2018 . 
14. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} The World Factbook .
15. ↑ Migration Report 2017. (PDF) UN, accessed on September 30, 2018 (English). 
16. ↑ Origins and Destinations of the World's Migrants, 1990-2017 . In: Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project . February 28, 2018 ( pewglobal.org [accessed September 30, 2018]).
17. ↑ World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations. Retrieved July 21, 2017 . 
18. ↑ Data up to 1931: J. Baguant, Wolfgang Lutz, C. Prinz, FL Toth, AB Wils (eds.): Population - Development - Environment. Understanding their Interactions in Mauritius. Springer Science & Business Media, 2013, ISBN 978-3-662-03061-5 , p. 78 .
19. ↑ Data from 1950: Total population (both sexes combined) by region, subregion and country, annually for 1950-2100 (thousands) (xls, 2.5 MB). United Nations. Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Dynamics.
20. ↑ June Hannam, Mitzi Auchterlonie, Katherine Holden: International Encyclopedia of Women's Suffrage. ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara, Denver, Oxford 2000, ISBN 1-57607-064-6 , p. 7.
21. ↑ - New Parline: the IPU's Open Data Platform (beta). In: data.ipu.org. Retrieved October 5, 2018 . 
22. ^ Fragile States Index: Global Data. Fund for Peace , 2020, accessed March 26, 2021 . 
23. ^ ^{A b} Democracy Index. The Economist Intelligence Unit, accessed March 26, 2021 . 
24. ↑ Global Freedom Score. Freedom House , 2020, accessed March 26, 2021 . 
25. ↑ ^{a b} 2020 World Press Freedom Index. Reporters Without Borders , 2020, accessed March 26, 2021 . 
26. ↑ ^{a b} Corruption Perceptions Index 2020. Tabular ranking. Transparency International, accessed March 26, 2021 . 
27. ↑ LeMauricia: Ameenah Gurib
28. ^ David Signer: Shopping tour at the expense of an aid organization. In: www.nzz.ch. March 13, 2018, accessed March 13, 2018 . 
29. ↑ Federal Foreign Office, 2009
30. ↑ US Department of State 2008 Human Rights Report: Mauritius
31. ↑ Child labor in Mauritius. .
32. ^ District Act of September 1, 1875, Section 2.
33. ^ Courts Act (Act 41 of 1945), Sec. 93
34. ↑ Ministry of Finance & Economic Development: ANNUAL DIGEST OF STATISTICS 2015 (PDF; 6.18 MB) Government of Mauritius. S. August 19, 2016. Accessed December 23, 2016.
35. ^ Act 31 of 2011.
36. ^ Local Government Act, Sec. 7, Fourth Schedule Part A.
37. ↑ At a Glance: Global Competitiveness Index 2017–2018 Rankings . In: Global Competitiveness Index 2017-2018 . ( weforum.org [accessed December 6, 2017]).
38. ↑ Country Rankings. 2020 Index of Economic Freedom
39. ↑ Mauritius Foreign Office
40. ^ The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved August 6, 2018 . 
41. ↑ Trend: EU wants new black list of tax havens .
42. ^ Report for Selected Countries and Subjects. Retrieved September 7, 2018 (American English). 
43. ↑ Wolfgang Därr , Reise-Handbuch Mauritius, DuMont, 2nd edition, 2013.
44. ↑ Jens Bernhardt: Mauritius Metro Express starts passenger service. Urban Transport Magazine, January 10, 2020, accessed September 8, 2020 . 
45. ↑ Christina Nellan: Metro Express: la deuxième phase complétée avant septembre 2021, dit Ganoo. defimedia.info, January 10, 2020, accessed on September 8, 2020 (French). 
46. ↑ Online route requiry, http://www.mauritius-buses.com/ , accessed on September 24, 2014.
47. ↑ info.mauritius.com, http://www.info-mauritius.com/busse-taxis-mietwagen-benzin.html , accessed on September 24, 2014.
48. ↑ Anjana Khemraz: The Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Workshop on Intellectual Property Rights, September 27, 2007.
49. ^ Report for Selected Countries and Subjects. Retrieved July 21, 2017 (American English). 
50. ↑ Der Fischer Weltalmanach 2010: Numbers data facts. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-596-72910-4 .
51. ^ Basil Considine: Priests, pirates, opera singers, and slaves: séga and European art music in Mauritius, “The little Paris of the Indian Ocean”. (Dissertation) Boston University 2013, pp. 36f, 45
52. ↑ Basil Considine, 2013, pp. 106f, 128
53. ↑ Cf. Patrick Eisenlohr: As Makkah Is Sweet and Beloved, so Is Madina: Islam, Devotional Genres, and Electronic. Mediation in Mauritius. In: American Ethnologist, Vol. 33, No. 2, May 2006, pp. 230-245
54. ↑ Opera Mauritius. Retrieved November 27, 2017 . 
55. ^ Friends of Opera Mauritius e. V. Accessed on November 27, 2017 (German). 
56. ^ Conservatoire de Musique François-Mitterrand. Retrieved November 27, 2017 (American English). 
57. ^ Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre: Paul and Virginie , Munich 1987
58. ↑ Alexandre Dumas: Georges . Berlin 2020, ISBN 978-3-945831-28-1
59. ^ Website of the Mauritius Sports Council. .

Coordinates: 20 °  S , 58 °  E