Mauritius coat of arms

Mauritius coat of arms
Details
Introduced	August 25, 1906
Heraldic shield	golden ship, palm trees, keys, silver star over a mountain
Sign holder	Dodo , sambar deer
Motto (motto)	stella clavisque maris indici ( Latin star and key of the Indian Ocean)
Other elements	Sugar cane

The coat of arms of Mauritius was introduced by King Edward VII on August 25, 1906 for the British crown colony at the time and was adopted by the Republic of Mauritius after independence in 1968 .

Design of the coat of arms

The coat of arms is quartered in blue and gold . In the first field there is a golden ship . The second field shows green palm trees placed in a three-pass (2: 1). In the third field, a vertical red key with the beard pointing to the left is visible, which points with a four-pass width to the upper edge of the shield . In the last field, a hovering silver star over a mountain of the same color. The shield is held to the right by a dodo , an extinct, flightless bird that only lived in Mauritius; on the left a sambar deer occupies this position. The heraldic animals are each on the banner and are divided diagonally by a red and white pewter cut. Between the sign and the sign holders there is a white and green stick of sugar cane . Under the coat of arms, a silver-golden banner that the motto of the country in black capital letters ( STELLA MARIS Clavisque Indici - lat. Star and Key of the Indian Ocean carries), limited.

Meaning of the symbols

The ship on the sign represents the settlement of the island from outside by Portuguese , Dutch , French and British . The three palm trees to the right symbolize the tropical vegetation as well as the three dependencies of the state of Mauritius, the Cargados-Carajos Islands , the Agalega Islands and the Rodrigues Island . The key and the star are intended to illustrate the strategic location of the country as a single island off the coast of the African continent in the Indian Ocean, thus repeating the country's motto.