Mauritius

Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius (French: République de Maurice), is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) off the southeast coast of the African continent. The country includes the islands of Mauritius, Rodrigues (560 kilometres (350 mi) east of the principal island), the islands of Agalega and the archipelago Saint Brandon. Mauritius claims sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago situated 1,287 kilometres (800 mi) to the north east; the United Kingdom excised the archipelago from Mauritian territory prior to Mauritius' independence and gradually depopulated it. The islands of Mauritius, Rodrigues and Réunion, 170 km (110 mi) south west, form part of the Mascarene Islands. The area of the country is 2040 km2. Its capital is Port Louis.

• Geographical data

  • The total land area of the country is 2040 km2, which is the 180st largest nation in the world by size. The Republic of Mauritius also incorporates the island of Rodrigues, situated some 560 kilometers to the east and is 104 km2 in area, the Agalega situated some 1,000 km to the north of Mauritius and Saint Brandon situated some 430 km to the north-east of Mauritius, both with total land area of 71.2 km2. Mauritius claim sovereignty over Tromelin islands, small islands that lie 430 km to the north-east of Mauritius. The nation's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) cover about 2.3 million km2 of the Indian Ocean, including approx. 400,000 km2 jointly managed with the Seychelles.

    The island of Mauritius is relatively young geologically, having been created by volcanic activity some 8 million years ago. Together with Saint Brandon, Réunion and Rodrigues, the island is part of the Mascarene Islands. These islands have emerged from the abysses as a result of gigantic underwater volcanic eruptions that happened thousands of kilometres to the east of the continental block made up by Africa and Madagascar. They are no longer volcanically active and the hotspot now rests under Réunion island. There has been no active volcano on Mauritius island for more than 100,000 years. Mauritius is encircled by a broken ring of mountain ranges, varying in height from 300 meters to 800 meters above sea level. The land rises from coastal plains to a central plateau where it reaches a height of 670 meters, the highest peak is in the southwest, Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire at 828 metres (2,717 ft). Streams and rivers speckle the island, a lot of them are formed in the cracks created by lava flows.

    The island of Mauritius is situated some 2,000 kilometres (1242 miles) off the south east coast of the African continent, between Latitudes 19°58.8' and 20°31.7' South and Longitudes 57°18.0' and 57°46.5' East, it is 65 km long and 45 km wide, its land area is 1,864.8 km2. Mauritius is surrounded by more than 150 kilometres (93 miles) of white sandy beaches and the lagoons are protected from the open sea by the world's third largest coral reef, which surrounds the island. Just off the Mauritian coast lie some 49 uninhabited islands and islets (see Islets of Mauritius), some of them are used as natural reserves for the protection of endangered species.

    Mauritius sought to regain sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago situated 1287 km to the north east (see Chagos Archipelago sovereignty dispute). The Government of the Republic of Mauritius does not recognise the British Indian Ocean Territory, which the United Kingdom created by excising the Chagos Archipelago from the territory of Mauritius prior to its independence. Mauritius claims that the Chagos Archipelago, including Diego Garcia, forms an integral part of the territory of Mauritius under both Mauritian law and international law. Starting in the 1960s, more than 2,000 Chagossians were gradually removed, the United States established a military base on the biggest island, Diego Garcia. The Chagossians have since engaged in activism to return to the archipelago, claiming that the forced expulsion and dispossession were illegal.

• Demographics

  • The population estimate (as of 1 July 2012) for the whole republic is 1,291,456. The female population outnumbered the male population by about 19,430. The population on the island of Mauritius only is 1,253,000, and that of Rodrigues island is 38,167. Agalega and Saint Brandon had an estimated population of 289. Mauritius is a religiously diverse nation, it is a secular state and freedom of religion is a constitutional right. Statistics on ethnicity are not available because such questions were removed from the population census. The people of Indian descent (Indo-Mauritian) follow mostly Hinduism and Islam. The Franco-Mauritians, Creoles and Sino-Mauritians follow Christianity. A minority of Sino-Mauritians also follow Buddhism and other Chinese-related religions. According to the 2011 census made by Statistics Mauritius, Hinduism is the largest religion at 49%, followed by Christianity with 32%, Islam with 17% and Buddhism at 0.4% in terms of number of adherents.

• Economy

  • Since independence in 1968, Mauritius has developed from a low-income, agriculture-based economy to a middle-income diversified economy. The economy is based on tourism, textiles, sugar, and financial services. In recent years, information and communication technology, seafood, hospitality and property development, healthcare, renewable energy, and education and training have emerged as important sectors, attracting substantial investment from both local and foreign investors. Mauritius has no exploitable natural resources and therefore depends on imported petroleum products to meet most of its energy requirements. Local and renewable energy sources are biomass, hydro, solar and wind energy. Mauritius has one of the largest Exclusive Economic Zones in the world, in 2012 the government announced its intention to develop the Ocean Economy.

    Mauritius is ranked high in terms of competitiveness, investment climate, governance and freest economy, the Gross Domestic Product (PPP) estimate was at $20.200 billion and GDP (PPP) per capita income over $15,591 in 2012, one of the highest in Africa. Mauritius has an upper middle income economy, according to the World Bank in 2011. For the fifth consecutive year, the World Bank's 2013 Ease of Doing Business report ranks Mauritius first among African economies and 19th worldwide out of 183 economies in terms of ease of doing business. Mauritius has built its success on a free market economy, according to the 2013 Index of Economic Freedom Mauritius is ranked as having the 8th most free economy in the world, and the highest score in investment freedom. The report's ranking of 183 countries is based on measures of economic openness, regulatory efficiency, rule of law, and competitiveness.

    The rupee (sign: ₨; ISO 4217 code: MUR) is the currency of Mauritius. It is theoretically divided into 100 cents; however, as at October 2011, only 5 and 20 cent coins, are currently in circulation, the latest mintage of these two coins was in 2010. A Half Rupee coin is also in circulation. The rupee was established by law in 1876 as the local currency of Mauritius. The rupee was chosen due to the massive inflow of Indian rupees following Indian immigration to Mauritius. The Mauritian rupee was introduced in 1877, replacing the Indian rupee, sterling and the Mauritian dollar, with the Mauritian rupee equal to one Indian rupee or half a Mauritian dollar. The pound was worth 10¼ rupees at that time. The Mauritian currency also circulated in the Seychelles until 1914, when it was replaced by the Seychellois rupee at par. In 1934, a peg to sterling replaced the peg to the Indian rupee, at the rate of 1 rupee = 1 shilling 6 pence (the rate at which the Indian rupee was also pegged). This rate, equivalent to 13⅓ rupees = 1 pound, was maintained until 1979.

• Culture

  • Mauritius public holidays involves the blending of several cultures from Mauritius's history, as well as individual culture arising indigenously. There are Hindu festivals, Chinese festivals, Muslim festivals, as well as Christian festivals.

    There are 15 annual public holidays in Mauritius. Seven of these are fixed holidays: 1 and 2 January; 1 February; 12 March; 1 May; 2 November; and 25 December. The remaining public holidays are religious festivals with dates that vary from year to year. However these are public holidays, many other festivals like Holi, Raksha Bandhan, Père Laval Pilgrimageal also exist in Mauritius.