Mauritius - history and economy

Mauritius has a complicated history of colonization. Before 1500, the island was known to Arab traders but in 1505, it was the Portuguese who landed their ships to find a completely uninhabited land. The Portuguese, however, did not set up a colony and it is unknown how often they may have visited the island. The Dutch were the next to come, landing in 1598 but it was not until 1638 that a settlement was established. Leaving in 1710, the French took possession of the island in 1715. The French governed until 1810 when the island as captured by the British. The British ruled Mauritius until 1968 when on the 12 March it became an independent nation.

The Dutch period: The Dutch were mainly interested in the timber found on the island, especially the black ebony. They were also responsible for the introduction of sugarcane, deer and other animals. Slaves were brought from Madagascar to work in the sugarcane fields.

FUN FACT: Mauritius is the only known place of the now extinct Dodo bird. The bird, who lived happily on the island before humans arrived, did not know to be fearful of the new inhabitants. Thus they did not flee the clubs of the Dutch. Deemed the Dodo bird and the easiest prey known to man, the birds were quickly clubbed to extinction by 1688.

Legend has it that the Dutch were driven off the island in 1710 by the rats they had themselves accidentally introduced.

The French period: So as to avoid any misunderstanding, the French renamed the island Isle de France in 1715 but it was not until seven years later that the French East India Company actually occupied the island. A motley crew of company officials, settlers and slaves from Madagascar, Mozambique and west Africa, along with Swiss mercenaries and pirates landed in 1721. Women were rounded up on the waterfronts of St Malo and Bordeaux and shipped over to help expand the population. Betrand-Francois Mahe de Labouronnais was appointed governor in 1735 and quickly developed Port Louis into the most important port in the Mascarenes. The cultivation of sugarcane and other crops was encouraged. In 1767, Pierre Poivre became administrator and introduced pepper, nutmeg, cloves and other spices to the island helping to further develop the colony as an agricultural and trading center.

In 1810, the British attacked Isle de France by landing 11,500 troops the the North of the island. Their intention was to neutralise the island so that it would no longer be used as a base for French attacks on British vessels bound for India. Meeting little resistance, the British troops march on the capital and the French surrendered. The British renamed the island Mauritius.

The British period: The first British Governor, Sir Robert Farquhar, encouraged the cultivation of sugarcane because it was the only money-making crop able to withstand cyclones. The attempts by the British government to abolish slavery in Mauritius were met with resistance from the planters who relied on slave labor to produce the sugar, but slavery was eventually abolished in 1835.

Indian migrants had been in Mauritius since 1736 but in 1835, the planters began to heavily recruit Indian workers to replace the labor lost to them by emancipation. With a significant population, Indian workers began to petition the British Government to improve labor conditions. Political reforms were passes in 1886 but the Indian population remained excluded. In 1901, Mahatma Gandhi had a brief stay in Mauritius which resulted in an Indian lawyer, Manillal Doctor, being sent to Port Louis to help organize the Indian laborers.

Party politics followed the constitutional reforms of 1886. World War I brought suffering to the island with drastic cuts in shipping causing food shortages and price increases, but World War II brought infrastructural development. In 1968, Mauritius became an independent country led by Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam.

CLIMATE: Lying within the tropics in the Indian ocean, Mauritius has a tropical maritime climate.

AGRICULTURE: Sugar cultivation remains the main component of the agricultural sector but faced with competition from other countries, reforms have caused a decrease in land used for sugarcane and fewer workers employed in the industry.

FISHING: Apart from the main islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues, there are a number of coral islands and fishing banks where fishing activities take place.

INDUSTRY: The manufacturing industries are mostly tactile and clothing. The manufacturing industries are important for the diversification of the economy away from sugar. Because of competition abroad, Mauritian manufacturing industries are attempting to cater toward the production of higher quality products.

TOURISM: The importance of tourism to the economy cannot be overstated. Some coastal villages are becoming tourist resorts; the beaches being lined with one high-end resort hotel after another.

TRADE: Mauritius' main trading partners include France, Britain, India, Australia, South Africa, Germany and China. The main imports are manufactured goods, machinery, transport equipment, dairy products, wheat, rice, textile fibers, mineral fuel and food items. The main exports are sugar, apparel and clothing, optical goods, watches and clocks, toys, sporting goods, jewellery, pearls and precious stones.