Mauritius, an island of peace, development, beauty

Mauritius, island of development, beauty and peace

Mauritius is a very small island of a population of less than 1.2
million which was discovered by a Dutch navigator called Moritz Van
Nassau. It is located in the Indian Ocean and forms part of the
Mascarene islands. There are five islands which depend on Mauritius,
they are: Rodrigues, St Brandon, Agalega, Chagos and Diego Garcia. Our
national flag is Red (Blood that our ancestors shed), Blue (The
beautiful turquoise blue lagoon), Yellow (Sandy beaches and sunny
weather), Green (Sugar cane fields and landscape). Long ago, all
navigators sailing round the Cape of Good Hope (Cape Town, South Africa
nowadays) to India had to make a stop to our island for refreshments.
Let's go back to 1598 when the Dutch discovered the island for a little
history?

The Dutch landed in Ferney near Grand Port in 1598. The island was
named Mauritius after the Prince of Orange (Moritz Van Nassau). In 1638
the Dutch East India Company sent Simons Guyer as governor with a group
of 25 men to settle on the island. He had been sent on the island so as
to make it profitable. They were sending our ebony trees to Holland and
Batavia, trying to find ambergris, a whale produce to make expensive
perfumes, produce tobacco and food, rear cattle and fowls for the
settlers, supply the Dutch ships, search for minerals, receive sick
people from Batavia to help them recover their health, build a great
fort at Grand Port and most of all prevent the French and English from
using the island. In 1640, Governor Van der Stel succeeded Governor
Gooyer until 1645. He landed on the island with 70 men and he then
introduced sugar cane to our island. The new Governor brought rabbits,
sheep, geese, ducks, pigeons and stags. The animals multiplied very
easily and became sources of fresh provisions for passing ships. This
man also brought the first batch of slaves who were native of
Madagascar. Three quarter of the group of slaves escaped. When Van der
Stel left the island, the other governors who succeeded did not bring
much improvement to Mauritius. The population had increased, some
settlers cultivated their estates, there were some shops and drinking
houses which were opened. In 1658, the Dutch decided to abandon the
island to go to the Cape of Good Hope because there was too much
droughts, storms, locusts, rats and monkeys. In 1664, the Dutch came
back to Mauritius and stayed until 1710 and the population had then
reached 200 approximately including the slaves.

The island remained unoccupied until 1715 when the French came in
Mauritius. Captain Guillaume Dufresne d'Arsel landed on the island and
named it Isle de France. In 1721, settlers arrived from Bourbon
(Reunion island) and it was given to the East India Company to set up a
colony. Denis Denyon was made Governor and two settlements were started
in Port North West (Port-Louis, the capital) and Port South East (Grand
Port). In 1723, the crops that those people had grown and their
provisions were destroyed by cyclones, and the settlers had very little
food to live on. Rats and slaves who ran away were their major problem.
In 1725 Governor Denis de Brousse succeeded De Nyon. In 1729, Governor
Maupin became Governor and moved the Company's headquarters from
Grand-Port to Port-Louis. Apart from the animals which destroyed the
crops, the island had to face six cyclones in 1734 and three famines
between 1729 and 1735. Bertrand Mah? de Labourdonnais was appointed
Governor of Ile de France in 1734. During his governorship,
Labourdonnais built roads, a big civil and military hospital which
still exists in Port-Louis. He was also the one who built the
Government House which is next to the harbour, fortifications and many
other useful things. Life was hard and monotonous in Ile de France and
the new Governor wanted to make it more pleasant for the people. So, he
brought girls from France to provide spouses for the settlers, he tried
to bring a lot of families from Bourbon, concerts, dances and social
gatherings were organized and he was also generous with the settlers
who couldn't afford to pay dowries for their daughters. In 1767, the
Crown took over the island from the East India Company and a new form
of government was formed. Governor Dumas and Intendant Pierre Poivre
were the new administrators of the island. Under the Crown Government,
trade became very important and brought a lot of wealth to the island
which made the level of living of the inhabitants improve.

On the 23rd of August 1810, there was the "Battle of Grand Port", where
the French defeated the British. In spite of the defeat, they succeeded
in landing at Cap Malheureux (In the North of Mauritius) and marched
towards Port-Louis. The French tried to resist but the British were
greater in number which forced the French people to surrender. When the
British took over the island, they introduced a number of changes to
improve the conditions of the slaves, they abolished the Slave Code in
1811. The law was registered only two years later, that is, in 1813 in
Mauritius, but still slavery existed and Sir Robert Farquhar, the
administrator during this period, made treaties with Madagascar. In
1828, a slave protector landed in Mauritius and he was given more power
by authority to enforce the amelioration of slaves in 1829. In the same
year, racial discrimination was abolished and the coloured people could
send their children to the Royal College at Port-Louis (First school in
Mauritius which still exists). In August 1833 the act abolishing
slavery was passed by the British Parliament and came into force in
Mauritius in 1835. Abolition of slavery is celebrated each year in
Mauritius and it's on the 1st of February (public holiday). Between
1834 and 1921, about 450 000 Indian labourers came to Mauritius and 150
000 approximately went back to India. The indentured labourers were
brought to Mauritius so as to replace the slaves in the fields. They
had to work from morning to night, had to complete their work and if
they failed to do so, they were punished Muslims and Chinese also came
to Mauritius so as to settle businesses after 1922 and that's how the
Mauritian population started to grow.

In 1947, a new constitution was granted and all the persons above 21
(who could sign their name) could vote. General Elections were held on
9th and 10th August 1948 and it improved the life of the working and
middle classes persons. In 1959, another overwhelming victory happened
to the Labour Party and the Muslim Committee of action, they won 31
seats out of 40. The general election which was going to decide the
issue of independence, was held on 7th August 1967. On the 12th March
1968, Mauritius acceded to Independence. In order to enrich the
understanding of the past, the Naval Museum at Mahebourg exists
(documents, pictures and other sources of information can be found
there). More information about the indentured labourers can be found at
the Mahatma Gandhi Institute, R?duit Evidence of what happened in the
past can be found at La Nef in Souillac, The Museum of Port-Louis and
Blue Penny museum.

Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam- first prime minister of our island had
fought for our independence, he stayed at the head of the country until
1982 and died in 1985. Then, we became a republic in 1992. The first
President of Mauritius was Sir Veerassamy Ringadoo, then Sir Cassam
Uteem succeeded him and our actual President is Karl Hoffman, elected
in 2002. Our national symbol is a beautiful red flower called the
Trochetia Boutonia which can be found at Pamplemousses botanical
garden. The Mauritian folkloric dance is the Sega.

The capital of Mauritius is Port-Louis, it is the busiest part of the
island also. There are six towns: Beau-Bassin, Rose-Hill, Quatre
Bornes, Vacoas, Phoenix, Curepipe and a lot of villages. Beau-Bassin is
the smallest one which was given the status of town in 1896.
"Beau-Bassin" is beautiful pond in English and it was named after the
pond which exists in Cit? Barkly, suburb of the town. Even though it is
small, it is an ancient town and by far the most beautiful. Lots of
fruit trees, mild weather, beautiful big houses and yards, not much
traffic jam. The average temperature in Beau-Bassin is 24?c summer and
winter 15?c. As we are in the tropics, we have the chance to take
advantage of mild weather. The winters are not very cold here. The
biggest town is Curepipe, it is also the dirtiest one and has a dull
look because the rainy days are frequent. The twin towns are
Vacoas/Phoenix. Well, the countryside, land and climate varies in each
part of the island, wet on the central plateau, dry and sunny on the
coasts and mild in nearly all the parts left. Port-Louis,
Pamplemousses, Flacq, Savanne, Black river, Mahebourg, Moka, Rivi?re du
Rempart and Plaine Wilhems (All the towns are found in the last
district stated). We have a tenth district and it is one of the islands
which depends on us, Rodrigues. The highest mountain is Piton de la
Petite Rivi?re Noire (Black River district), the longest river is
Grande Rivi?re Sud Est (Flacq District), Mare aux Vacoas is the biggest
reservoir and Trou aux Cerfs, the biggest volcano (dormant one located
in Curepipe).

The languages spoken in Mauritius are English (Official), French
(Secondary language, but spoken by most of us and more frequently than
English), then, Creole (normally everyone should be able to speak this
language), Hindi and Bhojpuri (language spoken by the Hindus of the
island, especially the old ones and people who live in villages). The
Muslims speak Urdu and Arabic and finally the Chinese speak the Hakka
and Mandarin. The other languages are not usual languages. We don't
really have special beverages or food for Mauritians as each race
brought its own. But 'Dholl Purris', an Indian sort of yellow salted
pancake, can be found in every corner of Mauritius. There is also the
'Gateau Arouille', a small crispy ball, also found in various part of
the island. Then, the wan tan, siew kiaw, teo kon, sao mai, fish balls
which are tasty Chinese food which should be accompanied by a bouillon.
The byriani is a special rice that the Muslim prepare for special
occasions. The Mauritian currency is the rupee. Due to the fact that
Mauritius is a plural culture island, the inhabitants kept their
customs, rites, religion, beliefs. There are many churches, mosques,
temples, pagodas in every part of the island and we celebrate a lot of
special occasions for each religion, each race. This means, we have a
lot of public holidays. Mauritian are very proud of living altogether
in peace. Even though we are all different, we learnt that respect and
understanding was the key to have a peaceful country. In 1998, Kaya,
the king of Seggae (Sega + Reggae) died in a police station, according
to his relatives he was beaten to death by two policemen. The Mauritian
population was angry and did a riot (only one that I knew since I was
born).

The king of Sega is Ti Frere, he was born in 1900, like our first
governor Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam and died in the early 90's. He sang
traditional Sega and had a great voice. There is a Sega group which has
much success, Cassiya, they are well known in the Indian ocean and in
some European countries. Another type of Mauritian music apart from the
Sega and Seggae is the Mauritian Ragga (Othentik Street Brothers are
really good and a newly discovered group is Gansta Beach). Cry?, creole
word which means shout is the title of the greatest hit of the last
group stated.

The tourism industry is the masterpiece for our economy and then queues
the sugar, textile and tea industry. We import labour from China and
India to work in the Mauritian textile factories especially, which
contributes a lot for the growth of our economy. With the construction
of the cyber city, Information Technology will also be a very important
thing for the country (sector which spreads rapidly all over the
island). As we have very beautiful sandy beaches, tourists like our
island very much. When the Portuguese discovered the island, they said
that we were the pearl of the Indian Ocean and most of the foreigners
who come here still say so. The Dodo was a bird which existed a long
time ago, it is now extinct. When Mauritius was occupied by the Dutch,
there were a lot of Dodos, but this bird was lazy, fat and had very
small wings which made it impossible for him to fly. As the Dutch
needed food, they killed the Dodo as those birds could neither fly nor
run. This is how the Dodo disappeared completely, because it was a lazy
idiot.

The Europeans are the people who come more frequently in Mauritius,
especially the French and the British. Then, we have the Asians,
Australians, Africans and the island was newly introduced to Americans.
What the foreigners usually prefer in Mauritians is the hospitality and
the beautiful smiles that we always have on the face. We are recognized
all over the world for our warm welcoming and cheerful habits.
Mauritius forms part of the dream destinations and year by year the
number of tourists increases. Restaurants, nice pubs and night-clubs,
the tourists enjoy themselves to the maximum when they land here. The
activities that can be done in Mauritius are site seeing ( waterfalls,
mountains, volcanoes, caves, forests, parks, rivers), water sports
(swimming, water-ski, surf, diving, jet-ski, windsurf, sailing,
catamaran, big game fishing). Tourists also come here for shopping (the
Caudan Waterfront, Mahebourg Waterfront, Rose-hill (town of shopping),
the centre of Port-Louis itself, Quatre-Bornes bazaar and the
commercial centres of the coasts.

Domaine Les Pailles is a very beautiful place where fauna, flora,
entertainment and excellent multicultural cuisine can be tried.
Pamplemousses Botanical garden is also a very interesting place because
there are a lot of rare trees, flowers (trochetia boutonia), the
Chateau de Mon Plaisir ( house of Robert Edward Hart, an English
botanist who came in Mauritius long ago). Seven coloured earth at
Chamarel is also a nice place to visit, as the name indicates it has
seven different colours of earth. La Vanille Crocodile Park, Casela
Bird Park, Sept Cascades and the National Park are nice place to visit
as well. It also exists a lot of expositions, museums, monuments, rare
birds (Mauritius Parakeet, Pink Pigeon, Cardinal, Kestrel etc?), rare
snakes and tiny islands. The small islands around Mauritius draw the
attention of tourists a lot. Since Mauritius got its independence in
1968, the island made giant improvements and as Mauritians are hard
workers and ambitious, we will continue to grow. That is the reason why
we are well known to be the island of development, beauty and
peace.