History And Geography

History

The Arabs were the first to discover the island in the tenth century and named it Dina Robin. Then in 1510, the Portuguese navigator and explorer came to the island and renamed it Cirne. Both, the Arabs and the Portuguese, never established any permanent settlement on the island and used it only as port of call.

The Dutch accidentally discovered the island in 1598 while they were heading towards the east. They landed in the southeast of the island, which is currently the port of Vieux Grand and named it after their prince ‘Mauritius Van Nassau', who was the younger son of Guillaume de Nassau. In comparison to the Portuguese who had little influence over the region, the Dutch were more powerful and established the first settlement under the Dutch East India Company. However, the Dutch were more interested in the Far East than the island and as a result, little progress was made in the development of the island. Unable to cope up with the island's climate, the Dutch finally left the island in 1712 after calculating that it was more worthwhile to consolidate their already established base in Cape town (South Africa).

The withdrawal of the Dutch paved the way for the French who were already operating in the Indian Ocean to take control of the island and its resources in 1715. They named it Isle de France and started the formal process of colonization in 1722. The French controlled the island up to 1810 and their hundred years of occupancy was mostly aimed at developing the island in such a way that would help in conquering Madras and other parts of India under British control. Colonization was successful under the French rule as they invested in developing local infrastructure, economy and agriculture.

The French plans to capture Indian regions were ruined after the British forces defeated them in in 1810. The British moved in and formally recognized the island as a colony. They abolished the slavery system in 1835 and bought indentured laborers from India. The nineteenth century played a major role in defining the present population structure of the island as well as the politics of the region. The political struggle for independence started during the end of the nineteenth century and continued in the twentieth century. Many new political parties were formed during this period that represented different segments of the island's population. The Mauritian Labour Party was formed in 1936 and the island got its independence in 1968. Since then, a number of reforms and policies have been implemented in the island that has helped in transforming the once underdeveloped region into a developing country.

Geography

The island is situated about five hundred miles east of Madagascar between longitudes 57 18' and 57 49' east, and latitudes 19 59' and 20 32' south. The pearl-shaped island has an area of 1159 square miles, which is about the size of Rhode Island. The official Mauritian territory also includes the island of Rodrigues, which is located 372 miles east of the island and has an area of 74 square miles. Other areas under its territory include some twenty uninhabited islands and the Cargados Carajos Shoals, which is also known as the St. Brandon Rocks.

Mauritius, including the Rodrigues island belongs to the chain of volcanic Mascarene islands which also includes Reunion Island, the nearest neighbor located somewhere around 90 miles from the island. The most prominent feature of these islands in terms of location is that they lie on the edge of submarine ridges, including the Mascarene Plateau that runs for some 3,000 kilometers in an arc bowed outward from the African mainland, and the Rodrigues Fracture Zone that ripples eastward and connects this underwater plateau with the massive Mid-Indian Ridge.

Geologically, the island is relatively young since it was created by volcanic activity some twelve million years ago. However, the last volcanoes in the region became extinct some 100,000 years ago. The island is characterized by a series of mountain ranges, some six to eight hundred meters above sea level, encompassing a central tableland that slopes from a level of 300 meters in the north to 600 meters in the southwest. The area surrounding the mountains is mostly low-lying and hilly except the southwest area where the drop-off is precipitous. A ring of coral reefs exists around most of the 99 miles of the island's coastline that have formed many shallow lagoons, white sand beaches, and dunes. The island is divided into 9 administrative regions including 8 districts and one municipality where ‘Port Louis', the capital is situated.

The central tableland covers around one-fourth of the island. A large highland covers most of the region of Moka district, eastern Plaines Wilhems, and western Grand Port, where the main crops are sugarcane and vegetables, excluding Curepipe and Vacoas, where tea is grown. The southern areas of the tableland are relatively smaller and heavily dissected with a diverse topography containing tea and forest plantations, including reserves of indigenous trees.

A number of rivers and streams also dot the island, most of them formed in the gaps between land created by new and old lava flows. Most of these rivers and streams drain from the central tableland to the sea and most of them have rapids and waterfalls. The flow increases considerably during the rainy season and during storms and cyclones. The island also has several manmade reservoirs including the Mare aux Vacoas, which is the largest.