Mauritius

Statistics

President: Cassam Uteem (1992)

Prime Minister: Sir Anerood Jugnauth (2000)

Area: 718 sq mi (1,860 sq km)

Population (2001 est.): 1,189,825 (average annual rate of natural increase: 1.0%); birth rate: 16.5/1000; infant mortality rate: 17.2/1000; density per sq mi: 1,657

Capital and largest city (1993 est.): Port Louis, 134,516

Monetary unit: Mauritian rupee

Languages: English (official), French, Creole, Hindi, Urdu, Hakka, Bojpoori

Ethnicity/race: Indo-Mauritian 68%, Creole 27%, Sino-Mauritian 3%, Franco-Mauritian 2%

Religions: Hindu 52%, Christian 28.3%, Islam 16.6%, other 3.1%

Literacy rate: 81% (1990)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (1999 est.): $12.3 billion; per capita $10,400. Real growth rate: 4%. Inflation: 6.8%. Unemployment: 2% (1996 est.). Arable land: 49%. Agriculture: sugarcane, tea, corn, potatoes, bananas, pulses; cattle, goats; fish. Labor force: 514,000 (1995); construction and industry 36%, services 24%, agriculture and fishing 14%, trade, restaurants, hotels 16%, transportation and communication 7%, finance 3% (1995). Industries: food processing (largely sugar milling), textiles, clothing; chemicals, metal products, transport equipment, nonelectrical machinery; tourism. Natural resources: arable land, fish. Exports: $1.7 billion (f.o.b., 1999): clothing and textiles, sugar, cut flowers, molasses. Imports: $2.1 billion (f.o.b., 1998): manufactured goods, capital equipment, foodstuffs, petroleum products, chemicals (1996). Major trading partners: UK, France, U.S., Germany, Italy, South Africa, India, Hong Kong.

Member of Commonwealth of Nations

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 148,000 (1995); mobile cellular: 11,735 (1995). Radio broadcast stations: AM 5, FM 9, shortwave 2 (1998). Radios: 420,000 (1997). Television broadcast stations: 2 (plus 11 repeaters) (1997). Televisions: 258,000 (1997). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 1 (1999).

Transportation: Railways: 0 km. Highways: total: 1,910 km; paved: 1,834 km (including 36 km of expressways); unpaved: 76 km (1998 est.). Ports and harbors: Port Louis. Airports: 5 (1999 est.).

International disputes: claims the Chagos Archipelago in UK-administered British Indian Ocean Territory; claims French-administered Tromelin Island.

Geography

Mauritius is a mountainous island in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar.

Government

Republic within the British Commonwealth.

History

After a brief Dutch settlement, French immigrants who came in 1715 named the island �le de France and established the first road and harbor infrastructure, as well as the sugar industry, under the leadership of Gov. Mahe de Labourdonnais. Blacks from Africa and Madagascar came as slaves to work in the cane fields. In 1810, the British captured the island and in 1814, by the Treaty of Paris, it was ceded to Great Britain along with its dependencies.

Indian immigration, which followed the abolition of slavery in 1835, rapidly changed the fabric of Mauritian society, and the country flourished with the increased cultivation of sugarcane. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 heralded the decline of Mauritius as a port-of-call for ships rounding the southern tip of Africa, bound for South and East Asia. The economic instability of the price of sugar, the main crop, in the first half of the 20th century brought civil unrest, then economic, administrative, and political reforms. Mauritius became independent on March 12, 1968.

The effects of Cyclone Claudette in 1979, and of falling world sugar prices in the early 1980s, led the government to initiate a vigorous program of agricultural diversification and to develop the processing of imported goods for the export market. The country formally broke ties with the British Crown in March 1992, becoming a republic within the Commonwealth.

In addition to sugar cane, textile production and tourism are the leading industries. Primary education is free, and Mauritius boasts one of the highest literacy rates in sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam became prime minister in an unstable coalition government in 1995. The administration has embraced free-market reforms, resulting in an economic expansion through the 1990s. In Sept. 2000 an opposition alliance defeated Ramgoolam, winning 50 of the 70 seats in parliament. The office of prime minister is to rotate: Anerood Jugnath, leader of the Socialist Militant Party, will serve for three years, followed by Paul Berenger, of the Militant Movement. Berenger will be the first non Hindu to hold office since Mauritius won independence in 1968. With a complicated ethnic mix�about 30% of the population is of African descent, the remainder is of Indian descent, both Hindu and Muslim�racial unrest continues to gnaw at the country.

See Also: Mauritius Central Statistical Office ncb.intnet.mu/cso.htm

(Source: www.infoplease.com )

(this website was designed using Microsoft Notepad, and is best viewed using a computer of some kind.) - Alex Martindale, for Kerry McGregor, 7/11/2001