Mauritius
Name
| Official name | Republic of Mauritius — République de Maurice · Repiblik Moris |
|---|---|
| Former names | The Colony of Mauritius under Britain (1810–1968); the Île de France of the French (1715–1810); Mauritius of the Dutch (1598–1710); Cirne of the Portuguese; Dina Arobi of the Arab sailors, by the reading of the maps |
| Demonym | Mauritian |
| Meaning of the name | Named by the Dutch in 1598 for Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, the stadtholder of the Netherlands — Mauritius the Latin of Maurits; the Île de France of 1715 named for the kingdom that took it |
| Motto | "Stella Clavisque Maris Indici" — the star and key of the Indian Ocean |
Quick facts
| Capital | Port Louis — founded 1735 by Mahé de La Bourdonnais, the capital since; about 150,000 in the city, the harbor and the offices |
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| Largest towns | Port Louis; Beau Bassin-Rose Hill, about 110,000; Vacoas-Phoenix; Curepipe, the town of the plateau at 550 m; Quatre Bornes; Triolet, the largest village; Goodlands; Centre de Flacq; Port Mathurin, the town of Rodrigues; the towns of the plateau one conurbation |
| Official languages | English, the language of the Constitution, Parliament and the courts; French, the language of the press, the television and the professions, allowed in the Assembly; Mauritian Creole — Morisien — the mother tongue of nine in ten, in the schools since 2012; Bhojpuri of the sugar villages, fading; Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Hakka of the ancestors, taught in the schools |
| Currency | Mauritian rupee — MUR, Rs; 100 cents; since 1876; about 46 to the U.S. dollar |
| Time zone | Mauritius Time, UTC+4; no summer time |
| Calling code | +230 |
| Internet domain | .mu |
| ISO 3166 codes | MU · MUS · 480 |
| Vehicle registration code | MS |
| Driving side | Left |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug types C and G |
| Independence | 12 March 1968, from the United Kingdom, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam the first prime minister, Elizabeth II the queen; a republic 12 March 1992 with Sir Veerasamy Ringadoo and then Cassam Uteem as president |
| National days | 12 March, Independence and Republic Day; 1 February, the Abolition of Slavery, for 1835; 2 November, the Arrival of Indentured Laborers, for 1834; 1 May; the feasts of every faith — Maha Shivaratri, Thaipoosam Cavadee, Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Eid al-Fitr, the Chinese New Year, Christmas and All Saints; 1 and 2 January; Ougadi |
| Constitution | 12 March 1968 — the Independence Constitution of the Westminster model, amended 12 March 1992 for the republic: a president elected by the Assembly for five years as head of state, a prime minister commanding the House, the National Assembly of 62 elected and up to 8 best-loser members, the Supreme Court with the Privy Council in London as the last appeal; the ethnic count of 1972 written into the best-loser system; the Rodrigues Regional Assembly of 2002 |
| Population | 1,235,260 at the census of 2022; about 1.26 million (2026 est.), falling by 0.1% a year; Rodrigues about 44,000, Agaléga about 300 |
| Area | 2,040 km² (788 sq mi) — Mauritius 1,865 km², Rodrigues 108 km², Agaléga 26 km², Saint Brandon 1 km²; the exclusive economic zone about 2.3 million km² |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | Four horizontal bands of red, blue, yellow and green — the "Four Bands," Les Quatre Bandes, the only national flag of four horizontal stripes of equal width: the red for the blood of the struggle for freedom and independence, the blue for the Indian Ocean, the yellow for the new light of independence, the green for the agriculture and the year-round color of the island; designed by the schoolteacher Gurudutt Moher, chosen by the College of Arms, and raised at the Champ de Mars on 12 March 1968.Flag of Mauritius |
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| Coat of arms | A quartered shield — a lymphad, the ship of the settlers; three palm trees; a key; a white star for the motto — supported by a dodo and a sambar deer each holding a sugar cane, on a scroll with "Stella Clavisque Maris Indici"; granted 25 August 1906 by the British and kept by the republic |
| National anthem | "Motherland" — words by Jean-Georges Prosper, music by Philippe Gentil; adopted 12 March 1968; "Glory to thee, Motherland, O motherland of mine" |
| National motto | "Stella Clavisque Maris Indici" |
| National colors | Red, blue, yellow and green |
| National bird | The dodo — Raphus cucullatus, the flightless pigeon of the island killed off by the Dutch settlers' pigs, rats and hunger by about 1681, the emblem of the arms, the coins, the airline and the extinction of a species; the Mauritius kestrel, brought back from four birds in 1974 to hundreds, the living emblem; widely cited |
| National flower | The Trochetia boutoniana — the Boucle d'Oreille, the orange bell of Le Morne found nowhere else, declared 12 March 1992 for the republic |
| National animal | The sambar deer of the arms, brought by the Dutch in 1639; the giant tortoises of Rodrigues and Île aux Aigrettes; the pink pigeon; widely cited |
| National dish | Dholl puri — the split-pea flatbread rolled with curry, chutney and rougaille, the street food of the nation; the gateau piment fritters; the biryani; the boulettes of the Chinese; the vindaye of fish; the rougaille of tomatoes; the seven-curry feasts of the weddings; the rum and the Phoenix beer; widely cited |
| National dance | The sega — the drum, the ravanne and the swaying dance of the slaves' descendants on the beaches at night, the sega tipik on UNESCO's list of 2014, the sega tambour of Rodrigues of 2017 and of the Chagossians of 2019; Ti Frère and Kaya its voices; widely cited |
| Symbol status | The flag and the anthem by the law of 1968; the arms by the grant of 1906; the flower by the declaration of 1992; the birds, animals, dishes and the dance widely cited |
Geography
| Location | The southwestern Indian Ocean, 900 km east of Madagascar and 2,000 km off the African coast — the Mascarene Islands with Réunion of France 175 km to the west and Rodrigues 560 km to the east; Agaléga and Saint Brandon to the north; the Chagos 2,000 km northeast |
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| Land borders | None — an island state; the maritime lines with Réunion, the Seychelles and the joint zone with them of 2011; Tromelin, the sandbank 430 km northwest, claimed against France; the Chagos Archipelago, detached by Britain in 1965, recognized as Mauritian by the treaty of 22 May 2025 with the Diego Garcia lease, and the Maldives' objection to it |
| Coastline | 177 km (110 mi) on the main island — the reef around nearly all of it, the lagoons of Grand Baie, Flic en Flac, Belle Mare and Blue Bay, the cliffs of the south at Gris Gris; the beaches of the resorts; the Wakashio oil spill of 25 July 2020 at Pointe d'Esny, a thousand metric tons on the reefs |
| Highest point | The Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire, 828 m (2,717 ft), in the Black River Gorges |
| Lowest point | The Indian Ocean, 0 m |
| Mean elevation | About 300 m (1,000 ft) — the central plateau at 400–600 m |
| Rivers | The Grand River South East, 34 km, the longest, with its falls; the Black River; the Grand River North West of Port Louis; the Rivière du Poste; the Tamarin of the falls; the Rochester Falls and the Chamarel cascade of 100 m |
| Lakes | Grand Bassin — Ganga Talao — the crater lake at 550 m sacred to the Hindus, the pilgrimage of Maha Shivaratri that half the island walks to; the Mare aux Vacoas, the largest reservoir, the drinking water; the Midlands dam of 2002; Tamarind Falls; the Bassin Blanc crater; the Trou aux Cerfs, the dormant crater of Curepipe |
| Terrain | A volcanic island of 8 million years ringed by coral — the coastal plain, the central plateau of the cane fields and the towns, the three mountain ranges of Moka, Grand Port and Black River with the peaks of Le Pouce, Pieter Both and Le Morne Brabant; the gorges and the last forest of the southwest, the seven-colored earths of Chamarel; Rodrigues the hilly island of the coral and the caves; Agaléga two low coral islands; the Cargados Carajos shoals of Saint Brandon |
| Climate | Tropical maritime — the hot wet summer of November to April and the cool dry winter of May to October; the plateau wetter and cooler, 4,000 mm at Curepipe against 800 mm at Port Louis; the trade winds of the southeast; the cyclone season of the summer |
| Natural hazards | Cyclones — the great storm of 1892 that killed 1,200, Carol of 1960, Hollanda of 1994, Belal of 15 January 2024 that flooded Port Louis, Chido of December 2024 over Agaléga, Garance of February 2025 that shut the airport; the flash flood of Port Louis of 30 March 2013 with 11 dead; the drought of the reservoirs; the sea's rise on the beaches and the coral bleaching of the lagoons; the Wakashio |
| Natural resources | The arable land of the cane; the fish of the exclusive zone, the tuna of the canneries; the sun and wind; the sea of the ocean economy; the coral sand; no minerals of any account |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 43%, the sugar cane most of it; forest about 19%, the native forest under 2% |
| National parks | The Black River Gorges National Park of 1994, 68 km², the last native forest with the pink pigeon, the echo parakeet and the Mauritius kestrel; the Bras d'Eau National Park of 2011 on the northeast coast; the Île aux Aigrettes reserve of the tortoises and the ebony; the Islets National Park; the François Leguat reserve of Rodrigues; the Blue Bay marine park |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 2 — the Aapravasi Ghat (2006), the immigration depot of Port Louis where the half-million indentured laborers of India landed from 1834, the "great experiment" of the empire; Le Morne Cultural Landscape (2008), the mountain of the maroons, the escaped slaves who by the legend leaped from its cliffs when the soldiers came to tell them of their freedom; the sega tipik (2014), the Bhojpuri geet-gawai songs (2016), the sega tambour of Rodrigues (2017) and the sega tambour Chagos (2019) on the intangible list |
| Administrative divisions | 9 districts of the main island — Port Louis, Pamplemousses, Rivière du Rempart, Flacq, Grand Port, Savanne, Plaines Wilhems, Moka and Black River — and the dependencies of Rodrigues, autonomous since 2002 with its Regional Assembly and Chief Commissioner, Agaléga and Saint Brandon; 5 municipal councils of the towns and 7 district councils of the villages, elected 4 May 2025 |
People
| Population | 1,235,260 (census of 2022); about 1.26 million (2026 est.) |
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| Population density | About 620 per km² (1,600 per sq mi) — the most densely peopled country of Africa |
| Population growth | Negative — about −0.1% a year, the deaths above the births since 2020 and the young leaving; the foreign workers of the factories and the resorts filling the gap |
| Median age | About 38 years — the oldest population of Africa |
| Life expectancy | About 74 years — 71 for men, 78 for women; the diabetes of one adult in five the cost of the diet |
| Fertility rate | About 1.3 births per woman — the lowest in Africa |
| Urban population | About 41% by the official count, the plateau villages counted rural; nine in ten in practice on a built-up island |
| Adult literacy | About 92% |
| Ethnic groups | No count since the census of 1972, whose figures the Constitution still uses — Indo-Mauritians about 68%, the descendants of the indentured laborers of Bihar and the south, Hindus and Muslims; the Creoles about 27%, the descendants of the African and Malagasy slaves and the mixed families, the "General Population" of the law with the Franco-Mauritians, about 2%, the old planter families; the Sino-Mauritians about 3%, the Hakka shopkeepers of the 1800s; the four communities of the best-loser system |
| Languages | Mauritian Creole by about 90% at home, the French-based Creole of the slaves and the island; French by most as the language of reading; English by the educated as the language of the state; Bhojpuri by about 5%, from a quarter a generation ago; Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Hakka and Mandarin of the heritage classes; the most multilingual society of the ocean |
| Religion | Hindu 48.5%, the only country of Africa with a Hindu plurality — the Maha Shivaratri pilgrims of Grand Bassin, the Tamil kavadi, the Ganesh of the September sea; Roman Catholic 26.3%, the Creoles, the Franco-Mauritians and the Chinese; Muslim 17.3%, the Sunni of the Indian merchants and laborers, the Jummah mosque of Port Louis; other Christian 6.4%; Buddhist and Chinese religion; none about 1% (census of 2011); the state secular, the holidays of every faith |
| Human Development Index | 0.806 (2023 data, 2025 report) — very high; 73rd of 193, the second of Africa after the Seychelles |
| The Chagossians | The 1,500 to 2,000 people of the Chagos Archipelago removed by Britain to Mauritius and the Seychelles between 1968 and 1973 to make way for the base — their descendants about 10,000 in Mauritius, the Seychelles and Crawley in England, the Chagos Refugees Group of Olivier Bancoult and their suits of forty years in the British courts, the £40 million trust fund of the treaty of 2025 and its right of return to every island but Diego Garcia, the Chagossians of the London protests who say "we are not Mauritians" and the injunction of 22 May 2025 that held the signing for a morning; the sega tambour Chagos of their exile |
| Sport | Football, the Club M of the Indian Ocean Island Games; the Champ de Mars of Port Louis, the racecourse of 1812, the oldest of the southern hemisphere and the second-oldest in the world, its meetings stopped by the licensing quarrel of 2024–25; the boxing bronze of Bruno Julie at Beijing in 2008, the only Olympic medal; the badminton of Kate Foo Kune; the kitesurfing of Le Morne; the Games hosted in 1985, 2003 and 2019 |
| Diaspora | About 200,000 of Mauritian birth or descent abroad — France first, Britain, Australia, Canada, South Africa; the doctors and the nurses; the "brain drain" of the young the government's worry of 2026 |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary parliamentary republic under the Constitution of 1968 as amended in 1992 — the president elected by the National Assembly for five years as head of state, a largely ceremonial office; the prime minister the leader of the majority, head of government, with the cabinet; the National Assembly of up to 70; the Supreme Court and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council; one of Africa's oldest democracies, its 13 elections since independence free and fair by every count |
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| President | Dharam Gokhool (Labour Party), since 7 December 2024 — the eighth president, elected by the National Assembly on 6 December 2024; born 25 December 1948, the education minister of 2005–10, a mathematics teacher and university lecturer; Robert Hungley the vice president, elected the same day |
| Prime Minister | Navin Ramgoolam (Labour Party — Parti Travailliste), since 12 November 2024, sworn 13 November — the eighth prime minister and his third term after 1995–2000 and 2005–14; born 14 July 1947 at Port Louis, the son of Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, the father of independence, a physician of Dublin and a barrister of London; the finance minister too, and minister of defense, home affairs, Rodrigues and the outer islands; arrested in February 2015 over the cash of his safes and cleared in the courts; "the court of the people has delivered its verdict," he said on 12 November 2024 |
| Deputy Prime Minister | Arianne Navarre-Marie (Mauritian Militant Movement), since 4 May 2026, the gender equality minister — named after Paul Bérenger, the MMM's founder of 1969 and prime minister of 2003–05, resigned as deputy prime minister on 20 March 2026 over the government's pace and his demand for a full-time finance minister, "mo lekèr kasé," my heart is broken, his word; his daughter Joanna and Chetan Baboolall out with him, Baboolall the Leader of the Opposition of 2026; the MMM still in the government with seven ministers |
| The 2024 election | Held 10 November 2024 for the 62 elected seats: the Alliance du Changement of Labour, the MMM, the New Democrats and Rezistans ek Alternativ 1,438,333 votes and 61.38% of the ballots, 62.6% by the commission's count, and all 60 seats of the island — the third "60-0" after 1982 and 1995 — Labour 35 of them; the outgoing Alliance Lepep of Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth 27.29% and none, its 35 seats gone; the two Rodrigues seats to the Organisation du Peuple Rodriguais; the best-loser seats two to Lepep and two to the Alliance Liberation of Rodrigues; turnout 79.29%, the highest since 2010; the cost of living, the crime and the "Missie Moustass" wiretaps leaked a week before the vote — the phone calls of the prime minister, the police commissioner, ministers and judges — and the social media blocked on 1 November and unblocked on the 4th under the outcry; Jugnauth's concession of 11 November; the opposition of two members, one each from the MSM and the PMSD, the smallest ever |
| The Chagos treaty | The agreement of 22 May 2025 with the United Kingdom, after the talks begun 2 November 2022 and the political deal of 3 October 2024 — Britain recognizes Mauritian sovereignty over the whole Chagos Archipelago including Diego Garcia and Mauritius authorizes Britain to run the U.S.–U.K. base for 99 years, extendable by 40, for an average of £101 million a year, about £3.4 billion in all, £165 million in the first years, with a £40 million fund for the Chagossians, resettlement of the outer islands allowed and a marine protected area; "the total process of decolonization" completed, Ramgoolam said in Creole; "absolutely vital" for Britain's security, Starmer said; the High Court injunction of the morning of the signing lifted by the afternoon; THE RATIFICATION STALLED — the Diego Garcia bill pulled from the Lords on the Conservatives' amendment in January 2026 "in light of the changing geopolitical circumstances," President Trump's "an act of great stupidity" in January and "making a big mistake" in February after Starmer refused the base for the strikes on Iran, the Foreign Office minister's "pausing" and the government's denial, Chatham House's finding that ratification breaks no law; Mauritius "exploring legal avenues," the prime minister said in March 2026; "because of the delay of the U.K. government to ratify, we are short of around Rs 10 billion in this budget," he told the Assembly on 19 June 2026, "confident that a final solution will be found soon"; the Maldives' formal objection to the deal of 5 February 2026 and the diplomatic ties with Malé broken on 27 February 2026; the BIOT court's ruling of April 2026 for the Chagossians' settlement; the treaty not in force at the date of this page |
| Parliament | The National Assembly — 62 members elected for five years, 60 from the 20 three-member constituencies of the island and 2 from Rodrigues by the block vote, and up to 8 "best loser" seats given by the Electoral Commissioner by community to balance the House, the count of 1972 the measure; Shirin Aumeeruddy-Cziffra the Speaker since November 2024; Chetan Baboolall the Leader of the Opposition since 2026 after Joe Lesjongard of the MSM |
| The next election | The general election due by November 2029; the Rodrigues Regional Assembly in 2027; the municipal councils in 2030 |
| The Jugnauth years | Pravind Jugnauth, prime minister 23 January 2017 – 12 November 2024, the son of Sir Anerood Jugnauth who handed him the office, the winner of 2019, the builder of the Metro Express and the Agaléga runway, the Wakashio and the pandemic his crises, the wiretaps his fall; arrested 16 February 2025 on money-laundering charges over the cash found in the raids of his family's homes and released on bail, the charges he denies; the former central bank governor's arrest warrant of December 2024; the Financial Crimes Commission of 2024; the "state of the economy" report of December 2024 that revised the growth and the debt the old government had claimed |
| Legal system | English common law and the French civil code of the Napoleonic years together — the Code Napoléon of 1808 still the base of the civil law, the criminal law English; the Supreme Court; the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London the final court of appeal, kept by the republic; the death penalty abolished 1995; the Supreme Court's ruling of 4 October 2023 that struck down the colonial ban on same-sex acts; the best-loser system's ethnic count under the UN committee's censure |
| Local government | 5 municipal councils and 7 district councils elected 4 May 2025, swept by the Alliance du Changement; the Rodrigues Regional Assembly of 2002 with 18 members and its Chief Commissioner, Franceau Grandcourt of the OPR; Agaléga under the Outer Islands Development Corporation |
| Defense | No army — the Special Mobile Force of about 1,500 of the police, the National Coast Guard with its Indian-built patrol ships and Dornier aircraft, the police of about 12,000; India the security partner of the ocean, the Agaléga runway and jetty of 29 February 2024 that Mauritius says is not a base and the analysts call one; the Diego Garcia base of the Americans and the British, a hundred kilometers from the islands Mauritius claims |
| Foreign policy | India first — the "special relationship" of the diaspora, Modi the chief guest of 12 March 2025 and the US$680 million package of Ramgoolam's visit of September 2025, the Chagos backing, the tax treaty of 1983 that made Mauritius the road for a third of the foreign money into India until 2016; China and the free trade agreement of 1 January 2021, the first with an African state; France and Réunion; Britain of the treaty; the Indian Ocean Commission and the Indian Ocean Rim Association, both seated at Ebène; the "star and key" between Africa and Asia |
| United Nations | Member since 24 April 1968; the General Assembly's resolution of 22 May 2019 by 116 votes to 6 for the Chagos' return after the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion of 25 February 2019 by 13 to 1, and the Law of the Sea tribunal's ruling of 28 January 2021 that Mauritius is sovereign there; the Security Council never |
| Other memberships | The Commonwealth (1968), the summit of 2026 not hosted; the African Union; the SADC and COMESA of the trade; the Indian Ocean Commission; the Francophonie; the WTO (1995); the Non-Aligned Movement; the Small Island Developing States |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$16.5 billion (2025, IMF) |
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| GDP per capita | About US$13,000 (2025) — the highest of Africa with the Seychelles |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$31,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 4.7% in 2024, about 3.5% in 2025 and 3% expected in 2026; inflation about 4% from 11% in 2022; unemployment about 6%; the rupee at about 46 to the dollar from 35 in 2019 |
| Economy by sector | Services about 76% — finance about 13%, tourism about 8%, the trade and the state; industry about 20%; agriculture about 3%, the sugar under 1% |
| Currency | Mauritian rupee (MUR) |
| The financial center | The offshore center of the 1990s — about 20,000 global business companies, the funds and the trusts, the Stock Exchange of Mauritius of 1989, the Ebène cybercity; the road to India of the tax treaty of 1983, a third of India's foreign investment through it at the peak, closed in 2016; the Financial Action Task Force grey list of February 2020 to October 2021; the Financial Crimes Commission of 2024; the Bank of Mauritius and its Rs 60 billion transfer to the state of 2020 the quarrel of the accounts |
| Sugar and the land | Sugar cane on 40% of the land, the crop of three centuries — about 250,000 metric tons of sugar from 700,000 in the 1980s, the special sugars, the rum of the distilleries, the bagasse for the power plants; the 17 estates of the Franco-Mauritian families and the planters; the tea of the plateau, the vegetables, the deer |
| Textiles and industry | The Export Processing Zone of 1970 that made the "Mauritian miracle" of the 1980s, the knitwear and the shirts for Europe and the United States under the Multi-Fibre agreement and AGOA, about US$1 billion of exports still, the factories of Bangladeshi and Malagasy workers now; the Princes tuna cannery of Riche Terre, the largest in the ocean; the seafood hub; the jewelry and the watches; the medical devices |
| Tourism | About 1.4 million visitors a year, the record of 2024–25 — France first, Réunion, Britain, Germany, South Africa and India; the hotels of the lagoons, the Sun, Beachcomber and LUX resorts, the honeymoons; the airport of the tourists' arrivals; a fifth of the jobs |
| Public finances | Public sector debt about 85% of GDP — the target of 85.5% by June 2027 and below 80% by 2029 in the budget of 19 June 2026, "we cannot afford a downgrade," the prime minister said of the junk rating that Moody's Baa3 sits above; the deficit 3.7% of GDP for 2026–27 on revenue of Rs 235.5 billion and spending of Rs 266.7 billion, the Chagos receipts counted and missing; the universal old-age pension and the minimum wage of Rs 16,500 raised each year; the maternity leave of twelve months of the budget of 2026 |
| Income classification | Upper-middle income (World Bank) — high income in 2020, lost to the pandemic's collapse in 2021, the threshold in sight again |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airports | Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport at Plaine Magnien in the southeast, of 1942, the terminal of 2013 for 4 million; Plaine Corail on Rodrigues; the Agaléga runway of 2024 |
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| Airline | Air Mauritius, of 1967, the flag carrier of the dodo emblem and the Paris, London, Mumbai and Johannesburg routes, put into administration in April 2020 and rescued; Emirates, Air France, Turkish, Air India and the South Africans the links; the seaplanes none |
| Main port | Port Louis — the harbor of La Bourdonnais, the Cargo Handling Corporation's container terminal of about 450,000 boxes, the Mauritius Freeport, the tuna transshipment, the cruise terminal of 2018 and the Caudan waterfront; Port Mathurin of Rodrigues; the ferry to Rodrigues |
| Railways | The Metro Express — the light rail of 26 km from Curepipe through the towns of the plateau to Port Louis, opened 3 October 2019 and completed to Curepipe in 2023, built by Larsen & Toubro with India's money; the old railways of 1864–1964 closed |
| Roads | About 2,700 km (1,700 mi), all paved — the M1 from the airport through Port Louis and the M2 to the north, the M3 of 2020; the jams of the plateau, about 700,000 vehicles on a small island; the buses of the villages; the driving on the left |
| The islands | The Rodrigues flight of 90 minutes and the cargo ship; the Agaléga supply ship; the Saint Brandon fishermen; the Chagos, 2,000 km away, reached by the Mauritian ship of 2022 that planted the flag on Peros Banhos |
History in dates
| c. 975 | The Arab sailors — Dina Arobi |
|---|---|
| 1507 | The Portuguese sight the island |
| 1598 | The Dutch land, 17 September — named for Maurice of Nassau |
| 1638 | The Dutch settle; the dodo gone by about 1681; they leave, 1710 |
| 1715 | The French claim it — the Île de France |
| 1735 | La Bourdonnais founds Port Louis |
| 1810 | The Battle of Grand Port, August; the British take the island, 3 December |
| 1814 | Ceded to Britain — the Treaty of Paris, 30 May |
| 1834 | The indentured laborers arrive, 2 November |
| 1835 | Slavery abolished, 1 February |
| 1847 | The Post Office stamps |
| 1867 | The malaria epidemic — 40,000 dead |
| 1901 | Gandhi's visit, October |
| 1936 | The Labour Party founded |
| 1959 | The first election on universal suffrage |
| 1965 | The Chagos detached, 8 November |
| 1968 | The riots, January; independence, 12 March |
| 1970 | The Export Processing Zone |
| 1982 | The first 60-0 — Anerood Jugnauth |
| 1992 | The republic, 12 March |
| 1995 | The second 60-0 — Navin Ramgoolam |
| 1999 | The Kaya riots, 21 February |
| 2002 | Rodrigues autonomous |
| 2003 | Bérenger prime minister, 30 September |
| 2017 | Pravind Jugnauth prime minister, 23 January |
| 2019 | The ICJ opinion, 25 February; the UN vote, 22 May; the Metro, 3 October |
| 2020 | The Wakashio, 25 July |
| 2021 | The China trade pact, 1 January; the tribunal's ruling, 28 January |
| 2024 | Belal, 15 January; Agaléga, 29 February; the Chagos deal, 3 October; the leaks; the election, 10 November; Ramgoolam, 12 November; Gokhool, 7 December |
| 2025 | Jugnauth arrested, 16 February; Modi, 12 March; the treaty, 22 May; India's US$680 million, September |
| 2026 | The bill stalled, January; the Maldives, 27 February; Bérenger resigns, 20 March; the pause, April; Navarre-Marie, 4 May; the budget, 19 June |
Records & firsts
| The only flag of four equal horizontal bands | Since 1968 |
|---|---|
| The dodo | Extinct by about 1681 |
| Three 60-0 elections | 1982, 1995, 2024 |
| The most densely peopled country of Africa | About 620 per km² |
| The lowest birth rate in Africa | About 1.3 |
| The only Hindu plurality in Africa | 48.5% |
| The oldest racecourse of the southern hemisphere | The Champ de Mars, 1812 |
| The first African free trade pact with China | 1 January 2021 |
| The Post Office stamps | The rarest in the world, 1847 |
| A kestrel saved from four birds | 1974 |
| The ICJ by 13 to 1 | 25 February 2019 |
| A treaty signed and not in force | Chagos, 22 May 2025 |
| The Aapravasi Ghat | Half a million indentured, from 1834 |
| The star and key of the Indian Ocean | The motto |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Mauritius?
The Republic of Mauritius — République de Maurice in French, Repiblik Moris in the Creole of the island — independent of Britain on 12 March 1968 under Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam and a republic within the Commonwealth on 12 March 1992. The name is a Dutch prince's: the sailors of the Dutch East India Company who landed in 1598 named the island for Maurice of Nassau, the stadtholder; the French called it the Île de France for a century, the Portuguese before them Cirne, and the Arab sailors of the tenth century, by one reading of the old maps, Dina Arobi.
What is the capital of Mauritius?
Port Louis — the harbor on the sheltered northwest coast founded by the French governor Mahé de La Bourdonnais in 1735 and named for Louis XV, the capital under France, Britain and the republic — about 150,000 people in the city and half a million in the towns of the plateau behind it, Beau Bassin-Rose Hill, Vacoas-Phoenix, Curepipe and Quatre Bornes, where the merchants and the civil servants moved in the malaria years of the 1860s. The Champ de Mars racecourse of 1812, the Aapravasi Ghat of the indentured laborers and the Caudan waterfront are its landmarks; Ebène, the cybercity of the towers, is the office quarter of the finance.
How big is Mauritius, and how many people live there?
About 2,040 km² (788 sq mi) — smaller than Rhode Island, about the size of Delhi's territory — the main island of 1,865 km² 900 km east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, with Rodrigues, 108 km², 560 km to the east, the two islands of Agaléga a thousand kilometers north and the reefs of Saint Brandon; the claim to the Chagos Archipelago, another 60 km² of coral, is recognized by the treaty of 2025 not yet in force. The census of 2022 counted 1,235,260 people; the estimate for 2026 is about 1.26 million and falling, the fertility rate the lowest in Africa — the most densely peopled country of the continent at about 620 to the square kilometer, two-thirds of them of Indian descent.
What are the highest and lowest points of Mauritius?
The Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire, 828 m (2,717 ft), in the Black River Gorges of the southwest, the rainforest of the last native forest and the pink pigeon; and the Indian Ocean. The island is the eroded stump of a volcano, ringed by a coral reef and its lagoons, with the jagged peaks of Le Pouce, Pieter Both with its boulder on top and Le Morne Brabant, the mountain of the runaway slaves, standing over the cane fields of the central plateau; Grand Bassin, the crater lake of the Hindu pilgrims, lies at its heart.
What currency does Mauritius use?
The Mauritian rupee (ISO code MUR, Rs), of 100 cents, the currency since 1876, when it replaced the dollar for an island whose money and labor came from India, issued by the Bank of Mauritius since 1967 — about 46 rupees to the U.S. dollar. Clocks keep Mauritius Time, UTC+4, all year; Mauritius drives on the left, the British legacy.
Who governs Mauritius?
Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam of the Labour Party, head of government since 12 November 2024 and for the third time in his life, who led the Alliance du Changement to every constituency seat of the island in the election of 10 November 2024 — the third "60-0" in the country's history — after the wiretap leaks that sank Pravind Jugnauth's government; President Dharam Gokhool, elected by the Assembly and in office since 7 December 2024, is the head of state in a ceremonial office. The Chagos treaty with Britain of May 2025, which recognizes Mauritian sovereignty over the archipelago and leases Diego Garcia back to the base for 99 years, is the government's great prize and its great frustration: London's ratification has stalled since January 2026 under Washington's displeasure, and the budget of June 2026 was written 10 billion rupees short. The next election is due by 2029.
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