The Republic of Mauritius is an island country in the Indian ocean east of Madagascar. It has a total area of 1,860 km2. The climate is tropical modified by south-east trade winds; warm, dry winter (May to November); hot, wet, humidsummer (November to May). The terrain is small coastal plain rising to discontinuous mountains encircling central plateau. Natural resources are arable land, fish. The religion is 51% Hindu, 30% Christian (mostly Roman Catholic with a few Anglicans), 17% Muslim, 2% other The official language is English with Creole, French, Hindi, Urdu, Hakka and Bojpoori also spoken.
The island of Mauritius was uninhabited until the Dutch colonised the island in 1598, only to abandon the colony in 1710.In 1715 the island was taken by the French wh populated the island with slaves from Africa used to work sugar plantations. In 1810 the island was captured by the British and became a British colony in 1814. After the abolition of slavery in Britain in 1833, indentured labourers from India were imported and their ancestors now make up almost three-quarters of the population. Mauritius achieved self-government in 1957 and full independence in 1968. Research Mauritius
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Research Mauritius