Beautiful island

MAURITIUS

Mauritius is a lush tropical island off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian ocean.about 900 kilometres east of Madagascar.In addition to the island of Mauritius, the republic includes. Mauritius island is part of the Mascarene islands, with the. french island of reunion and the island of Rodrigues.

  Uninhabited by humans until the 17th century,the island was ruled first by the Dutch and then by french after the former abandoned it.The British took control during the Napoleonic wars and Mauritius became independent from the UK in 1968.Mauritius's area is 2040 km2 with port Louis for capital.

 The main languages spoken in Mauritius are Mauritian Creole, French and English. English is the only official language but the lingua franca is mauritian Creole. Newspapers and television programmes are usually in French.

  The island was known to Swahili,Arab and Malay sailors as early as the 10th century and was originally named Dina Harobi by the Arabs. The Portuguese sailors first visited it in 1507 and established a visiting base leaving the island uninhabited. Five ships of the Dutch second fleet were blown off course during a cyclone while on their way to the spice islands and landed on the Island in 1598, the Dutch established the first permanent settlement. Because of tough climatic conditions including cyclones and the deterioration of the settlement, the Dutch abandoned the island after nearly a century in 1710. France, which already controlled the neighboring ile Bourbon (now reunion) took control of Mauritius in 1715.

   The island's capital and largest city is port Louis, in the northwest.Other important towns are Rose-hill and beau-Bassin, Curepipe, Vacoas, phoenix, Quatre Bornes.