Mauritius

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Mauritius (pronounced: IPA: ; French: Maurice /mɔʀis/; Mauritian Creole: Moris; Officially the Republic of Mauritius (French: République de Maurice), is an island nation off the coast of Africa in the southwest Indian Ocean, about 900 kilometers (560 mi) east of Madagascar and about 3,943 kilometers (2,450 mi) southwest of India. In addition to the island of Mauritius, the republic includes the islands of St. Brandon, Rodrigues and the Agalega Islands. Mauritius is part of the Mascarene Islands, with the French island of Réunion 200 kilometers (125 mi) to the southwest. The flag of Mauritius has red, blue, yellow and green stripes. The red stripe represents the struggle for independence. The blue stripe represents the ocean around the island. The yellow stripe represents the sun and golden light of independence. The green stripe represents fruitful soil and vegetation.

History

Some historians believe that the Phoenicians visited Mauritius as early as 2000 BC. While Arab and Malay sailors knew of Mauritius as early as the 10th century and Portuguese sailors first visited it in 1505, the island remained uninhabited until 1638 when it was colonized by the Dutch. They named the island in honour of Prince Maurice of Nassau. Because of climate changes, cyclones and the deterioration of the settlement, the Dutch abandoned the island some decades later. The French controlled the island during the 18th century and named it Ile de France (Isle of France). Despite winning the famous Battle of Grand-Port, Napoleon's only naval win over the British, the French were defeated by the British in the north of the island, at Cap Malheureux (Cape of the Unlucky Ones) three months later, and thus lost possession to the British in 1810. The latter reverted the island to its former name.

In 1965, the United Kingdom split out the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius to create the British Indian Ocean Territory, in order to utilise the strategic islands for defence purposes in cooperation with the United States. Although the Government of Mauritius agreed to the move at the time, subsequent administrations have laid claim to the islands stating that the divestment was illegal under international law - a claim recognised by the United Nations.

Read more at Wikipedia.org