About Mauritius
Location | Early History | The Dutch Period | The French Period | The British Period | Mauritius Today
Mauritius Today
Today Mauritius is a republic within the
Commonwealth with a population of 1.2 million. Being a
multi-cultural society, the Mauritian polulation enjoy a
rich ethnic background, consisting of Hindus, Muslims,
Tamils, Blacks of African and Madagascan descents, Whites
of French descents, Mulattos and Chinese. The main
religions are Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. However
other religious denominations also flourish. This is a
small country where religious festivals, rituals, customs
and traditions abound in all their splendours. With such
a diversity in the cultural fabric of a society,
Mauritius is often described as a miniature
representation of the world itself, where 'East meets
West'.
Mauritius is a success story in terms of its Constitution: it is a democracy based on the Westminster model. There education and the health service are free. The literacy rate, at over 95%, is one of the highest in the world. Although English and French are the two official languages the majority of the Mauritian population speak Creole patois (a sort of a native dialect) in their daily lives, together with French if need be. English is used as a medium of education and for official and administrative purposes mainly. Apart from English, French and Creole patois, which most Mauritians use, each ethnic community have their own languages such as Hindi, Bhojpoori, Urdu, Tamil, Telegu, Chinese, etc.
In
holiday brochures and travel books Mauritius is often
described as a paradise island, creating the notion that
it is an exotic location far away in the Indian Ocean
with beautiful beaches (depicted by the three Ss:sun,
sand and sea) and friendly inhabitants, a place devoid of
problems. In my opinion whether this description is a
true reflection of Mauritius or not depends on the
experience of the indivudual who is or has been in
Mauritius, be they native inhabitants or
tourists/visitors. What people may not realise is that in
promoting Mauritius there is a lot of rhetoric in
depicting it as a paradise island. The truth is that
Mauritius is no utopia. Like any democratic and
free-thinking country of the world it has its own
socio-economic and environmental problems.
According to the SOS Children's Villages (the world's largest orphan charity) website, 'Increasing industrialisation has resulted in economic growth and higher standards of living, but there has been a corresponding increase in social problems caused by broken families and problems of alcohol and drug addiction, coupled with an increase in crime.' The high level of fatal road accidents for a small country like Mauritius sounds alarming too.