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20°12′S57°30′E / 20.2°S 57.5°E /-20.2; 57.5
Mauritius | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1810–1968 | |||||||||||||
| Motto: Stella Clavisque Maris Indici (Latin) ("Star and Key of the Indian Ocean") | |||||||||||||
| Anthem: God Save the Queen (1837–1901; 1952–1968) God Save the King (1810–1837; 1901–1952) | |||||||||||||
Location of the Crown Colony of Mauritius | |||||||||||||
| Status | Crown colony | ||||||||||||
| Capital | Port Louis | ||||||||||||
| Common languages | Mauritian Creoles,English,French,Bhojpuri | ||||||||||||
| Religion | Hinduism Christianity | ||||||||||||
| Governor | |||||||||||||
• 1810–1823 | Robert Townsend Farquhar | ||||||||||||
• 1962–1968 | John Shaw Rennie | ||||||||||||
| Chief Minister | |||||||||||||
• 1961–1968 | Seewoosagur Ramgoolam | ||||||||||||
| Legislature | Legislative Assembly | ||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||
| 3 December 1810 | |||||||||||||
| 30 May 1814 | |||||||||||||
• Seychelles separated as aCrown colony | 1903 | ||||||||||||
• Agreement between the British and the French forTromelin Island | 1954 | ||||||||||||
• Detachment of theChagos Archipelago andBIOT formed | 8 November 1965 | ||||||||||||
• Independence | 12 March 1968 | ||||||||||||
| Currency |
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| Today part of | Mauritius Seychelles British Indian Ocean Territory French Southern and Antarctic Lands (Tromelin Island) | ||||||||||||
Mauritius was aCrown colony off the southeast coast of Africa. Formerly part of theFrench colonial empire, British rule in Mauritius was establishedde facto with theinvasion of Isle de France in November 1810, andde jure by the subsequentTreaty of Paris. British rule ended on 12 March 1968, whenMauritius became an independent country.
Isle de France, which consisted of Mauritius and some other islands had been under French rule since 1715. However, during theNapoleonic Wars, despite the French naval victory in theBattle of Grand Port on 20–27 August 1810,Mauritius was captured on 3 December 1810 by the British under CommodoreJosias Rowley. British possession of the island was confirmed four years later by theTreaty of Paris in 1814. Nonetheless, French institutions, including theNapoleonic Code of law, were maintained, and the French language was still more widely used than English.
TheBritish administration, withRobert Townsend Farquhar as the first governor, brought about rapid social and economic changes. One of the most important was the abolition of slavery on 1 February 1835. Around 3,000Franco-Mauritian planters received their share of the British government's compensation of 20 million pounds sterling (£20m) for the liberation of about 20,000 slaves, who had been imported from Africa and Madagascar during the French occupation.[1][2]
TheMauritian Creole people trace their origins to the plantation owners and slaves who worked in the sugar fields.Indo-Mauritians are descended from Indian immigrants who arrived in the 19th century via theAapravasi Ghat in order to work as indentured labourers after slavery was abolished. Included in the Indo-Mauritian community are Muslims (about 17% of the population) from the Indian subcontinent. In 1885,a new constitution was introduced. The1886 Mauritian general election was the first to be held under the new constitution, but with a strict property franchise that allowed just over one percent of the population to vote. The Franco-Mauritian elite controlled nearly all of the large sugar estates and was active in business and banking. As the Indian population became numerically dominant and the voting franchise was extended, political power shifted from theFranco-Mauritians and their Creole allies to the Indo-Mauritians.
Conflicts arose between the Indian community (mostly sugarcane labourers) and the Franco-Mauritians in the 1920s, leading to several (mainly Indian) deaths. Following this, theMauritius Labour Party was founded in 1936 byMaurice Curé to safeguard the interest of the labourers. Curé was succeeded a year later byEmmanuel Anquetil, who tried to gain the support of the port workers and was thus exiled to the island of Rodrigues in 1938.[3] After his death,Guy Rozemont took over the leadership of the party. Following theUba riots of 1937 the local British government instituted significant reforms that un-banned labour unions, improved channels of arbitration between labourers and employers, and improved working conditions.[4][5] However even deadlier riots broke out again in 1943 which became known as theBelle Vue Harel Massacre.[6]
In the period just before the official declaration of independence and hand over of power to an independent government the island was rocked by a series of ethnic riots such as the1965 Mauritius race riots,August 1967 riots andten day period of violent riots (January 1968) that resulted from ethnic tensions.