Mauritius

About Mauritius

Mauritius is an island nation located South East of the African continent, close to sister island Reunion to the West (French overseas territory) and Rodrigues island to the East (Mauritian territory.) With a total area of about 2,000km2 (780 sq mi), Mauritius is a relatively small country although it inhabits about 1,3 million people. Mauritius was first colonized by the French who then lost it to the Brits, but the French culture remained quite popular, and today the Republic of Mauritius is comprised of both French and English heritage. The majority of the population comes from Indian ancestry, others being African, East Asian and European descendants. Religion plays a very important role in the Mauritian communities and thus it remains a conservative society. Hindus, Catholics, Muslims and Buddhists agree on a set of traditional family values which transpire in old-fashioned policies, such as repression of sodomy, abortion ban, and harsh anti-drug laws. Mauritius is considered an upper middle income economy, one of the strongest in Africa, which relies mainly on tourism but is currently diversifying with the bloom of financial services and the IT sector. Therefore, Mauritius is the home of about a million tourists a year but also a large expatriate community. The coasts consist of white sand beaches, luxury hotels and fine venues; the center includes main business districts and some forests and mountains. It is a fair compromise between city and island life.