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Mauritius Island Hotels |
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Mauritius Island Hotels |
History of Mauritius
Republic of Mauritius is an island situated in the Indian Ocean around 900 kms east of Madagascar. The two neighboring islands Reunion lies 200 kms southeast of Mauritius and Rodrigues lies 570 kms northeast of Mauritius. In the 10th century the very first people to travel to Mauritius were the Arab and Malay Sailors. Then in the year 1505 Portuguese sailors traveled to this island. Portuguese sailors did not do much improvement to the island as they left the island on its own. In the year 1958, three Dutch ships docked this island, on the way to Spice Islands these ships came across a cyclone and thus ended up landing on this island. These Dutch sailors then named this island after Prince Maurice of Nassau who had abandoned the colony in the year1710.
Due to the fact that there were many cyclones taking place, the Dutch eventually decided to abandon this island. Next to invade this island were the French who landed in this island in 1715 and renamed it as lle de France. These French sailors initially made several improvements in this island as they established a sugarcane plantation and shaped the sugar production industry. François Mahe de Labourdonnais was the man behind this development in the island. During the years 1803 to 1815 at the Napoleonic Wars the British set out to fight for the possession of Mauritius. Eventually, in the year 1810 the British were able to capture Mauritius. But British could not stay for long as the island was recaptured by the Treaty of Paris in the year 1814. Since 1835 the society of Mauritius changed rapidly as several Indian resettlements followed the abolition of slavery. In the year 1869 as the Suez Canal was opened the Mauritius became the port of call for several ships that rounded the southern tip of African Continent.
On the 12th of March 1968, Mauritius received Independence and Sir Seewoosagar Ramgoolam was sworn in as the first Prime Minister of Mauritius. He was the leader of Mauritian Labor Party (MLP) and went on to rule the island. The Mauritian Labor party ruled till 1982 and there after again came to power in the year 1995. During the 1982 elections the alliance party of the Mauritian Militant Movement and the Mauritian Socialist Party came to power. In 1983 the alliance of MMM and MSP joined hands and formed the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) and initially won the elections yet again. In 1995 the MLP again returned to power, however with the coalition with the MMM. Navinchandra Ramgoolam, son of First Prime Minister was sworn in as the next Prime Minister.
Later, in 2000 MSM and MMM with coalition won the elections as Sir Anerood Jugnauth became the Prime Minister. However, in 2003 Jagnauth stepped down and his deputy Paul Raymond Berenger was sworn in as the next Prime Minister. One month later Jagnauth was sworn in as the President of the Republic of Mauritius. However, as these political issues carried on Mauritius became republic on 12th of March 1992.
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