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Hey everybody,
Years ago, do you remember how we did the Comoros episode
and said I couldn't find anybody from Comoros
and I got the next best thing:
A dude from Mauritius?
Well,
You guys remember Nick, my one Mauritian friend.
Say Hi!
Hey guys! Great to see you again!
Nick will be co-hosting with me for this episode.
Nick, what is one thing about Mauritius you'd like everybody to know?
Well actually, I'm born and raised British
but you know my heritage?
Yep
WooHoo!!!
Meh, good enough.
It's time to learn Geography!
NOW!!!
Everybody, I'm your host Barbs.
And I'm Nick.
Now if you don't know anything about Mauritius, it's basically like the Singapore of Africa:
small yet economically thriving with lots of luxury accommodations.
Nick, you've been here, right?
Yep.
How would you describe Mauritius?
I'd say it's a beautiful little island, a good cross-section of people, beautiful food, completely tropical.
Well, let's find out more about this tropical island.
Shall we?
WELCOME TO DODO-LAND!
[POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY]
Now, although Arab traders and Portuguese
had already passed by Mauritius,
it wasn't until the Dutch came in and actually colonized it in 1598
and named it after the Prince of Holland, Moritz van Nassau.
And a LOT has changed since then.
First of all:
Mauritius is an island nation located about 700 miles east of Madagascar
and includes the main island of Mauritius with the second largest, Rodrigues,
and the outer islands of St. Brandon, which is an atoll of desolate reefs and small islets.
Temporarily populated and only about 70 people,
and the furthest island, Agaléga, which has about 300 people.
Otherwise there are 49 smaller uninhabited islands and islets that lie off the coast of Mauritius.
Further off to the center and northeast, Mauritius has a dispute with Tromelin Island,
which is administered by France,
and the Chagos Archipelago, which is administered by the U.K.
as part of the British Indian Ocean Territory.
The country is divided into 9 districts
(one is called Pamplemousses, which means "grapefruit")
with the capital and largest city, Port Louis, located in the northwest part of the country.
If you fly to Mauritius from abroad, though,
you will fly to the largest and busiest international airport:
Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International,
which is located on the complete opposite southeast side of the country
about 26 miles away from the capital.
Otherwise, the only other airports they have are:
Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport, located on Rodrigues,
which only flies to and from Mauritius Island and seasonally to Réunion,
and a small airstrip on Agaléga.
The second and largest cities are Beau Bassin and Vacoas,
located roughly near the general Port Louis metropolitan area.
Speaking of which, kind of like how we studied in the Jamaica episode,
a lot of town names in Mauritius are kind of funny-sounding if you translate them.
Many are either in French or Mauritian Creole.
And each have a backstory as to why they were named that way. Places like:
Mon Goût (which means "my taste"),
Mon Desert ("my desert"),
Bel Ombre ("beautiful shadow"),
Nouvelle Découverte ("new discovery"),
and the last one: Brittania.
All the roads kind of spiderweb outwards from Port Louis with modern skyscrapers,
the tallest one being the 22-story hurricane-resistant Bank of Mauritius building,
reaching over 124 meters in height.
Not only that, but all around the main island, you find way too many
amazing historical sights and places of interest, such as:
the Eureka House,
the Botanic Gardens,
the Champs de Mars,
the Flacq Market,
Waterpark Leisure Village,
Pointe aux Piments Aquarium,
the Bazaar of Port Louis,
the Triolet Shivala Hindu Temple,
shopping at Grand Bay,
the Balaclava ruins,
the Dutch ruins of Vieux Grand Port,
and if can, see if you can make it to Agaléga Island,
check out the cliffs and shores of Rodrigues,
and if there's one thing you definitely need to check out, though,
it would have to be the nature and landscape loaded with lots of beauty and tragedy.
Let's discuss it now.
[PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY]
Mark Twain once said, "Heaven was copied after Mauritius."
And if you come, you'll find out why.
First of all:
the country is located on the Mascarene Plateau,
an elevated underwater ridge that used to harbor volcanic activity,
though today Mauritius only has dormant volcanoes.
The country may be small but harbors a few mountain ranges like the Moka up north.
But the Black River Range holds the highest peak at 800 meters: Piton de la Petite Riviere Noire.
Just a skip away, you find the largest water body: the Mare aux Vacoas Reservoir.
And east of that, the longest river: the Grand River South East.
All while the entire country is surrounded by coral reefs.
The country has about 335 kilometers of beaches all around the coast.
However, unfortunately about 12% of it is truly public,
as many of the beaches have been taken away for private use,
which causes outrage among many citizens.
Otherwise, the other outlying dependent islands like Agaléga and St. Brandon are flat,
while Rodrigues has small hills and both have easier access to beaches.
Now, besides beautiful waterfalls like Tamarind or the scenic volcano craters like Trou au Cerfs
or La Morne Underwater Waterfall,
Mauritius has a lot of strange things going on.
For one, the seven-colored earths:
this fascinating natural phenomenon of sand, decked in seven different colors,.
It never erodes and stays the same way even after rainfall.
La Pouche Peak is where you can have a 360° view of the entire main island,
and La Morne Brabant Mountain has a sad story of slaves that hid and jumped off
when seeing police that were actually coming to tell them that slavery had been abolished.
In terms of flora and fauna, the country has about 700 species of flowering plants.
246 are endemic,
including the last two Bois Dentelle trees left in nature and the world, possibly the rarest.
These are found on Piton Grand Bassin Hill, known for their fluffy detailed bell-shaped flowers.
Due to the introduction of foreign plants that have overrun the environment like guava trees,
almost all the Bois Dentelle would have disappeared if it weren't for human interaction.
And of course, we cannot talk about Mauritius without mentioning the national animal
and unfortunately extinct Dodo bird.
This three-foot tall flightless wonder went extinct in the 17th century
due to the number of factors like hunting and invasive species,
and today is not only the mascot of the nation found all over souvenirs and merchandise,
but has lived on in worldwide recognition through literature, pop culture, and media.
Yes, always in our hearts. Dear, sweet dodo.
Otherwise, with Mauritius, the economy is pretty diverse.
They have the third-highest GDP per capita in all of Africa
with an average annual salary of about $22,000.
Industry, banking, and service sectors employ the most people
especially after Mauritius has seen a huge tourism boom in the past few decades.
The largest exports are textiles, fish, and sugarcane.
Mauritian food is very diverse as well. We have national dishes like:
Mauritian-style roti with seven curries,
gateaux piment,
Mauritian-style Chinese fried noodles
salted fish and lentil soup,
the national street food: dhal puri,
mereveilles,
boulette poisson,
bol renversé,
and aigre doux.
And they all look so good, distinctly derived from multiple people groups.
Which makes the perfect transition into:
[DEMOGRAPHICS]
Now when it comes to Mauritius, the biggest question usually is:
What does it mean to be Mauritian?
Well the answer may shock you. Click here to find out...
Nah, I'm just kidding......
First of all,
The country has about 1.3 million people
and is the most densely populated country in all of Africa with about 624 people per km².
Now here's the part that kind of frustrates me:
Mauritius hasn't really had an ethnic background questionnaire on its census since 1972.
So today, there are no statistics that accurately specify what the percentages are on ethnical makeup.
However, its generally accepted somewhere around two-thirds of the country are Indo or Indo mixed Mauritian as in from India.
Whereas the remaining third comes from the whites, mostly British or French descent.
Asians, mostly Chinese descent and black Africans, most of East African descent
They use the Mauritian rupee as their currency,
they use the types C and G plug outlets
and they drive on the left side of the road.
Now here's the interesting thing:
Mauritius doesn't have an indigenous population.
Nobody knows exactly knows who discovered the island first.
Wax tablets were found that may have belonged to the Greeks or Phoenicians.
But the Arabs were the first ones to officially record landing on it
but they didn't really care and left.
Then the Portuguese came in and briefly stayed
but they didn't really care and left.
Finally, the Dutch came in and became the first to officially inhabit the island.
Over time, the French and then the British took over
and then they brought with them slaves, and then slavery was abolished,
and then indentured Indians and Chagos people and Chinese people were brought over.
Years passed by and they made babies, some mixed,
and here we are today.
That being said:
Nick you being Mauritian, what exactly is your specific ethnic background, you know?
So yeah. My mum, she's a mix of African and French and I believe that's the original Mauritians.
So later on, the Indians came into the government and it spread
and now you'll look and see someone says they are Mauritian and actually fully Indian,
You know?
So, yeah. I think I believe the African-French mix is the original Mauritian.
Cool.
On top of that, the funny thing is
the vast majority of people in Mauritius are at least trilingual or quadralingual.
English and French are their administrative languages.
They also speak their native mother tongues as a third language
which could be anything from Hindi to Hakka, Mandarin or Bhojpuri.
And Mauritian Creole as a fourth which is used interchangeably between every language.
Mauritian Creole is mostly French-based and it's strange.
They will literally switch between all four on a daily basis.
For example, Geograpeep Manish wrote this:
Sure, just try out these documents right here please.
Oh, excuse me a sec.
Manish also said weirdly enough. During Hindi song competitions,
the presenter speaks in French, and the subtitles are in English,
and the song is in Hindi, and if the participant is interviewed, he speaks Creole.
Interesting, huh?
Yeah.
When it comes to dividing up groups, though,
most statistics prefer to look at the faith denomination chart rather than race.
Mauritius is one of the only three nations in the world that has a Hindu majority,
the others being India and Nepal.
Hindu temples and shrines are everywhere.
Ganga Talao Crater Lake is considered the most sacred Hindu site in the country,
with multiple temples devoted to gods and goddesses like Shiva, Hanuman, Ganga,
with an annual pilgrimage.
Otherwise, Christians make up a third of the population,
practiced by all different races: Indian, Chinese, and whites.
Islam is practiced by about 17 percent, mostly Sunnis from Pakistan and India.
And finally, there's a few Baha'i and unaffiliated people as well.
Culture-wise, it all pretty much depends on which community your interaction is with.
All over you hear Sega songs that are songs sung in Creole.
Rugby has been gaining popularity in the past years,
and they have just won the first Olympic medal in boxing with athlete Bruno Julie.
Otherwise, yeah, Nick, what else do you think about Mauritius?
What are some things you noticed when you were there?
I tell you, there's a big surfing community there.
There's lots of surf dudes all around on the beach, enjoying themselves.
There's O'Neill and Billabong shops everywhere.
And generations of families sit on the beach, dancing and eating food out and all sorts.
Hanging with family. Nice.
Some notable people of Mauritian descent or from Mauritius might include:
Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, the first prime minister,
Kaya,
Malcolm de Chazal,
Ananda Devi,
Nobel prize winner Jean-Marie Gustave,
Brown-Séquard,
Jean Alphonse Ravaton,
Jane Constance,
and Cardinal Maurice Piat.
So, as you can see, Mauritius is a real melting pot of people.
And the way how they branch out and interact with the world is even more diverse.
Let's find out in:
FRIEND ZONE!
[FRIEND ZONE]
Now, when it comes to their friends, Mauritius has a lot of clues to their history.
First of all, with France, as a former colony for almost a hundred years,
French culture permeates everywhere.
Including the Creole that they speak.
Mauritians actually grow up watching French cartoons and French dubbed shows.
Export is important between the two as well.
However, they have a little rivalry with the French overseas territory of Réunion.
They jokingly call Mauritius "backwards India" and Mauritians call them "European wannabes."
China is a close friend because Mauritius acts as kind of like a launchpad from China into Africa
since they already had a large community of Chinese Mauritians.
When it comes to their best friend, though, usually most Mauritians will say India.
Prime minister Paul Raymond Bérenger has said that
"there's an umbilical cord relationship between India and Mauritius."
As one of the only three majority Hindu populous nations in the world,
Mauritius holds an endearing role to the political heart of India.
They have a double taxation agreement with India,
making them the most important foreign investor.
They donate a ton of money, loans, and ships to fight of Somalian pirates,
and actors and singers to perform.
In conclusion, Nick, what would you say?
I'll say Mauritius is a beautiful, tropical, colorful island
where Africa and Asia meet in a new, thriving economy.
Nice. Nicely said.
Stay tuned.
The big guy... MEXICO is coming up next!