Tag Archives: Study in Mauritius

Mauritius is an island state located approx. 800 km E of Madagascar, in the Mascarene archipelago, and politically included in the African continent; it includes, in addition to the main island of the same name, the dependencies of the Rodrigues and Agalegaislands and the Cargados Carajos groupor Saint Brandon. Mauritius represents perhaps the most striking example of a country entirely shaped by colonialism. Uninhabited at the time of its discovery by the Europeans, it had a very rich and original in many ways natural environment; the colonizers (Dutch, French, English) not only made it a very populated land by forcibly introducing Europeans, Africans and above all Asians (Indians and Chinese), but, with the cultivation of sugar cane, they significantly altered the landscape, originally essentially tropical. The name was given to the island in 1598 by the Dutch Vice Admiral Wybrandt van Warwyck, in honor of the governor, Prince of Orange and Earl of Nassau, who was called Maurice. Long a British colony, it became an independent state on 12 March 1968. According to COUNTRYAAH, Mauritius is a nation in Eastern Africa, the capital city of which is Port Louis. The latest population of Mauritius is 1,271,779. REMZFAMILY: Lists and descriptions of main religions and beliefs in Mauritius, including religion demographics and statistics on Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc.

THE STATE
Long a British colony, it became an independent state on 12 March 1968. Mauritius is a parliamentary democratic republic. Under the 1967 Constitution, the government is accountable to the National Assembly, which elects the President of the Republic; these have a purely representative role. The judicial system is based on the British model. The country has no permanent armed forces, but has a stable police force, which works to maintain public order, and a coast guard. Mauritius’ school system is one of the most efficient on the entire continent. Education is compulsory from 5 to 12 years of age and free at all levels. The elementary school lasts 6 years, the secondary one, of general culture, it lasts 7 years with a lower cycle of 5 and a higher cycle of 2. The percentage of illiterate people is 12.6% (2007). Higher education is given at the University of Mauritius and the University of Technology, both near the capital.

GEOGRAPHY
The island is formed by a series of volcanic reliefs, the emerged part of the undersea ridge of the Mascarene, on which the nearby island of Réunion also rests. The eruptive systems are now dormant and largely dismantled by erosion, so the island has assumed rather extended forms, with a sort of undulating plateau in the center, bordered to the S and N by some peaks (pitons) that slightly exceed the 800 m (Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire, 828 m). The coasts are high for long stretches, with cliffs, and bordered by coral reefs; there are some bays, such as the one that, to the NW of the island, hosts Port Louis. Modestly developed waterways (Grand River South East, Black River) flow in a radial pattern, cutting through the plateau. The climate is tropical humid. The rainfall, which occurs mainly between October and April, is brought by the SE trade wind, thus affecting the eastern side with particular intensity, where up to 4000 mm of rain fall annually in the higher areas of the island, which at 2000 mm on the coast. On the opposite side, rainfall is reduced by up to 1000 mm per year. Temperatures tend to be constant throughout the year, especially on the coasts, where they reach average values ​​of 26-27 ºC.