Info on Mauritius

Info on Mauritius By T. Auckle Best viewed using internet explorer

Geography and Climate
History
Economy
Education System
Law and Order
Culture and Religion
Fauna and Flora
Main Differences…….

Geography and climate
Mauritius on the World map

Part of the Mascarene Islands comprising of the islands of Mauritius, Reunion (French territory) and Rodrigues. Mauritius is believed to be the oldest of the three islands (according to carbon dating experiments)
Mauritius is of volcanic origin and comprises of the main Island of Mauritius and its island dependencies of Rodrigues and Agalega . It is still claiming sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago and Tromelin Island
Approximately 400 nautical miles off the island of Madagascar…Between South Africa and the Western coast of Australia
Tropical Climate with hot and humid summers (and tropical cyclones!) and cool and temperate winters.
Civil ensign – motto: “Stella Clavisque Maris Indici”, meaning the Star and key of the Indian Ocean

History
Discovered by Arab and Portuguese sailors
First inhabitants – the Dutch…extermination of the Dodo
Colonisation by the French until 1810…Slaves brought to work in the island
Colonisation by the British for the next 158 years…abolition of slavery in the 1830s, advent of indentured labourers and free immigrants .

Economy
Main Pillar of the economy: the sugar industry
Tourism
The Export Processing Zone (EPZ) sector
Budding offshore banking sector
Cyber city-implantation of Indian firms like Infosys
General Information
Currency – The Mauritian Rupee – Rs 1= 100 cents
£1= Rs 54.09

Education System
Pre-primary Education either in Government or Private Institutions
Primary Education :1.Government schools 2.Private schools 3 .Roman catholic Aided Schools (RCA schools, administered by the Church)
Lower Secondary Education (up to GCE O Level-Cambridge International Exams) OR Pre-Vocational education and later to the IVTB (Polytechnic)
Upper Secondary Education (GCE A level – Cambridge International Exams, Competition for scholarships at national level)
Tertiary Education – University of Mauritius,
Or
Mahatma Gandhi Institute – From any primary school to the lower secondary section, pre-vocational or to the Gandhian Basic School
These schools act as feeders to the upper secondary which in turn channels its students mostly to its specific fields

OR
The French System of Education – Lycee labourdonnee
Tertiary education Provided by private Institutions like
De Chazal Du Mee Business School
Rushmore Business school
Medical School at Belle Rive
School of Dentistry in the North
E-Education
Still Under Consideration; Under the aegis of the University of Technology Mauritius
Those studying abroad
A very limited number of scholarships awarded to deserving students

Law and Order MOTTO: Salus Populi Suprema Lex esto: The Well Being of the People is the Supreme law . Small Island- Low rate of Criminality Well, efforts are on to truly make the island a paradise but who can boast of eradicating evil completely?

Culture and Religion Concept of the RAINBOW ISLAND – DIFFERENT ETHNIC GROUPS LIVE TOGETHER IN COMPLETE HARMONY Main religions: Hinduism (52%), Islam, Christianity and a small community of Chinese.

Hinduism Mixture of Hindus, Tamils, Telegus, Bengalis, Marathis, Gujaratis, Punjabis

Main Festivals: Maha Shivaratri:

Pilgrimage to Grand bassin- the “Kanwar”

Deepavali or Divali– The Festival of Lights

Holi-the festival of colours

Cavadee-Celebrated by the Tamil Community

Islam Main Festivals celebrated: Eid-ul-Fitr, Bakr-Eid

Christianity The St Louis Cathedral, P. Louis

Chinese A mixture of Buddhism and Christianity, main festivals celebrated-Chinese Spring Festival

Mauritian Traditional Songs and Dance THE SEGA DANCE-

Traditional songs-Sega and Bhojpuri songs (by the Hindu Community)
Traditional foods: The “Rougaille”-A dish whose basic ingredient is tomato.
Salted Fish

Fauna and Flora
Unique marine life-the seas of Mauritius and its island dependencies are the natural habitat of a large number of sea animals whose beauty is breathtaking.

The Kestrel, the Pink Pigeon and the Echo Parakeet are birds which are endemic to the island and are on the UN list of endangered species. The Kestrel is the rarest bird of prey in the world.

The Pink Pigeon is the rarest pigeon in the whole world.

The Mauritius/Echo Parakeet is – as you’ve all surely guessed-the rarest parrot in the world! These birds are initially bred in captivity by the Mauritius Wildlife Foundation, then released in the Black River Gorge, home to the rare ebony trees and to more endemic plants.

Oceanic Bird: the White Tailed Tropic Bird, also known as the Paille-en-queue, is the emblem of the Mauritian national Airline.

The landscape

http://www.societies.ncl.ac.uk	35
http://boullevortal.com	11
http://www.jean-raymondboulle.eu	11
http://www.slideshare.net	8
http://www.boullevortal.com	7
http://yallinspot.blogspot.com	3
http://jeanraymondboulle.posterous.com	3
http://jeanraymondboulle.blogspot.com	3
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	1

Info on Mauritius

by Mauritians on Mar 17, 2007

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

9 Embeds 82

Statistics

Info on Mauritius — Presentation Transcript