Mauritius
I have been living the major portion of my youth life on this Island. My ancestors came from India. They were brought by the whites to work as slaves. So am the descendant of a slave. Actually those people left their homelands in search of a better life. They endured a perilous and deathly journey to come here. I owe those people a lot. Our generation represents an emerging generation enjoying better freedom compared to previous ones. But due to massive brain drain in this country our best talents keep on moving away so this country will keep on having to re-invent the wheel for some generations to come. However, I can only be grateful to all it gave me. Free education till the tertiary level and very affordable tertiary education represented a gateway for any child who wants to come out of poverty. Recently I have started to take pictures of this Island famously baptised by Mark Twain as "Paradise Island". The beach, the mountains, the people...
Mauritius is about 800km to the east of Madagascar. It forms part of the Mascarene group which includes Reunion and Rogrigues. The Mascarene group apparently got its name from the Portuguese Don Pedro de Maceranhas who visited the Islands is 1512. However the Arabs had visited the Island first.
Well it was the Dutch who killed all our Dodos making this species to become extinct
in the world. I thank them , otherwise the dodo would never have become popular :P However from a zoological point of view it is amazing this bird got on only on our Island which itself got formed by volcanic activity.Its plateau is about 500 m above sea level. Its highest mountain is the Piton du Milieu (828m) high.
About half the population consists of Hindus. The rest are Roman Catholics, Muslims and Chinese etc.
This country gained its independance from English colonisation on the 12 MArch 1968. Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam who had a remarkable and inspiring vision which led to its independence. He is the father of our nation. However has the fate of this country in our own hands been better? I will not enter a political debate on this.
The economy of the country is relying massively on Tourism at the moment since the cultivation of Sugarcane is becoming unprofitable with the rise of labour cost. The economy is particularly low at the moment suffering from large inflations bordering the 9%.
The economy of this country will sustain itself for 10 years more maybe but in my view it will be very hard to pull the strings in the next decade due to relatively poor economy and political management.
posted by Rajiv Sobhee | 10:42 PM
2 Comments:
i would strongly advise you to revise your views on mauritius history. To put it bluntly SSR didn't lead us to independence-we were not led to independence-we were gievn it-it wa sduring the labour ministry of Harold Wilson in UK when the Uk was giving independence to most of the colonies for it was too costing. It has nothing to do with the struggle of Indians, of Creoles and Muslims-it is a fact that mauritius wouldn't have been where it is were it not for the vision and determination Mahe de Labourdonnais, Sir Robert Farquhar, Adrien d'Epinay, Sir William Newton, Sir John Pope-Hennessy and Sir Virgile Naz-those men were the only ones to guaranty Mauritius the place it now holds in the world. Those who came after whther it be SSR or Gaetan Duval were resting on the laurels of those men.
Sorry to word it thus. But i'f advise to consult the works of albert pitot on the subject.
In all friendship,
Gael, Cap Malheureux
Woah.. it is first time I see your comment by accident.
I strongly agree with your comment.
I thank you and appreciate your comment.
I must update everything on my blog.
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