 This 1983: Doomsday page is a Proposal.
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Stella Clavisque Maris Indici (Latin) ("Star and Key of the Indian Ocean") | |||||||
| Anthem | "Motherland" | ||||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Port Louis | ||||||
| Language official |
English | ||||||
| others | Mauritian Creole, French, Bhojpuri | ||||||
| Demonym | Mauritian | ||||||
| Government | Parliamentary republic | ||||||
| President | Sir Anerood Jugnauth | ||||||
| Prime Minister | Navin Ramgoolam | ||||||
| Area | 2,040 km² | ||||||
| Population | 1,088,000 | ||||||
| Independence | from United Kingdom | ||||||
| declared | 12 March 1968 | ||||||
| Currency | Mauritian rupee | ||||||
Mauritius (pronounced /məˈrɪʃəs/; French: L’île Maurice pronounced: [lil mɔˈʁis], Mauritian Creole: Moris), officially the Republic of Mauritius (French: République de Maurice) is an island nation off the coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about 900 kilometres (560 mi) east of Madagascar. In addition to the island of Mauritius, the Republic includes the islands of Cargados Carajos, Rodrigues, the Agalega Islands, and the former French island of Réunion.
Uninhabited until the 17th century, the island was ruled first by the Dutch and then the French after the Dutch had abandoned it. The British took control during the Napoleonic Wars and Mauritius became independent from the UK in 1968. Mauritius is a parliamentary republic and is member of the Southern African Development Community, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa the African Union and the Commonwealth of Nations.
The main languages spoken in Mauritius are Mauritian Creole, French and English. English is the only official language but the lingua franca is Creole and the newspapers and television programmes are usually in French. Ethnically, the majority of the population is Indian, but there are also many people of African descent on the island. There are also European and Chinese minorities. It is the only African nation where the largest religion is Hinduism although Christianity and Islam also have significant populations.
The island of Mauritius is renowned for having been the only known home of the dodo. First sighted by Europeans around 1600 on Mauritius, the dodo became extinct less than eighty years later. Mauritius has an upper-middle income economy.
History
Pre-Doomsday
The 1970s saw the emergence of the Mouvement Militant Mauricien/Parti Socialiste Mauricien (MMM/PSM) led by Paul Bérenger. The MMM was founded in 1970 and had three initial leaders, Paul Bérenger, Dev Virahsawmy and Juneid Jeeroobarkhan. The MMM won its first election in a by election of constituency No.5 by electing Dev Virasawmy. Until 1982, Sir Seewoosagur was Prime Minister, his Labour Party in coalition with Duval's PMSD. In 1982, the coalition of Mouvement Militant Mauricien/Parti Socialiste Mauricien came to power in a landslide electoral victory, with Sir Anerood Jugnauth as Prime Minister and Harish Boodhoo as the deputy Prime Minister. The coalition split in 1983, with Anerood Jugnauth forming the Mouvement Socialiste Mauricien (MSM), which became the governing party, with Jugnauth as Prime Minister.