by
Holley T.

NATIONAL FLAG OF MAURITIUS

LOCATION:

In the year of 1810, Great Britain captured Mauritius by removing the threat of pirates, which made the people of Mauritius think very highly of the British. At first the Europeans treated the people of Mauritius fairly well though it did not stay that way for long. When the British began to rule, the former Mauritius slaves refused to work on the plantations, so the British began to import slaves from India, who were treated little better then slaves and got very small amounts of pay.  By 1860 the Indian slaves made up almost 65% of Mauritius.

 Because of World War1 in 1914-1918 the people of Mauritius got a steep increase in world sugar prices. Unfortunately the money did not end up in the hands of the of the Indian plantation workers. They remained poor and were forbidden most civil rights. The Indian plantation workers formed the Mauritius Labour Party (MLP). Major strikes occurred in 1937and 1943. The country of Mauritius won it’s independence in after World War II (1939-1945) The British were forced to reform the country the way it had been before they took over. Therefore home rule was granted in 1957, and elections were held in 1959.  Full independence came in 1968.      

Works Cited

Flag and map courtesy of Microsoft Clipart Gallery.

"Mauritius." Peoples of Africa. Marshall Cavendish Digital. 2009. 12 February 2009
<http://www.marshallcavendishdigital.com/articledisplay/20/4877/49737>.

"United States: History, Geography, Government, and Culture." Infoplease.
© 2000–2007 Pearson Education, publishing as Infoplease.
12 Feb. 2009 <http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108121.html>.