Mauritius holidays - travel guide - culture

Mauritius culture

Social Conventions

Handshaking is the customary form of greeting in Mauritius. You should remember to respect the traditions of your hosts, particularly when visiting a private house. The type of hospitality you can expect depends largely on your host's religion and social customs, which are closely related. If you're invited for a meal, it's a good idea to take a gift as a small token of appreciation. Dress is normally quite casual, although men should wear a suit for formal occasions.

Religion

Almost half the population is Hindu, with just over 30% Christian (mainly Roman Catholic), 17% Muslim and small communities practising Chinese Buddhism and Confucianism.

History

Mauritius remained uninhabited until 1638 when it was colonized by the Dutch, who named the island in honour of Prince Maurice of Nassau. The French controlled it during the 18th century and named it Ile de France, but lost possession to the British in 1810, who reverted back to the former name.

Independence was attained in 1968, with the country becoming a republic within the Commonwealth in 1992. Mauritius has been a stable democracy with regular free elections and a positive human rights record, and has attracted considerable foreign investment earning one of Africa's highest incomes per capita.

Demographics

Mauritian society is highly multicultural. The island's 1.25 million residents are the descendants of people from the Indian subcontinent, continental Africa, Madagascar, France, England, China plus a few other places. While the official language is English, French and French-derived Mauritian Creole is widely used. Several other tongues including Arabic, Portuguese, Indian languages such as Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Bhojpuri, Gujarati or dialects of Chinese like Cantonese, Hakka and Mandarin also feature. The South Asian languages are spoken by descendants of the labourers brought from British India during the British rule.