Mauritius - A Picture Perfect Beach Destination
Mauritius has successfully managed to position itself as an
exotic beach destination. With beach destinations so plentiful,
this has been sustained not by mere hype, but by the substance
there is to this claim. Visitors are drawn to Mauritius by the
reputation of its 140 km of white sand beaches, and the superb
opportunities for water sports. Swimming, beach combing,
sailing, surfing, kayaking, diving and deep-sea fishing - there
is a sport for almost everyone.
Arab traders discovered the then uninhabited island in the 10th
century. But they were not charmed sufficiently to consider
permanent settlement. The Portuguese early in the sixteenth
century landed, but they too passed over the chance to lay claim
for their king. But in 1598 the Dutch finally seized the
opportunity. The island was grabbed for and named after Maurice,
Prince of Orange and Count of Nassau -then ruler of the
Netherlands.
In the century that followed, the Dutch established settlements
and devised means to live off the land. They introduced sugar
and tobacco, which they farmed using African slave labour. Sugar
is today still an important part of the economy. The Dutch were
insensitive to the extremely fragile ecosystem that makes up an
isolated island such as Mauritius. On their watch, most of the
islands' indigenous forests were felled, and lost. The bird
known as dodo was also shot to extinction. Thus did the
trigger-happy Dutch give life to the expression "as dead as a
dodo".
The Dutch courage that had made them pioneers was however not to
last. They were subjected to many trials by the forces of nature
- cyclones, droughts and floods. And also by the forces of man,
for pirates were a constant headache. In 1710, they fled to the
more hospitable Cape of Good Hope, at Africa's southern tip. A
short five years after the Dutch left, the French claimed the
island, and renamed it Isle de France.
The French were much more successful than the Dutch in
harnessing the potential of the island. They maintained law and
order and laid the foundations for administration of society.
Under the celebrated French Governor, Mah