Mauritius

Capital: Port Louis Population: 1,291,456 Official Languages: Mauritian Creole Time Zone: +4 Dialing Code: +230

Government: Parliamentary republic Area: 2,040 km2 largest city: Port Louis Currency : Mauritian rupee ISO 3166 code: MU

Basic Info

Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius (Mauritian Creole: Republik Moris; French: République de Maurice) is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) off the south east coast of the African continent. The country includes the islands of Mauritius, Rodrigues, 560 kilometres (350 mi) east of the principal island, the islands of Agaléga and the Saint Brandon. The islands of the Republic of Mauritius form part of the Mascarene Islands, which also include the neighbouring island of Réunion. The area of the country is 2040 km2, its capital is Port Louis.

Geography

The total land area of the country is 2040 km2, which is the 181st largest nation in the world by size. The Republic of Mauritius also incorporates the island of Rodrigues, situated some 560 kilometers to the east and is 104 km2 in area, the Agaléga situated some 1,000 km to the north of Mauritius and Saint Brandon situated some 430 km to the north-east of Mauritius, both with total land area of 71.2 km2.

Mauritius claim sovereignty over Tromelin islands, small islands that lie 430 km to the north-east of Mauritius. The nation's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) cover about 1.2 million square kilometers of the Indian Ocean. Four fishing banks fall within EEZ limits, the Soudan Banks (including East Soudan Bank), Nazareth Bank, Saya de Malha Bank, Hawkins Bank. In 2011 the United Nations endorsed the joint submission of Mauritius and Seychelles to extend their continental shelf of 396,000 km2 in the Mascarene region which gives the two countries sovereign right to jointly manage and exploit the seabed and subsoil of the joint area.

Climate

The local climate is tropical, modified by southeast trade winds; there is a warm, dry winter from May to November and a hot, wet, and humid summer from November to May. Anti-cyclones affect the country during May to September. Cyclones affect the country during November–April. Hollanda (1994) and Dina (2002) were the worst two last cyclones to have affected the island.

Religion

According to the 2011 census made by Statistics Mauritius, Hinduism is the major religion at 49%, followed by Christianity 32%, islam 17% and Buddhist 0.4% in terms of number of adherents. In 2011, Mauritius was ranked third in Africa in the Human Development Index and 78th out of 187 countries worldwide

Administrative divisions

Mauritius is divided into nine districts which consist of different towns and villages. The island of Rodrigues used to be the country's tenth district before it gained autonomous status in 2002.

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