Republic of Mauritius
Eastern Africa
Rainbow · Tropical · Harmonious
Mauritius (officially Republic of Mauritius) is a country located in Eastern Africa. Its capital city is Port Louis, with other major cities including Beau Bassin-Rose Hill and Vacoas-Phoenix. With a population of approximately 1.3M, the main languages spoken are English, French, Creole. The country covers an area of 2,040 km². The official currency is the Mauritian rupee (₨). Traffic drives on the left side.
The dodo — the world's most famous extinct bird — was endemic to Mauritius and was driven to extinction within 80 years of Europeans arriving in 1638, making it history's most cited example of human-caused extinction.
Port Louis serves as the political, cultural and economic heart of Mauritius, positioned in Eastern Africa. As the seat of government and often the most populous city, it concentrates the country's main institutions, universities and cultural landmarks. Beyond the capital, major cities include Beau Bassin-Rose Hill, Vacoas-Phoenix, Curepipe — each a hub of regional culture, economy and history. Port Louis is Mauritius's commercial and cultural capital, its Champ de Mars horse racing track established in 1812 as the oldest in the Southern Hemisphere, its Central Market selling the full spectrum of the island's extraordinary ethnic mix, and its waterfront Caudan development reflecting a small island nation that achieved middle-income status through careful institutional development rather than natural resource extraction.
With a population of approximately 1.3M, Mauritius is a vibrant society with a rich mix of traditions and communities. The principal languages spoken are English, French, Creole, which reflect the country's cultural heritage and open doors to a wide international community. Internationally, Mauritius is reached via the dialling code +230. Mauritians built a genuinely multicultural society from the forced mixing of Malagasy, African, and Indian workers brought by Dutch, French, and British colonisers — creating a country where Hindu festivals, Christian Mass, Friday prayers, and the Chinese New Year are all public holidays, and where the languages of Mauritian Creole, Bhojpuri, French, English, and Chinese function simultaneously in a single city.
Mauritius spans 2,040 km², in the Eastern Africa subregion of Africa. Geographically centred around 20.3°S, 57.5°E, the country offers a diverse range of landscapes shaped by its location, climate and geology. Road traffic follows the left-hand rule, in line with surrounding Africa convention.
The official currency is the Mauritian rupee (₨), used for everyday transactions and commerce throughout the country. Mauritius's economy is shaped by its geography, natural resources and trade relationships. Business and daily life operate under UTC+04:00, aligning the country with its regional neighbours.
Football / Sailing holds a special place in the heart of Mauritius's national identity. Football is Mauritius's primary sport, but the island's sailing tradition — born of its Indian Ocean trading post history and sustained by southeast trade winds that provide year-round sailing conditions — has produced competitive yachtsmen and the annual Round the Island Race that mobilises the island's entire sailing community in a celebration of maritime culture.
The highest point in Mauritius is Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire, rising to 828 metres above sea level. Mauritius's Black River Gorges National Park protects the last significant area of native forest on an island that lost 98% of its original vegetation to sugar cane monoculture — sheltering the pink pigeon and echo parakeet (both brought back from near-extinction by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust) in a forest whose recovery is one of conservation's most cited success stories.