Mauritius

E

Culture

The country has six major museums. The Natural History Museum and the Mauritius Institute Museum are located in Port Louis. The Folk Museum of Indian Immigration is at Moka and the Historical Museum at Mahébourg. A unique song and dance form, the séga, is native to the country and dates from slave times. An important exponent of séga was Ti Frère (1900-1992). A modern interpretation of séga is seggae, a mix of séga and reggae.

Art and literature are represented by Malcolm de Chazal (1902-1981); he wrote in French with perhaps his most famous work being Sens-Plastique, a series of aphorisms. Other famous writers include Robert Edward Hart (1891-1954), Marcel Cabon (1912-1972), Edouard Maunick (1931- ), and Raymonde de Kervern (1899-1973).

IV

Economy

Mauritius had a GNP (World Bank estimate) of some US$5,724 million in 2004, equivalent to about $5,430 per capita. Since independence in 1986, Mauritius has developed from a primarily agriculture-based economy to one that is more diversified, with growing industrial and tourist sectors. Annual growth in the early 1990s was around 6 per cent, with low unemployment.

A

Agriculture

The economy of Mauritius has traditionally been dominated by a single cash crop, sugar cane. More than half the cultivated land is planted with sugar cane; sugar and molasses make up 30 per cent of export earnings. Other crops include tea, peanuts, tobacco, and vegetables.

B

Manufacturing

Manufactured goods include refined sugar and sugar by-products, fertilizers, beverages, electronic components, leather goods, and clothing. The textile industry boomed during the 1980s and 1990s, and tourism became increasingly important.

C

Currency and Banking

The monetary unit of Mauritius is the Mauritian rupee of 100 cents (29.58 rupees equalled US$1; early 2008). The central bank is the Bank of Mauritius.