"Islands of the Republic of Mauritius labelled in black"
An Italian cartographer discovered the existence of the island on the map in 1502. The Mauritius Island was visited by Arabs during the middle age, it was called as Dina Arobi. The island was visited by sailors before the Arabs. In 1507 Portuguese sailors came to the Island. The Portuguese navigator named Diogo Fernandes Pereira named the island Ilha do Cirne. It is believed that they were not interested in the Island and did not stay longer. Later in 1638 it was visited by the dutch, who named the island on the Prince Maurice Van Nassau. Dutch introduced Sugarcane and domestic animals. They established a Dutch colony and stayed for 20 years. They made many attempts to settle but they left Mauritius in 1710. Later the island became a French colony and was named Isle de France after it was taken control in 1715. It was also known as the �star and key� due to its position. The island was under French East India Company until 1767. They introduced a lot of French architecture into the Island which can be seen even today. The island was controlled by the French government. The French continued to rule until the British took over in 1810. British ruling was done by a governor Sir Robert Farquhar. In 1835, slavery was removed. In 1901, Mahatma Gandhi visited Mauritius during his visit to India from South Africa. He was there for two weeks and tried to teach people about the importance of education. In 1914, World War I broke out and Mauritians went to fight Europe against Germans. It affected Mauritius less compared to other wars. IN 1939, the World War II broke out, and Mauritians went to fight with British against Germans in Africa. Mauritius was in danger. Then the British took over. In 1965, UK depopulated. In 1968, Mauritius got Independence. In 1992, it was named the republic. Since then the economy has improved.
