AAfrican Knowledge Atlas

Mauritius

Capital: Port Louis · East Africa & Horn

Indian Ocean crossroads whose Creole, Indian, African, Chinese and European heritages fused into sega music and a plural island culture.

Ethnic communities

  • Mauritian CreolesAfro-Malagasy descendants; keepers of sega tipik
  • Indo-MauritiansDescendants of indentured laborers via Aapravasi Ghat

More communities of Mauritius

  • Hindu communities Bhojpuri-rooted majority of temple festivals
  • Muslim communities Trading families of the port and plains
  • Tamil communities Cavadee fire-walking devotional culture
  • Telugu & Marathi folk Distinct South Asian heritage streams
  • Sino-Mauritians Hakka shopkeeper families of every town
  • Franco-Mauritians Plantation-descended estate families
  • Rodriguan Creoles Autonomous island's fisher-farmers
  • Chagossians Displaced archipelago community seeking return
  • Agalega islanders Coconut-isle outpost communities
  • Sega artist lineages Ravanne drum families of the UNESCO art
  • Port Louis dockland folk The harbor's mixed working heritage

Languages

Major languages: Mauritian Creole, French, English, Bhojpuri

Language families: French-based Creole; Indo-Aryan

Historical kingdoms & states

  • (No precolonial kingdoms — island settled in colonial era)

Heritage sites

  • Aapravasi Ghat
  • Le Morne Cultural Landscape (maroon refuge)

Cultural highlights

Sega tipik (UNESCO)Le Morne marronage memory