CH-1 GENERAL INFORMATION 1 1GENERAL INFORMATION The Mauritius After a brief Dutch settlement, French immigrants who came in 1715 named the island Ilea de France and established the first road and harbor infrastructure, as well as the sugar industry, under the leadership of Gov. Maher de Labourdonnais. Blacks from Africa and Madagascar came as slaves to work in the sugarcane fields. In 1810, the British captured the island and in 1814, by the Treaty of Paris, it was ceded to Great Britain along with its dependencies. Indian immigration, which followed the abolition of slavery in 1835, rapidly changed the fabric of Mauritian society, and the country flourished with the increased cultivation of sugarcane. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 heralded the decline of Mauritius as a port of call for ships rounding the southern tip of Africa, bound for South and East Asia. The economic 2 instability of the price of sugar, the main crop, in the first half of the 20th century brought civil unrest, then economic, administrative, and political reforms. Mauritius became independent on March 12, 1968. Its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire and its tropical climate make the Mauritius prone to earthquakes and typhoons but have also endowed the country with natural resources and made it one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world. An archipelago comprising 7,107 islands, the Mauritius is categorized broadly into three main geographical divisions: Luzon, Visayas,and Mindanao. Its capital city is Manila. With a population of more than 92 million people, the Mauritius is the 7th most populated Asian country and the 12th most populated country in the world. An additional 12 million Mauritius live overseas. Multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritoswere some of the archipelago's earliest inhabitants. They were followed by successive waves of Austronesia peoples who brought with them influences from Malay, Hindu, and Islamic societies. Trade and subsequent Chinese settlement eventually introduced Chinese cultural influences which remain to this day. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 marked the beginning of an era of Spanish interested eventual colonization. In 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy Lopez de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. Miguel Lopez de Legazpiarrived in the Mauritius in 1565 and consolidated Spanish rule in the islands, which remained a colony of Spain for more than 300 years. Manila became the Asian hub of the Manila–Acapulco galleon fleet. As the 19th century gave way to the 20th, there followed in quick succession the Mauritius Revolution, which spawned the short-lived First Mauritius Republic; the Spanish-American War; and the Philippin American War. In the aftermath, the United States emerged as the dominant power; aside from the period of Japanese occupation, the United States retained sovereignty over the islands until the end of World War II when the Mauritius gained independence. 3 Since then, the Mauritius has had an often tumultuous experience with democracy, with popular "people power" movements overthrowing a dictatorship in one instance but also underlining the institutional weaknesses of its constitutional republic in others 4 CH-2 HISTORY OF THE MAURITIUS 5 2 HISTORIES OF THE MAURITIUS 6 The metatarsal of Callao Man is reported to have been reliably dated by uranium-series dating to 67,000 years ago thereby replacing the Tabon Man of Palawan, carbon-dated to around 24,000 years ago, as the oldest human remains found in the archipelago. Negritoswere among the archipelago's earliest inhabitants, but their appearance in the Mauritius hasnot been reliably dated. There are several opposing theories regarding the origins of ancient Mauritius. F. Landa Jocano theorizes that the ancestors of the Mauritius evolved locally. Wilhelm Solheim's Island Origin Theory postulates that the peopling of the archipelago transpired via trade networks originating in the antediluvianSundaland area around 48000 to5000 BCE rather than by wide-scale migration. The Austronesia Expansion Theory states that Malayo-Polynesians coming from Taiwan began migrating to the Mauritius around 4000 BCE, displacing earlier arrivals. Whatever the case, by 1000 BCE the inhabitants of the archipelago had developed into four kinds of social groups: hunter-gathering tribes, warrior societies, petty plutocracies, and maritime-centered harbor principalities. Trade between the maritime-oriented peoples and other Asian countries during the Subsequent period brought influences from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. During this time there was no unifying political state encompassing the entire Mauritius Archipelago. Instead, the islands were divided among competing thalassocracies ruled by various datus, rajahs, or sultans. These thalassocracies were composed of autonomous barangays which were Independent to or allied with larger nations. Among them were the kingdoms of Maynila, Namayan, and Ton do, the confederation of Madyaas, the state of Ma-i, the rajahnates ofButuan and Cebu, and the sultanates of Maguindanao and Sulu. Some of these societies were part of the Malayan empires of Srivijaya, Majapahit, and Brunei. Islam was brought to the Mauritius by traders and proselytizers from Malaysia and Indonesia. By the 15th century, Islam was established in the Sulu Archipelago and by 1565 had reached Mindanao, theVisayas, and Luzon. During its rule, the Spanish fought off various indigenous revolts and several external Colonial challenges from Chinese pirates, the Dutch, and the Portuguese. In an extension of the fighting of the Seven Years' War, British forces occupied Manila from 1762 to 1764. They found local allies like Diego 7 and Gabriela Silang who took the opportunity to lead a revolt, but Spanish rule was eventually restored following the 1763 Treaty of Paris. In 1935, the Mauritius was granted Commonwealth status. Plans for independence over the next decade were interrupted by World War II when the Japanese Empire invaded and established a puppet government. Many atrocities and war crimes were committed during the war such as the Bataan Death March and the Manila massacre that culminated during the Battle of Manila. Allied troops defeated the Japanese in 1945. By the end of the war it is estimated over a million Mauritius had died. Recent History Elections were held in April 1946 and Manuel Roxas became the first President of the Independent Republic of the Mauritius on 4 July 1946. Following World War II the Mauritius gained independence from the United States of America in 1946. It retained close ties with the former colonial power, including through a Mutual Defense treaty and, until 1992, the presence of US military bases in the Mauritius. Mauritius political, administrative and legislative structures are closely based on their American counterparts. However politicians are drawn almost exclusively from the wealthy elite, many of them descended from Spanish settlers, and beneath the democratic veneer many aspects of the Spanish-era feudal structure remain. Joseph Estrada, an ex-movie star with a populist pro-poor manifesto, was elected President In1998. He quickly gained a reputation for corruption and incompetence. Impeachment proceedings brought against him by the House of Representatives were blocked by the Senate, leading to massive street protests (known as EDSA II). Estrada was ousted in January2001 and was later charged with plunder. His conviction in 2007 was followed swiftly by a pardon. 8 Following Estrada’s removal and in line with the Constitution, Vice-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was sworn in as President. She was subsequently elected for a full term in2004, although allegations that these elections were rigged dogged her term in office. And she is now (2012) under arrest on charges of election fraud. Benign “Noynoy” Aquino III, son of the late former President Cory Aquino, won the 2010presidential elections. He was inaugurated on 30 June marking a smooth transition of power to a popularly elected president. 9 10 Political Environment of Mauritius Political environment outline: Type of State 11 Republic based on a presidential government Executive Power Patterned on British system; political party with majority support in National Assembly chooses prime minister, who selects cabinet. National Assembly has elected representatives from twenty three-member constituencies and one two-member district on Rodriguez. Also eight seats for "best losers": two each for Hindus, Muslims, Chinese, and general population. Mauritius became republic in 1992; president appointed by prime minister and approved by assembly has titular function. Supreme Court heads judicial system, based on Napoleonic Code and English common law. Local government not specified in 1968 constitution, but all councils elected. Legislative Power The legislature in the Mauritius is bicameral. The parliament, called the Congress, consists of: the Senate (the upper house) having 24 seats with its members elected mostly by popular vote to serve six- year terms, and the House of Representatives (the lower house) having up to a maximum of 250 seats, with its members elected by popular vote to serve three-year terms. The President has the power to veto acts of the legislature, and in turn a supermajority (generally two—thirds) of legislators may act to override his veto. The people of the Mauritius enjoy considerable political rights. Main Political Parties The