Mauritius (French: L’île Maurice, Mauritian Creole: Maurice) is a small island in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar.

Early Visitors

The discovery of Mauritius Island was first made by the Arab sailors, at this time the island was a dense forest. There is no exact date of when Mauritius was discovered by the Arabs, it is said to be around the 9th century. But the Arabs sailors were not interested in settling on the island which they named Dina Arobi or Dinarobin. Fernandez Pereira, a Portuguese sailor who saw the island decided to give it the name of Cerne. Discovered by the Portuguese in 1505, Mauritius was subsequently held by the Dutch, French, and British before independence was attained in 1968. But the Portuguese sailors were not interested to settle on the island.