Mauritius: It's 4000 kilometers from India. Why is 67% of India's population?

In the long history, the South Asian subcontinent relied on the fertile soil brought by the erosion of Ganges and Indus rivers to raise a large number of people. Today, the total population of South Asia has reached 65.438+0.9 billion, which is the most densely populated area in the world, and the population of India is close to 65.438+0.3 billion.

Due to the large population in South Asia, some poor Indians began to emigrate in large numbers in order to get a better life, and their descendants gradually became the first nation in some countries in the world. In modern times, Suriname and Guyana in South America, Mauritius and Indians in Africa were the largest ethnic groups.

Mauritius is an island country in the Indian Ocean in eastern Africa, hanging alone in the Indian Ocean. Mauritius is also a rare rich country in Africa, and its per capita GDP ranks among the best in African countries.

Mauritius is close to 4,000 kilometers from India, but its largest ethnic group is Indians. Among China's population of 6.5438+0.27 million, there are nearly 900,000 Indians, accounting for 67%. This phenomenon is understandable if Mauritius is close to or ruled by India.

However, the two countries are more than 4000 kilometers apart, and there is no relationship between ruling and being ruled. What kind of intersection have these two countries had?

First, colonial expansion, a desert island into a paradise.

Mauritius is isolated overseas, more than 800 kilometers away from Madagascar and more than 2,000 kilometers away from the African continent. The disadvantage of being far away from the mainland made it a sparsely populated desert island in the era of underdeveloped transportation.

▲ The islands actually controlled by Mauritius and China.

Because the Ottoman Turks monopolized the trade routes between the East and the West, in order to open up new routes, Portuguese navigators bypassed the Cape of Good Hope on the African coast in the15th century, found a trade route from the sea to India, and accidentally discovered mauritius island.

However, due to the navigation technology that the fleet can only sail along the African coastline at this time, they abandoned mauritius island, which is far from the main channel and has no economic value.

Dutch colonists also inadvertently occupied the island in 1598, and they named the island "Mauritius" after the then Dutch prince. However, due to the isolation of the island, the Netherlands did not develop and construct it at first. Four years after the discovery of Mauritius, the Netherlands established the East India Company, a commercial company engaged in colonial plunder and monopoly trade in the East.

The East India Company decided to develop and build mauritius island. The Dutch tried to grow grain and introduce sugarcane, but the serious rodent damage on the island led to the slow growth of crops. In addition, mauritius island is far from the main channel, so the Netherlands finally abandoned the island (17 10).

You sing, I go on stage. Five years after the Dutch abandoned it, the French East India Company occupied the island in 17 15. After investigation, the climate of mauritius island belongs to tropical and subtropical maritime climate. As a volcanic island, the soil in mauritius island is mostly formed after volcanic eruption, which is fertile enough to grow subtropical crops such as sugarcane and coffee. The French government promoted the cultivation of sugarcane.

Planting sugar cane and coffee requires a lot of labor, and the number of white immigrants is less than 1000 (French company employees, prisoners, etc. ) on the island, it can't meet the needs of planting. France moved a certain number of Indians from French Indian colonies and became the first Indians to come to mauritius island. However, this labor force is far from enough. France has brought more black slaves from East Africa, making the proportion of black people in Mauritius higher and higher.

▲ Sugarcane fields in Mauritius

At this time, blacks gradually became the main residents of the island. By the end of 18, there were as many as 50,000 black slaves, far more than whites and other immigrants. Later, these people merged with the descendants of immigrants from Europe and became the second largest ethnic group in Mauritius-Creoles.

After the industrial revolution, the maritime transport capacity has improved, and Mauritius is no longer a marginal zone deviating from the main channel. /kloc-At the end of 0/8, mauritius island became the French trade center in the Indian Ocean.

▲ Bertrand Franois Bourdonnet, a French naval general who promoted the development of Mauritius.

When the transshipment trade in Mauritius was in full swing, Britain discovered Australia at 1770. With the development of Australia, Britain feels that Mauritius is not only an important transit point from Australia to the Cape of Good Hope, but also an important transit point from India to the Cape of Good Hope. Britain has always coveted this island.

▲ Napoleon's final failure in the Battle of Waterloo.

The outbreak of the French Revolution made Britain wait for an opportunity. Britain and other European countries formed an anti-French alliance and actively participated in the French Revolution.

During the war, the production capacity in Europe was destroyed, and the prices of products in mauritius island were generally lower than those in Europe. Neutral countries such as the United States and Denmark took the opportunity to engage in transshipment trade here. According to statistics, only 50 foreign ships reached the island in 1804, and this number increased to 126 in 1807. It can be said that during the Great Revolution, mauritius island's foreign trade grew rapidly and became an important transshipment center in the world trade system.

In order to maintain its hegemony in Indian Ocean trade, Britain occupied the island in 18 10. After the war 18 14, the victorious country and the defeated country signed the Paris Peace Treaty, and Mauritius was classified as a British colony. With the development of ocean transportation, Mauritius is surrounded by the sea and far from the mainland, but it has gradually become an advantage.

▲ British invasion of Mauritius's Dagang Campaign

Second, after the abolitionist movement, Indian laborers arrived.

After the British occupation of mauritius island, it continued to support the local sugarcane planting and sugar industry, and the plantation economy developed rapidly, and sugarcane gradually became the most important crop on the island.

The development of plantation economy needs a lot of labor, and the slave trade in Africa was prevalent at that time, which was easy to solve. By 1835, the number of slaves in Mauritius was as high as 65,000, far exceeding the sum of other immigrants.

Under the change of the world situation, the slaves who have made outstanding contributions to the economic prosperity of Mauritius plantations are finally free. /kloc-At the end of 0/8, with the influence of the Enlightenment, especially the pursuit of human rights in the French Revolution, there was a call to ban the slave trade in western countries.

▲ 1840 "World Conference on Abolition of Slavery" held in London.

After the first industrial revolution, the strength of industrial capitalists gradually increased, and they demanded cheaper raw materials and labor. However, the original system of "slave trade+plantation+raw material import" monopolized most of the sources of raw materials, and also concentrated a large number of labor in plantations, which was not conducive to industrial development. Industrial capitalists advocated the abolition of the slave trade.

18 17, the British government issued an order prohibiting the slave trade, but the colonial government secretly supported the slave trade. With the growth of industrial capitalists, they started the "Abolition Movement" in Britain, especially after they took the lead in the British Parliament. 1833, the British Parliament passed a decree prohibiting the slave trade in the British Empire.

▲/kloc-in the 9th century, the Royal Navy West Africa Fleet captured the HMS Black Humor of slave ship.

As a result, nearly 70,000 slaves on the island of Mauritius became free men, who refused to continue working in the plantation because of the serious exploitation they had suffered before.

However, Mauritius needs a lot of labor to develop sugarcane planting and sucrose production. In order to solve this problem, Britain started an experiment in Mauritius, that is, recruiting contract workers. Mauritius is the first region in the world to adopt the contract worker system.

At this time, India, which has become a British colony, has a large population, which has exceeded 654.38 billion, and the life of ordinary people is very difficult. Therefore, Britain has attracted a large number of contract workers from southern India and other places under the guise of "working in Mauritius will lead to a better life".

▲ The Ap Ravasi Gat area, a world cultural heritage in Mauritius, is the place where Indian workers landed for the first time.

1834 alone, 290,000 Indian indentured laborers landed from Port Louis, Mauritius. Indians suddenly surpassed the black slaves and white immigrants who had worked in Mauritius for nearly a hundred years and became the largest ethnic group in Mauritius.

From 1834 to 1923, Britain recruited about 500,000 Indian laborers and nearly 9,000 Indian soldiers from India. Besides Indians, thousands of Hakkas from China and a few workers from other Southeast Asian countries came to Mauritius.

Although the laborers worked hard and lived a meager life in Mauritius, 95% of them stayed in Mauritius after the contract ended. Indian descendants with a large base have thus become the largest ethnic group in Mauritius.

After Indian rule, their living habits and religious beliefs have influenced all aspects of Mauritian society, and Hinduism has become the most important religion in Mauritius. The political and economic rights of Mauritius also began to transfer from French Mauritians and Creoles to Indians.

190 1 year, Gandhi, the leader of the Indian national liberation movement, visited Mauritius, which inspired Indian workers in Mauritius to demand a greater say in the country. 1936, they established the first political party in Mauritius, the Labour Party, and began to fight for the independence of Mauritius.

▲ The President of Mauritius presented a wreath to the statue of Gandhi, who also contributed to the independence of Mauritius.

Third, "Little India" Mauritius

Although Mauritius occupies an important position in the trade system of the British Empire, it is only a new raw material producing area for Britain at best, mainly developing sugarcane cultivation, and its economy has been underdeveloped.

After World War II, India became independent on 1947, and Mauritius became independent on 1968. Both countries have become members of the Commonwealth. The newly independent Mauritius still maintains a single planting system, and the sugarcane planting area accounts for 93% of the total planting area. In the 1960s, after more than 20 years of independent development, India's economy was relatively good.

▲ Port Louis, the largest port in Mauritius.

Because Indians are the largest ethnic group in Mauritius, they control the political life of Mauritius after independence, and their presidents are basically Indians. After Mauritius became independent, India provided economic and cultural assistance to Mauritius. Mauritius has become the biggest beneficiary of India's aid to Africa, and the two sides have also set up a joint committee to discuss the economic cooperation plan between the two countries.

▲ Mauritius known as "Little India"

After independence, Mauritius has vigorously developed offshore financial business and entrepot trade, becoming one of the financial centers in the Indian Ocean and one of the richest countries in Africa. In the ranking of countries' ease of doing business published by the World Bank in 20 19, Mauritius ranked first in Africa for many years in a row, and ranked 19 among all economies in the world, so it has the reputation of "Switzerland in Africa".

Mauritius has also reciprocated, and now there are more than 9,000 offshore companies mainly targeting markets such as India. With the rapid economic development, Mauritius has become India's largest source of foreign investment. From 2000 to 20 14, Mauritius' investment in India accounted for 35% of India's foreign investment, ranking first in the world.

▲ Among the top ten investments in India, Mauritius once ranked first.

Although India's economy has also developed rapidly since its independence, the poverty-stricken population has remained high due to the rapid population growth. For poor Indians, Mauritius is a "paradise" for them to go out to work and emigrate. In particular, they found that the customs, habits and lifestyles of Mauritius are similar to those of India, and they can be seamlessly integrated into local life. Therefore, Mauritius has become one of the first choices for Indian immigrants.