Mauritian of Indian origin

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Indo-Mauritian भारतीय मॉरीशस
Total population
882,000[1]
Languages
Creole · English · French · Hindi · Marathi · Tamil · Telugu · Urdu · Bhojpuri
Religion
Predominantly Hinduism with minorities following Islam and Others

Mauritian of Indian origin, also known as Indo-Mauritians, are Mauritians people whose ancestors are from the Indian Subcontinent. They currently make up more than 68% of the Mauritian population.

History

People from British India first arrived in Mauritius to work as indentured labourers, commonly referred to as coolies, that were intended to work in sugarcane fields. Indentured laborers were mostly brought from the state of Bihar, with a large number of Tamil and Telugu people amongst them. A sizeable portion of labourers were Marathi-speakers from Maharashtra.

Non-indentured arrivals from India had their origins largely in Gujarat, with smaller numbers coming from Punjab and Sindh. As free immigrants, these later arrivals were commonly employed by the British in the armed forces, police forces, as security personnel, especially those from the Punjab and Bombay Presidency with a substantial portion of immigrants from Gujarat and Sindh arriving as traders, businessmen and merchants.

In the late 19th to early 20th century, Chinese men in Mauritius married Indian women due to both a lack of Chinese women and the higher numbers of Indian women on the island.[2][3] At first the prospect of relations with Indian women was unappealing to the original all male Chinese migrants yet they eventually had to establish sexual unions with Indian women since there were no Chinese women arriving in the country.[4] The 1921 census in Mauritius counted that Indian women there had a total of 148 children fathered by Chinese men.[5][6][7] These Chinese were mostly traders.[8]

Colonialist stereotypes in the sugar colonies of Indians emerged such as "the degraded coolie woman" and the "coolie wife beater", due to Indian women being murdered by their husbands after they ran away to other richer men since the ratio of Indian women to men was low.[9] When the indenture system was abandoned, Indian immigrants had already formed the majority of the population of the island. There were later waves of immigrants to complement them.

Demographics

Today the population consists of mainly Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and Bahais. The mother tongue of almost all Mauritians is the Mauritian Creole, while a minority of Indo-Mauritians still use both their ancestral language and Creole at home. Indo-Mauritian use their ancestral languages mostly in religious activities, some of them include Hindi, Urdu, Bhojpuri, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu. Some Indian Muslims can also speak Arabic.

As from age six, all Mauritian children must learn a third language at school (French and English are already compulsory). The languages learnt in decreasing order are Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Mandarin, Telugu and Marathi. Mauritian Creoles can opt for Mauritian Creole as the third language. Choice is usually based on ethno-religious background with Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Marathi chosen by Hindus and Urdu by Muslims.

Indian influence

Indo-Mauritians have had an impact on Mauritian culture dominating the economic and political faces of the island. Mauritian politics have been historically dominated by the Indo-Mauritian community due to their majority as a whole on the electoral platform. All presidents except Karl Offmann and all prime ministers except for Paul Berenger have been members of the community. Most Hindu celebrations are public holidays. Indian influence is felt in religion, cuisine and arts. Indian influence is also felt on music wherein the island has its own groups of Bhojpuri and Tamil bands. Indian films are also popular.

Notable people

Sports

Football is the most popular sport amongst Mauritians. Vikash Dhorasoo, who played for French football team, is of Indo-Mauritian origin.

See also

Notes and references

Footnotes

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Notations

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