chapter 13: Improving Elementary School Literacy In Mauritius Through Project Zep

Mauritius is a tranquil island gem located in the South Indian Ocean some 900 miles off the southeastern corner of Madagascar. Coral reefs form beautiful lagoons that shelter the island from storms. The island, which is of volcanic origin, was known to Arab sailors who stopped to resupply there as early as the tenth century. However, Western history credits the island as being discovered in 1505 by Pedro Mascarenhas, a Portuguese navigator. From 1598 to 1712 agents of the Dutch East Indies Trading Company and their families occupied the island. Later it became a French slave colony from 1715 to 1810. The island was ceded to Great Britain in 1814 through the Treaty of Paris. Mauritius gained its independence from Great Britain in 1968.