ABSTRACT
During a critical decade before independence in 1968, Mauritius' Asian majority overcame the often violent resistance of an apprehensive, relatively privileged minority—primarily Europeans and Creoles of mixed origins—in order to obtain statehood from Britain. The crucial climatic and market fortunes of Mauritius' imperious sugar crop turned catastrophic after some favorable seasons in the early years after independence. The only independent Mascarene began its social life, like Reunion as a total creation of Europe. Unlike Reunion, its European founders have surrendered their political kingdom to the majority. For the French, Mauritius had the advantage of a position near the Cape-to-india route. Mauritius and Britain had signed a six-year Mutual Defence and Assistance Agreement to help assure continuity of institutions and the stability of the fragile order bequeathed to the new nation. Post-war modernization had so improved public health that by the late 1950s Mauritius was threatened with an alarming surge in population.
