Mauritian Creole People
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mauritian Creole people are the people of African and Malagasy origin who live in Mauritius.
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[edit] Origins
Brought in as slaves to work the plantations of Mauritius (as well as Réunion and Seychelles), the slaves were mostly Malagasy or African with the Africans brought mostly from Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia.
[edit] Creoles Today
Today the Creoles in Mauritius are outnumbered by the Indo-Mauritians, (but they form the majority in Reunion and Seychelles). They are divided into several groups in Mauritius(which aren't exclusive but were used very often in the past): Mulattoes, Blacks(mazombik, nasyon, ti kreol), madras batize(creoles with tamil ancestors), a lot of variance in between these and there is also the near-whites. Tension arose after independence when the Indian-dominated society treated the Creoles as third-class citizens. There is still a high political segregation between Hindus and Creoles.
[edit] Demographical factors
The majority of Creoles are Christian (mostly Catholic with Protestant and Seventh-day Adventist minorities). Recently, influences from other communities of African origin, particularly the Caribbean, have influenced a significant number of Creoles to become Rastafarian. There is also a non-religious minority as well as some Islamic converts. The language spoken at home for all Creoles is Mauritian Creole, the majority also speaking French and English.
[edit] See also
- African Diaspora
- Réunionnaise Creole People
- Seychellois Creole People
- Culture of the Western Indian Ocean
