Mauritians of Indian origin, also known as Indo-Mauritians, are Mauritians whose ancestors are from the Indian subcontinent. They currently make up more than 68% of the Mauritian population.
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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 and Odia-speakers from Odisha.
Non-indentured arrivals from India had their origins largely in Gujarat, with smaller numbers coming from 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. 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. The 1921 census in Mauritius counted that Indian women there had a total of 148 children fathered by Chinese men. These Chinese were mostly traders.
Demographics
Today the population consists of mainly Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and Bahá'is. 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 Bhojpuri, Tamil, Hindi, Marathi, Telugu and Odia.
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, Marathi and Odia. Mauritian Creoles can opt for Mauritian Creole as the third language. Choice is usually based on ethno-religious background with Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Odia and Marathi chosen by Hindus and Urdu by Muslims.
Indian influence
Indo-Mauritians have influenced 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.