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Mauritius, an island country, lies 1, 200 miles off the southeastern coast of Africa, and just east of Madagascar, another African island country, which is larger by far than Mauritius. It covers 788 square miles and has a population of 1,100,000, about 750, 000 Indians,300, 000 Clioers, 30, 000 Chinese and 20, 000 Whites included. They are living together peacefully.

The country can be divided into many parts with different climates all because of its peculiar terrains（地形）. In the center there are volcanoes several thousand feet high, and 90 percent of its arable land is covered with sugarcane.

There were no people living on the island before the Dutch landed on it in 1638. The Dutch abandoned it in 1710, and five years later, the French came and succeeded in planting sugarcane there.  It was conquered by Britain in 1810.

Mauritius was extremely poor when it declared its independence in 1968. In the past ten years,  obvious economic prosperity（繁荣）has shown itself in this island country.