Mauritius is an island of Africa's southeast coast located in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

, east of

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. It is geologically located within the

Somali plate The Somali Plate is a minor tectonic plate which straddles the Equator in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is currently in the process of separating from the African Plate along the East African Rift Valley. It is approximately centered on the isl ...

Statistics

L'île Maurice vue par Sentinel 2 (cropped)

Area (includes

Agaléga Agaléga (french: îles Agaléga) is a dependency of Mauritius which consists of two outer islands located in the Indian Ocean, about north of Mauritius Island. The population of the islands as at July 2011 was estimated at 289. The islands h ...

Cargados Carajos It is highly likely that the name Saint Brandon was derived from the French sailors and corsairs that sailed to and from Britanny, after a town called Saint-Brandan. It has since been Anglicised to Saint Brandon and is also known as the Cargad ...

(Saint Brandon), and Rodrigues):
''total:'' 2,011 km²
''land:'' 2,030 km²
''water:'' 10 km²
''note:'' includes Agalega Islands, Cargados Carajos Shoais (Saint Brandon), and Rodrigues. Coastline: 177 km Maritime claims: ''territorial sea:''
''continental shelf:'' or to the edge of the

continental margin A continental margin is the outer edge of continental crust abutting oceanic crust under coastal waters. It is one of the three major zones of the ocean floor, the other two being deep-ocean basins and mid-ocean ridges. The continental margi ...

''exclusive economic zone:'' Elevation extremes:
''lowest point:'' Indian Ocean 0 m
''highest point:''

Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire (''Little Black River Peak'') is the highest mountain on the island of Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean. Located in the Rivière Noire District and rising to a height of 828 m (2717 ft) above sea level. ...

828 m Natural resources: arable land, fish Land use:
''arable land:'' 38.24%
''permanent crops:'' 1.96%
''other:'' 59.80% (2011) Irrigated land: 212.2 km² (2003) Total renewable water resources: 2.75 km³ (2011) Environment - current issues: water pollution, degradation of coral reefs Environment - international agreements:
''party to:'' Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands Geography - note: The main island is from which the country derives its name, former home of the

dodo The dodo (''Raphus cucullatus'') is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius, which is east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The dodo's closest genetic relative was the also-extinct Rodrigues solitaire. The ...

, a large flightless bird related to pigeons, driven to extinction by the end of the 17th century through a combination of hunting and the introduction of predatory species.

Table of Islands

notes: excludes Tromelin and other îles éparses

Climate

The local

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...

is tropical, modified by southeast trade winds; there is a warm, dry winter from May to November and a hot, wet, and humid summer from November to May.

Anticyclone An anticyclone is a weather phenomenon defined as a large-scale circulation of winds around a central region of high atmospheric pressure, clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from ...

s affect the country during May to September. Cyclones affect Mauritius during November–April. Hollanda (1994) and Dina (2002) were the worst two of the more recent cyclones to have affected the island.

Terrain

The country's landscape consists of a small coastal plain rising to discontinuous mountains encircling a central plateau. Mauritius is almost completely surrounded by reefs that may pose maritime hazards. The main island is of volcanic origin. The mountains with the greatest

prominence In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...

include:

, 828 m, the highest point of the island

Le Morne Brabant Le Morne Brabant is a peninsula at the extreme southwestern tip of the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius on the western side of the island. It is highlighted by an eponymous basaltic monolith with a summit above sea level. The summit covers an are ...

, 556 m Tourelle de Tamarin, 563 m

Corps de Garde Corps de Garde (translation: ''Guard Corpse'') is a 720-metre-high mountain of volcanic origin, in the area Palma in the Black River district of Mauritius. The name derived from the fact that a French military post was once established on its slope ...

, 720 m, prominence 382 m

Le Pouce Le Pouce (; English: "The Thumb") is the third highest mountain in Mauritius, at 812 meters (2664 feet). Only Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire (828 m) and Pieter Both (820 m) are taller. It is named Le Pouce because of the thumb-shaped peak of ...

, 820 m, prominence 352 m

Pieter Both Pieter Both (1568 – 6 March 1615) was the first Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. Not much is known of his early years. In 1599, Both was already an admiral in the New, or Brabant Company. In that year, he traveled to the East Indi ...

, 820 m, prominence 229 m

Montagne Cocotte Montagne Cocotte is a 771 metre tall mountain peak in Mauritius. It is located in the far south of the island nation, in the Savanne District Savanne () or Savannah is a district of Mauritius, situated in the south of the island. The district h ...

, 780 m

Extreme points

This is a list of the extreme points of

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location. * Northernmost point – Tappe à Terre, North Island,

Agaléga Islands Agaléga (french: îles Agaléga) is a dependency of Mauritius which consists of two outer islands located in the Indian Ocean, about north of Mauritius Island. The population of the islands as at July 2011 was estimated at 289. The islands h ...

* Easternmost point – Trou d’Argent,

Rodrigues Island Rodrigues (french: Île Rodrigues, link=yes ; Creole: ) is a autonomous outer island of the Republic of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, about east of Mauritius. It is part of the Mascarene Islands, which include Mauritius and Réunion. Rod ...

* Southernmost point - Le Gris Gris,

Savanne District Savanne () or Savannah is a district of Mauritius, situated in the south of the island. The district has an area of 244.8 km2 and the population estimate was at 68,585 as at 31 December 2015. The southern part of the island is one of the most sce ...

, Mauritius * Westernmost point - North West Point, North Island, Agaléga Islands

References

External links

Mauritius Travel Information
(English) {{commons category, Geography of Mauritius