Port Louis, Mauritius
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Port Louis (, ; or , ) is the capital and most populous city of
Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...
, mainly located in the Port Louis District, with a small western part in the Black River District. Port Louis is the country's financial and political centre. It is administered by the Municipal City Council of Port Louis. According to the 2018 census conducted by
Statistics Mauritius Statistics Mauritius, formerly known as the Central Statistics Office (CSO) until 2000, is the national statistical agency of Mauritius. It operates under the aegis of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and is responsible for all ...
, the population was 147,066.


History

Port Louis was used as a harbour by the Dutch settlers from 1606, when they started to refer to the area as ''Harbour of Tortoises''. In 1736, under French government, it became the administrative centre of Mauritius and a major reprovisioning halt for French ships during their passage between Asia and Europe, around the
Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...
. The Port is named in honour of King
Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defi ...
. During this period of French colonization, Mauritius was known as Ile de France. The French governor at that time,
Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais Bertrand-François Mahé, comte de La Bourdonnais (11 February 169910 November 1753) was a French Navy navy officer, officer and colonial administrator who was employed by the Louis XIV's East India Company, French East India Company. Biography ...
, contributed to the development of the city. Since Port Louis was relatively well-protected from strong winds during cyclones by the Moka Mountain Range, Port Louis was selected to house both the main harbor and fort for the island. The value of the port continued during the British occupation of the island during the
Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
(1800–15), and helped Britain control the Indian Ocean. However, port calls of ships fell drastically following the opening of the
Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...
in 1869. Activity in the port increased during the seven-year closure of the Suez Canal (starting in 1967). Modernization of the port in the late 1970s has helped it maintain its role as the central point for all imports and exports from Mauritius. While Port Louis continues to be the business and administrative capital of Mauritius, expansion of the tourism industry in the late 1990s led to considerable development in Port Louis, with many shops, hotels, and restaurants being built in the Caudan Waterfront area. Raouf Oderuth, the Mauritian Artist provides a 1930s scene depicting the waterfront when motorised transportation hardly existed. Place D’Armes is still recognisable despite high-rise buildings, heavy traffic jams, and crowds of pedestrians.


Government

The local governance of Port Louis is overseen by a municipal city council. The City Council of Port Louis was first established in 1830 and is currently one of five municipal councils responsible for the urban areas in Mauritius, as organized under Local Government Act 2011. The municipal city council has 32 members. The city is electorally divided into eight wards that each return four councillors. Councillors then elect a Lord
Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
and a Deputy Lord Mayor. Functions of the council are performed through Departments of Administration, Finance, Land Use and Planning, Public Infrastructure, Public Health, Welfare, Parks and Gardens, and the City Library. Services delivered by the local government include preschool, kindergarten, and vocational schools, health protection, housing regulation, road services, refuse collection, cemeteries, some environmental and consumer protection services, and economic promotion activities. Other services are provided to the city by the central government. These include police services through the Mauritius Police Force, which maintains two divisions responsible for the Port Louis area (Metropolitan Divisions North and South). There is also a specific Port Police, composed of the Harbour Police and Bulk Sugar Terminal Police. Their roles include providing security to cargo and facilities in the port area and enforcing laws related to harbour regulations, customs, quarantine, immigration, and drug trafficking. Port Louis is divided into different suburbs including but not limited to: * Bell-Village * Borstal * Camp Yoloff * Cassis * Champ-de-Mars * Cité La Cure * Cité Vallijee * Grande-Rivière-Nord-Ouest * La Tour Koënig * Pailles * Plaine Lauzun * Plaine-Verte * Pointe-aux-Sables * Roche-Bois * Sainte-Croix * Tranquebar * Vallée-des-Prêtres * Vallée-Pitot During the 2025 municipal elections, Alliance du Changement won 31 of the 32 council seats, while an
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
secured one. Following the election, the council elected Aslam Hosenally of the
Mauritian Militant Movement The Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM; ) is a left-wing socialist political party in Mauritius. The party was founded by a group of students in the late 1960s. The MMM advocates a fairer society, without discrimination on the basis of social clas ...
as lord mayor, who previously held the role from 2012 to 2013, and the Labour Party's Giovanni Hensley as deputy lord mayor.


Climate

Owing to its location in the rain shadow of the southeast trade winds, Port Louis features a
tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry "winter") and ''As'' (for a dry "summer"). The driest month has less than ...
(''Aw'') under Köppen's climate classification. Its wettest months are from December through April where on average (or more) of rainfall occurs each month. The remaining months form Port Louis' dry season. The city also shows a noticeable but small range of average temperatures. Port Louis' coolest temperatures are seen mid-year where average high temperatures are around . During the height of the wet season, the city sees its highest temperatures where average high temperatures are usually around .


Economy

The economy of the city is mostly dominated by its financial centre, port facilities, tourism, and the manufacturing sector which includes textiles,
chemicals A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...
, plastics and
pharmaceuticals Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the ...
. Port Louis is home to the biggest port facility in the Indian Ocean region and one of Africa's major financial centres.


Finance industry

Port Louis is the financial centre of Mauritius, which has established itself as safe and trusted location for conducting business due to its strong democracy, political stability, and multilingual population. Located in Port Louis is the Stock Exchange of Mauritius. Also in Port Louis are over ten commercial banks that serve both domestic and offshore clients, insurance companies, pension funds, mutual funds, leasing companies, and foreign exchange dealers. The oldest bank based in Port Louis is the Mauritius Commercial Bank, which was founded in 1838. The Bank of Mauritius is the central bank of the country. Measuring from ground level to its pinnacle, the Bank of Mauritius Tower is the tallest building in the country.


Transportation

Port Louis is served by two major bus stations. Victoria Station is used by buses to and from the eastern and southern areas and the
Plaines Wilhems Plaine may refer to: * Plaine (river), a tributary of the Meurthe (river), river Meurthe in France * Plaine, Bas-Rhin, a commune in Alsace in north-eastern France * Plaine-Haute, a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwester ...
district. Immigration Square, also known as Gare du Nord, is a terminus for buses coming from the northern districts of Pamplemousses and Rivière du Rempart. A number of inter-city buses carry passengers to and from nearby suburbs such as Plaine Verte, Vallée-des-Prêtres, Pailles, Plaine Lauzun, and Cité Vallijee. Most streets in Port Louis are laid out in rectangular grids, and many are one-way. Although most roads are in good shape, many streets are fairly narrow as would be expected for a historic colonial town. Due to the daily influx of workers to business and government offices in Port Louis, day-time traffic can be quite heavy and finding parking spaces a challenge.
To cope with increasing traffic congestion, the government has proposed a
light rail transit Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...
system. Other suggestions have included moving some of the 24 government ministries currently located in Port Louis to surrounding regions or introducing flexible work schedules. An effort to move workers from the city centre has already started with the construction of the
Ébène Ébène () is a suburb of Quatre Bornes, Mauritius, south of the capital, Port Louis. Construction began in November 2001, with the suburb being promoted as a new information technology hub for Mauritius and as a link between African and Asian ma ...
office tower complex south of Port Louis. A ring road passing on the east side of Port Louis is also expected to reduce congestion. Phase 1 of that project was completed in 2013, but in February 2014 the road needed to be closed due to the appearance of a major crack, apparently due to faulty design. Another project initiated to reduce congestion is the construction of a bridge (commonly referred to as the "Dream Bridge") from Les Salines to Roche-Bois, which will span the Port Louis harbour.


Light rail transit system

In 2012, the government decided to construct an approximately 25 km rail system between
Curepipe Curepipe (), also known as ''La Ville-Lumière'' (The City of Light), is a town in Mauritius, located mainly in the Plaines Wilhems District. Its eastern part lies in the Moka District. The town is administered by the Municipal Council of Cure ...
and Port Louis, which had been under consideration for nearly three decades. The project was initiated by a government-to-government agreement with the Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE), along with private partners Singapore Mass Rapid Transit ( SMRT) Corporation and the South African/Australian engineering firm
Aurecon Aurecon Group Pty Ltd is an Australian engineering, project management and consulting company based in Docklands, Victoria Docklands is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on the western end of the Melbourne central bus ...
Ltd. The goal was to develop a preliminary plan of the system, and then solicit expressions of interest for a design-build-operate-finance scheme, with a concession period of 33 years. Construction for the light rail transit transport system began in the Fall of 2017, with the government of Mauritius awarding the contract to the Mumbai-based design and construction firm Larsen & Toubro. The first stage of Mauritius Metro Express, from Port Louis to Rose Hill Central, was opened in January 2020, the second stage, an extension to Curepipe, in October 2022.


Port

Port Louis is home to the nation's main harbour, which is the only official port of entry and exit for sea vessels in Mauritius. Ships must be cleared in the port before visiting any other anchorage in the island nation. The
Mauritius Ports Authority The Mauritius Ports Authority (MPA) is a parastatal organisation in Mauritius, it is the sole regulator and manager of the port and its services. Functions Formerly known as the Mauritius Marine Authority (MMA), the MPA is the sole national p ...
(MPA), established by law in 1998, is the port authority responsible for Port Louis. The MPA provides port infrastructure, enters into contracts with private providers for port and cargo-handling services, promotes the use and development of the ports, and licenses and regulates port and marine services. The harbour adjoins the main city, with the port currently comprising three terminals. Terminal I contains a total of 1180 meters of
quay A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...
, with six berthing positions for cargo, passengers, and fishing boats. Terminal II contains 986 meters of quays with six berthing positions and includes specialized facilities for handling and storing sugar, fish,
tallow Tallow is a rendered form of beef or mutton suet, primarily made up of triglycerides. In industry, tallow is not strictly defined as beef or mutton suet. In this context, tallow is animal fat that conforms to certain technical criteria, inc ...
, and
caustic soda Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye and caustic soda, is an inorganic compound with the formula . It is a white solid ionic compound consisting of sodium cations and hydroxide anions . Sodium hydroxide is a highly corrosive base and alkali t ...
. In particular, the Bulk Sugar Terminal (operated by the Mauritius Sugar Terminal Corporation) can handle vessels with up to 11 meters of draft, can load sugar at a rate of 1450 tons per hour, and can store 175,000 tons of cargo. Also present in Terminal II is a dedicated 124-meter
cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...
jetty A jetty is a man-made structure that protrudes from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater (structure), breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French la ...
, with a dredged depth of 10.8 metres. Terminal III has two 280-meter quays with a depth of 14 meters, and is specialized for handling container ships, having three super-post-
Panamax Panamax and New Panamax (or Neopanamax) are terms for the size limits for ships traveling through the Panama Canal. The limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a publication titled "Vessel Requirements". ...
and five post-Panamax gantry cranes. Also present are storage facilities for bulk
ethanol Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...
and
tie-in A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, website, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original proper ...
points for reefer containers. Vessels too large to dock at the quays can anchor at the Outer Anchorage, which is still within the official boundaries of the port. The number of ships visiting the port numbered over 2,200 annually in 2010. In 2019, cargo container capacity was 1 million TEUs ( twenty-foot equivalent units). Overall, the port contributes 2% to the country's GDP. The cruise ship terminal, opened in 2010 and named after Christian Decotter (past chairman of the Mauritius Tourism Advisory Board), illustrates the increasing role of tourism in the economy of Mauritius. Cruise ships of up to 300 metres can be accommodated at the facility, which includes two access bridges for passengers and vehicles. The facility was the first in the Indian Ocean to be capable of handling the largest cruise ships in the world. In 2012, passenger arrivals by sea included 11,510 tourists and 6,450 excursionists who arrived aboard 23 cruise ships. Berthing facilities are available at the Caudan Waterfront. Available are 20 berths with electrical and water connections, showers and toilets, laundry, and vehicle parking. Also available are dry dock and hull and sail repair facilities. Depths of the berths range from 2 to 4 meters, depending on the tide, and up to 30-metre ships can be accommodated. Also based in the port is the National Coast Guard facility, at Quay A of Terminal I.


Education

Port-Louis houses several secondary schools which include Alpha College, Bhujoharry College, Labourdonnais College, Port Louis Academy, Loreto College, Madad Ul Islam Girls College, Muslim Girls College, City College, Full Day School, Institute of Islamic and Secular Studies, London College, Ocep The Open College, and Port Louis High School, MEDCO Trinity Secondary School, MEDCO Trinity Secondary School, Port Louis North SSS, and Sir Abdool Razack Mohammed SSS, Goolam Mohammed Dawjee Atchia State College, MEDCO Cassis Secondary School, Renganaden Seeneevassen SSS, Port Louis SSS and Royal College Port Louis. The state also operates a vocational school for boys, Immaculee Conception SSV. The major institute of tertiary education in Port Louis is the University of Technology, Mauritius, a public university with a technology focus. The École de Medecine Louis Pasteur prepares students for medical studies at Université de Lille in France. Several technical schools also have locations in the city, including the Jhurry Rya School which specializes in information technology, Appavoo Business School, Apollo Bramwell Nursing School, BSP School of Accountancy & Management, and the London College of Accountancy.


Architecture

The city is full of numerous buildings and monuments that reflect its rich and diverse colonial history. Near the city centre, there are several French colonial buildings that date to the 18th century, including the Government House. Other prominent traditional elements include the Jummah Mosque, the majestic English Saint James Cathedral, the Indian Tamil Temple, the elegant five-tier colonial Port Louis Theatre (Théâtre de Port-Louis), the Champ de Mars Racecourse, and the nearby Chinese Pagoda. Also present are some typical houses from past eras, which are mostly wooden structures with shuttered windows and large porches. However, many historic buildings are in a poor state of repair and are being quickly replaced with homes and commercial structures constructed from more durable but less sustainable materials such as concrete, and the city now includes many glass/concrete high-rises.


Chinatown

The Pagoda is a central feature of the Port Louis Chinatown, which is one of several Chinatowns in Africa. Its entrance is marked by a large "friendship" gate, just east of the Central Market. The site was the traditional location of homes and shops of the Chinese community, which was dominated by descendants of the
Hakka Chinese Hakka ( zh, c=, p=Kèjiāhuà; '' Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: '', zh, c=, p=Kèjiāyǔ; '' Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: '') forms a language group of varieties of Chinese, spoken natively by the Hakka people in parts of Southern China, Taiwan, some diaspora areas ...
, who first came to Mauritius in 1826. Chinatown is now home to a more diverse community, but preserves its original appearance and contains many small shops and restaurants. Its old buildings and Chinese pagodas face the modern buildings of the city's business centre. The Chinese Chamber of Commerce (founded in 1908 and second only to Singapore as the world's oldest) hosts a popular food and cultural festival each April or May. The Chamber also runs a funeral parlour for the Chinese Community called 'Kit Lok', to provide vigil facilities for bereaved families.


Culture

Port Louis has been an active cultural city attracting painters, poets, sculptors, and writers for centuries. Marie-Thérèse Humbert wrote her famous novel, ''La Montagne des Signaux'', with Port-Louis in mind. Malcolm de Chazal was a common Mauritian visionary writer and painter who was often seen in the capital, mostly at the central market, Champ de Mars and l'hôtel National. Robert Edouard-Hart, a great poet found in this very active city a source of inspiration. Port-Louis-born poet and
semiologist Semiotics ( ) is the systematic study of sign processes and the communication of meaning. In semiotics, a sign is defined as anything that communicates intentional and unintentional meaning or feelings to the sign's interpreter. Semiosis is an ...
Khal Torabully, the foremost poet of
indenture An indenture is a legal contract that reflects an agreement between two parties. Although the term is most familiarly used to refer to a labor contract between an employer and a laborer with an indentured servant status, historically indentures we ...
and coolitude, recently designed Travellers' Lane at the Jardin de la Compagnie, inaugurated by
Navin Ramgoolam Navinchandra Ramgoolam (born 14 July 1947) is a Mauritian politician and physician who is the current prime minister of Mauritius, serving since 2024. He previously held the office from 1995 to 2000 and from 2005 to 2014 and intermittently serve ...
, the Mauritian Prime Minister and the Parcours Culturel with aphorisms of Malcolm de Chazal, just facing the famous Port Louis Theatre. That theater, still in use and catering mostly to presentations of classical music, jazz, and local drama, has a distinguished history that includes the first presentation of opera on the island in the 19th century by travelling European troupes. More modern entertainment facilities in Port Louis include several cinemas, in which most films are presented in French and English. Recently opened in Paille, a suburb of Port Louis, is the ultra-modern
Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda () (12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindus, Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. Vivekananda was a major figu ...
International Convention Centre. It is the first such facility in Mauritius and is used to house conventions, concerts, trade shows, and exhibitions. English is currently the official language of Port Louis and Mauritius.


Museums

The Blue Penny Museum is located at the Caudan Waterfront, and is dedicated to the history and art of the island. Its collection includes antique marine maps, paintings, sculptures, engravings, and stamps, including examples of the famous orange-red one penny and deep blue two-pence stamps. The Natural History Museum of Port Louis houses exhibits of the impressive fauna of Mauritius, with a gallery devoted to birds and terrestrial animals, a second focusing on marine species, and a third focused on the
dodo The dodo (''Raphus cucullatus'') is an extinction, extinct flightless bird that was endemism, endemic to the island of Mauritius, which is east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The dodo's closest relative was the also-extinct and flightles ...
, the famous Mauritian bird which became extinct during the Dutch occupation. The Mauritius Postal Museum is housed in an old stone building that dates to the 18th century, and houses displays of stamps and postal paraphernalia from Mauritius and around the world. The Mauritius Photography Museum, located in a small 18th-century white-washed French colonial building, is a private museum that displays artifacts and documents about Mauritian photography and the early days of cinematography. Located in the Ex-Military Hospital, the Intercontinental Slavery Museum deals with the history of the slave trade, slavery and indentured labour. It also houses a documentation centre. The Aapravasi Ghat is the remains of the immigration depot that was built by the British Government to import labourers from India, Eastern Africa, Madagascar, China, and Southeast Asia to work on the island's sugar estates. Although not a museum in a traditional sense, the National Library of Mauritius houses a rich and comprehensive collection of material related to Mauritius history, including manuscripts, books, newspapers, periodicals, music scores, photographs, maps, drawings, and other graphic art forms and audiovisual materials, in addition to providing the traditional services of a library to residents of the city and nation.


Places of worship

The most common
places of worship A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for this purpose is so ...
are
Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
temples. There are also Christian churches and temples : Roman Catholic Diocese of Port-Louis (
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
),
Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean The Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean is a province (Anglican), province of the Anglican Communion. It covers the islands of Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles. The current Archbishop and Primate (bishop), Primate is Gilbert Ratel ...
(
Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is a Christian Full communion, communion consisting of the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, ...
),
Assemblies of God The World Assemblies of God Fellowship (WAGF), commonly known as the Assemblies of God (AG), is a global cooperative body or communion of over 170 Pentecostal denominations that was established on August 15, 1989. The WAGF was created to provi ...
and
Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
mosques.


Sports

Sports are popular among the inhabitants of Port Louis, as in the rest of Mauritius. Over 35 sports federations are organized under the aegis of the Mauritius Sports Council. Popular activities include football, volleyball, a range of martial arts (Karate, Taekwon Do, Wushu), table tennis, badminton, and pétanque, which is a form of boules. The Mauritius National Olympic committee is also based in Port Louis. Public sports facilities in Port Louis include St. François Xavier stadium, which is used for football. There is however a general dearth of public facilities in Port Louis proper, with most being built in the surrounding less-densely inhabited suburbs and districts. Football clubs are organized nationwide by the
Mauritius Football Association The Mauritius Football Association (MFA) is the governing body of Football (soccer), football in Mauritius. It was founded in 1952, affiliated to FIFA in 1964 and to Confederation of African Football, CAF in 1965. The association was formerly kno ...
, which currently has ten teams in its Premier League. This includes the Port Louis team, named the Association Sportive Port-Louis 2000 (
AS Port-Louis 2000 Association Sportive Port-Louis 2000 is a Mauritius, Mauritian professional Association football, football club based in the nation's capital Port Louis. AS Port-Louis 2000 plays in the Mauritian League, Mauritian Premier League. They won their ...
), which won the national championship in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2011. Another popular sports activity in Port Louis is the
Thoroughbred horse race Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter known as National Hunt racing in ...
s held at the Champ de Mars Racecourse, which is the second oldest horse race track in the world. Gambling on the horse races can be done both with bookies and the tote, available at multiple locations inside the grandstand. Gambling, in general, is a popular "sport" in Port Louis. Besides the racecourse, within Port Louis gambling can be done in four casinos that offer table games plus gaming, slot, and video poker machines. Port Louis includes the largest casino in the entire country of Mauritius, the Caudan Waterfront Casino at Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel. Other casinos are the Le Grand Casino du Domaine, L'Amicale Casino, and the Senator Club.


Twin towns – sister cities

Port Louis is twinned with: *
Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...
, Egypt *
Antsiranana Antsiranana ( ), named Diego-Suarez prior to 1975, is a city in the far north of Madagascar. Antsiranana is the capital of Diana Region. It had an estimated population of 115,015 in 2013. History At the beginning of the 16th century, a Portugue ...
, Madagascar *
Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...
, Senegal *
Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...
, Qatar *
Foshan Foshan (, ; Chinese: 佛山) is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. The entire prefecture covers and had a population of 9,498,863 as of the 2020 census. The city is part of the western side of the Pearl River Delta m ...
, China *
Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...
, Pakistan *
La Possession La Possession () is a Commune in France, commune in the France, French overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department of Réunion. It is located in the northwestern part of the island of Réunion, between the capital of Saint-Den ...
, Réunion, France * Lamentin, Guadeloupe, France *
Maputo Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...
, Mozambique * Port Mathurin, Mauritius *
Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...
, South Africa *
Saint-Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo language, Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany (administrative region), Brittany. The Fortification, walled city on the English Channel coast had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth ...
, France


Notable people

* Eugénie Poujade (1814-1881), writer and poet * Élysée Aviragnet (1828-1908), professor of literature and music notable people.


See also

*
List of places in Mauritius This is a list of populated places in Mauritius and Agaléga. Mauritius Cities Towns Villages Agaléga See also * Outer islands of Mauritius * Districts of Mauritius * Geography of Mauritius * ISO 3166-2:MU Refere ...
* Port Louis District * World Hindi Secretariat


References


External links

* {{Authority control Ports and harbours of the Indian Ocean Populated places established in the 1730s 1730s establishments in Africa Capitals in Africa Populated coastal places in Mauritius