About 500 miles east of the island of Madagascar, in the Indian Ocean, lays the idyllic island nation of Mauritius. The island lays on the trade routes that were so very important to the growing empires of France and Britain and was highly prized by both. Prior to that, both the Arabs and the Dutch had visited the island on several occasions, establishing colonies. The British brought Indian troops to the island after the First World War and turned them into indentured labor to help on the sugar cane plantations, but their plight was much better than slaves and eventually they became an integral part of the multi-ethnic culture of the island.
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