Mauritius
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Mauritius. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
or ISLE OF FRANCE, an island in the Indian Ocean, a colony of Great Britain, 500 miles E. of Madagascar ; of an oval form, about 40 miles long from N. E. to S. W., and 25 miles broad, and surrounded by coral reefs; area, 713 square miles ; pop. about 380,000, two-thirds originally coolies imported to work the sugar estates. It is composed chiefly of rugged and irregular mountains, the highest, the Montagne de la Rivière Noire, 2,700 feet, and the isolated rock Peter Botte, 2,600 feet . Between the mountains , and along the coast, there are large and fertile plains and valleys, having a rich soil of black vegetable mould or stiff clay . The climate is pleasant during the cool season , but oppressively hot in summer, and the island is occasionally visited by severe epidemics. In its vegetation Mauritius resembles the Cape in the number of succulent plants, cactuses, spurges , and aloes. The principal objects of cultivation are sugar, rice, maize , cotton, coffee , manioc, and vegetables. The exports in clude sugar (much the largest), rum , vanilla, aloe fiber, cocoanut oil. The imports consist of rice, wheat , cattle, cotton goods, haberdashery, hardware, etc. The exports and imports are each valued at over $10,000,000 annually; the revenue is about $3,500,000. The government is vested in a lieutenant-governor and legislative council. The island has two railways crossing it, in all 87 miles. Mauritius was discovered in 1505 by the Portuguese. The Dutch took possession of it in 1598, and named it after Prince Maurice. After occupation by the French it was captured by Great Britain in 1810. Principal towns, Port Louis and Mahébourg. May, 1892, it was visited by a terrible hurricane, one-third of Port Louis being destroyed.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
mau-rish'i-us, an island in the Indian Ocean 500 miles east of Madagascar. It was named in 1598 by a Dutch captain in honor of Prince Maurice. Since 1810 it has belonged to England. Area, 705 square miles. Population, including French settlers, negroes, and coolies, 378,000; or 526 to the square mile. It is practically one immense aloe, sugar-cane, cotton, and indigo plantation. Some $15,000,000 worth of sugar is exported yearly. The planters and merchants are wealthy. They have nine daily papers, two railroads, telephones, telegraph lines, and markets supplied from all quarters of the globe. Fruits and cocoanuts are abundant. The dodo, a clumsy bird, once lived here but is now extinct, as is also a huge land tortoise. Monkeys, deer, and hares have been introduced. A fruit-eating bat is the only native mammal on the island. See Dodo
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote in 1921 that Mauritius was "a colony of Great Britain" governed by a lieutenant-governor and a legislative council, and Aiton's in 1910 called it "practically one immense aloe, sugar-cane, cotton, and indigo plantation," both were describing a sugar colony that no longer exists. Mauritius became independent on 12 March 1968 and a republic within the Commonwealth in 1992; its population has grown from the 378,000-380,000 reported here to about 1.26 million, and sugar has been displaced as the mainstay by textiles, tourism and offshore financial services. The two railways the accounts mention closed in the 1960s, though a light-rail Metro Express opened in Port Louis in 2019. One dispute the old entries could not foresee: Britain detached the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965, and only in 2025 did the UK agree to transfer sovereignty back while retaining the Diego Garcia base.
Written for this edition, 2026.