Ask people to name a Mauritian dish and they’ll likely draw a blank. This remote island in the Indian Ocean was first discovered by Arab sailors, in about 900AD, and by Europeans in the 16th century. Although the Portuguese passed by often, they never settled. It was the Dutch who finally claimed possession, later that century.
Then came the French and the British, whose agricultural and trade ambitions brought labourers, immigrants and traders from Africa, India and China....
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