PortLouis is the capital city of Mauritius located in the Port Louis District, with a small western part in the Black River District. Port Louis is the country’s economic, cultural and political center, and most populous city. It is administered by the Municipal City Council of Port Louis. Port Louis was a harbor used by the Dutch settlers from 1606 when they started to refer to the area as the Harbour of Tortoises. The city was founded about 1736 by French made it the administrative center of Mauritius and a halt for French ships passing between Asia and Europe.
The Port is named after King Louis XV when Mauritius was known as Ile de France. As Port Louis was well-protected from strong winds during cyclones by Moka Mountain Range, Port Louis was selected for developing harbor and fort. Owing to its location in the rain shadow of the southeast trade winds, Port Louis features a hot semi-arid climate.
However, port calls of ships fell drastically following the opening of SuezCanal in 1869. Though Port Louis is still one of the biggest port facilities in the IndianOcean region and one of Africa’s major financial centers. 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 opening in the Caudan Waterfront area.
The economy of the city is mostly dominated by its financial centre, port facilities, tourism, and the manufacturing sector which include textiles, chemicals, plastics, and pharmaceuticals. The city is full of numerous buildings and monuments that reflect its rich and diverse colonial history. These include several French colonial buildings that date to the 18th century, including Government House, Jummah Mosque, English Saint James Cathedral, Indian Tamil Temple, Port Louis Theatre (Théâtre de Port-Louis), the Champ de Mars Racecourse, and Chinese Pagoda.
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, who first came to Mauritius in 1826, however now there are people from other ethnicities as well, but preserves its original appearance and contains many small shops and restaurants.
Port Louis is an active cultural city attracting painters, poets, sculptors, and writers for centuries. Most came to the famous Port Louis Theatre that is 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 traveling European troupes. Port Louis is known for its modern entertainment facilities including several cinemas, in which most films are presented in French and English. The recently opened ultra-modern Swami Vivekananda International Convention Centre in Mauritius hosts conventions, concerts, trade shows, and exhibitions. English and French are the official languages of Port Louis and Mauritius.
Port Louis is famed for its museums including Blue Penny Museum, Natural History Museum, Mauritius Postal Museum, Mauritius Photography Museum, China Heritage Museum. One of the most important landmarks is Aapravasi Ghat, which is the remains of the immigration depot built by the British colonizers to import indentured laborers from India, Eastern Africa, Madagascar, China, and Southeast Asia; which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2006. Also worth visiting is the National Library of Mauritius which houses a collection of Mauritius history, including manuscripts, books, newspapers, periodicals, music scores, photographs, maps, drawings, and other graphic art forms and audio-visual materials.
Port Louis is known for its predominantly Hindu temples but also has Christian churches like the Roman Catholic Diocese of Port-Louis (Catholic Church), Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean (Anglican Communion), Assemblies of God, and many Muslim mosques. Port-Louis has numerous hotels that offer luxurious, mid-range, and budget accommodation to tourists. The restaurants offer a variety of cuisine be it Indian, Chinese, French, and even African, but the specialty is seafood. The city is known for its nightife with numerous discotheques, nightclubs, casino. The city is especially known for its poolparties.
People throng the beaches for some of the most stunning sunset and sunrise. Also worth visiting is the Fort Adelaide, built in a very strategic location on higher lands of Port Louis at 240 feet above sea level. The construction of Fort Adelaide started in 1832 and was completed after almost ten years. Fort Adelaide offers a vast panorama of Port-Louis and its harbor. The city is a major shopping hub with numerous shoppingmalls. Well connected air, and sea with all major cities of the world the city is a major education hub with numerous educational institutions that attract students from several parts of the world. Tourists can also go on guided of the city. The city is the hub for transportation to other parts of the island. The city is great for a fortnight visit for honeymoon couples and family.
