The First Newspaper in the Southern Hemisphere

[King_of_lion]

In 1773 the first printed newspaper in the Southern Hemisphere was published in Mauritius. The tiny island of Mauritius may only seem like a verdant dot in the azure blue Indian Ocean, yet this country is rich in its diversity of culture of the people that settled here. Mauritius is a volcanic island that was uninhabited by humans until 1598 when the Dutch occupied it and named it Prince Maurice after Prince Mauritz of Nassau.  Dutch ships regularly docked to replenish stocks, but it was only in 1638 that the island was officially colonized by the Dutch. For almost 50 years, the Dutch occupied the island, until they finally evacuated in 1710. Five years later in 1715, the French arrived and renamed it  Ile de France. On December 2, 1810 the French were forced to capitulate to the British, who named it Mauritius. An influx of slaves and indentured laborers from Africa, India and the islands of the Indian ocean added color and diversity to the po[CENSORED]tion that can call themselves Mauritian today.