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50 free Mauritius trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Mauritius is a volcanic island 2,000 km off the African coast that nobody lived on until the Dutch arrived in 1598, and which has since been shaped by French planters, British administrators, enslaved Africans and Malagasy, and half a million indentured Indians. It is the only country in Africa where Hinduism is the largest religion, and the only known home of the dodo. This quiz covers the geography (the Mascarenes, Rodrigues, Agaléga, the disputed Chagos Archipelago and Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire), the colonial story from Isle de France to the 1810 surrender and the 1968 independence, and the republic that followed in 1992. Culture and daily life get plenty of room: Mauritian Creole and Bhojpuri, sega music and the ravanne, dholl puri and gâteau piment, the Champ de Mars racecourse, the Post Office stamps that are the holy grail of philately, the two UNESCO sites, the Four Bands flag and the first Olympic medal in 2008. Easy questions ask which ocean the island sits in; hard ones want the Dutch prince it is named for, the year of the last dodo sighting and the island where slaves are said to have leapt to their deaths. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on Mauritius, the dodo, the flag, sega and Le Morne Brabant, and each question carries the sentence that supports it.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Mauritius lies roughly how far off the southeastern coast of Africa?
2,000 km
It sits east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.
Q 02What is the capital and largest city of Mauritius?
Port Louis
French governor Mahé de La Bourdonnais built it up as a naval base in the 1730s.
Q 03The main island, together with French Réunion, belongs to which island group?
The Mascarene Islands
They were named for Pedro Mascarenhas, a Portuguese viceroy who visited in 1512.
Q 04Mauritius was named in 1598 in honour of whom?
Maurice, Prince of Orange
The Dutch admiral Wybrand van Warwyck landed at what is now Grand Port.
Q 05Under French rule from 1715 the island was known by what name?
Isle de France
The Portuguese had earlier called it Ilha do Cisne, 'Island of the Swan'.
Q 06Which Dutch navigator sailed from Mauritius seeking the Great Southern Land and mapped Tasmania and New Zealand?
Abel Tasman
The Dutch finally abandoned the island in 1710, reportedly overrun by monkeys.
Q 07Which colonial power seized Mauritius in 1810?
Britain
The French surrendered on 3 December 1810 but kept their language, laws and property.
Q 08Which British explorer was detained on the island by Governor Decaen from 1803 to 1810?
Matthew Flinders
The detention defied an order from Napoleon himself.
Q 09Which 1788 novel by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre made the colony famous across the French-speaking world?
Paul et Virginie
The author lived on the island from 1768 to 1771.
Q 10Which crop dominated Mauritius's economy from the 18th century until independence?
Sugar
The island was the British Empire's main producer of it.
Q 11After abolition, planters brought around half a million indentured labourers from which country?
India
Aapravasi Ghat, their reception depot in the capital, is now a UNESCO site.
Q 12Mauritius became independent in which year?
1968
Independence was proclaimed on 12 March, six weeks after deadly riots in the capital.
Q 13Who was the first prime minister of independent Mauritius?
Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam
Queen Elizabeth II remained head of state until the republic of 1992.
Q 14Mauritius became a republic in which year?
Q 21Which flightless bird, extinct soon after human settlement, lived only on Mauritius?
The dodo
It appears as a supporter on the national coat of arms.
Q 22What is the closest living relative of the dodo?
The Nicobar pigeon
The dodo's nearest relative of all was an also-extinct solitaire from a neighbouring island.
Q 23The last widely accepted sighting of a dodo was in which year?
1662
The bird owes much of its fame to a cameo in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Q 24Which of these endemic Mauritian birds has survived thanks to intensive conservation?
1992
It kept the UK Privy Council as its highest court of appeal.
Q 15Which island group did the UK split from Mauritius in 1965 to form its Indian Ocean Territory?
Chagos
The islanders were expelled and the largest island was leased to the United States.
Q 16Under the May 2025 agreement, which island stays under British administration on a 99-year lease?
Diego Garcia
It hosts the joint UK-US military base Camp Justice.
Q 17Mauritius disputes sovereignty over the island of Tromelin with which country?
France
The 1814 Treaty of Paris failed to mention the tiny island specifically.
Q 18Which autonomous island lies about 560 km east of the main island?
Rodrigues
It gained autonomy in 2002 and elects its own representatives.
Q 19What is the highest peak in Mauritius?
Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire
It rises to 828 metres in the south-west, near the Black River Gorges.
Q 20Mauritius Island was formed by volcanic activity roughly how long ago?
8 million years
Less than 2 percent of its native forest survives today.
Pink pigeon
The Mauritius kestrel and echo parakeet have also been pulled back from the brink.
Q 25Mauritius is the only country in Africa where which religion is the most practised?
Hinduism
Public holidays include Maha Shivaratri, Diwali, Christmas and Eid al-Fitr.
Q 26What is the mother tongue of most Mauritians?
Mauritian Creole
Most people are also fluent in English and French and switch between them freely.
Q 27Which is true of Mauritius's official language?
The constitution names none
Only the National Assembly has one, English, though members may speak French.
Q 28Which Indian language, once widely spoken in Mauritius, was used by only about five percent at the 2022 census?
Bhojpuri
It is one of eight ancestral languages given official recognition by parliament.
Q 29The traditional music of Mauritius, rooted in the songs of slaves, is called what?
Sega
Its fusion offshoot with reggae is known as seggae.
Q 30Which drum is the traditional percussion instrument of sega?
The ravanne
Protest sega sung against injustice is known as santé engagé.