Rodrigues

Rodrigues (Île Rodrigues il ʁɔdʁiɡ; Creole: Rodrig) is a autonomous outer island of the Republic of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, about East of Mauritius. It is part of the Mascarene Islands, which include Mauritius and Réunion. Like Agaléga, Rodrigues is a constituent island of the Republic of Mauritius, under the Constitution of Mauritius and still remains, as explicitly defined by the same Constitution, part of the Sovereignty of Mauritius, together with the following islands "Agalega, Tromelin, Cargados Carajos (Saint Brandon), Chagos Archipelago (...) Diego Garcia and other islands included in the State of Mauritius'' Rodrigues is of volcanic origin and is surrounded by coral reef, and some tiny uninhabited islands lie just off its coast. The island used to be the tenth District of Mauritius; it gained autonomous status on 10 December 2002, and it is governed by the Rodrigues Regional Assembly. The capital of the island is Port Mathurin. The islands of Rodrigues, Agaléga and Saint Brandon form part of the larger territory of the Republic of Mauritius. Its inhabitants are Mauritian citizens. , the island's population was about 41,669, according to Statistics Mauritius. Most of the inhabitants are of African descent. Its economy is based mainly on fishing, farming, handicraft and a developing tourism sector. History of Mauritius Rodrigues was named after Portuguese explorer Diogo Rodrigues, who first came upon the uninhabited island in 1528, under direction of Portuguese Viceroy Pedro Mascarenhas (namesake of the Mascarene Islands). The uninhabited island was named after the Portuguese explorer Diogo Rodrigues in February 1528. Many maps also describe it as Diego Roiz. From the 10th century, Arabs are known to have visited the Mascarene Islands. A 12th-century map by the Arab geographer Ash-Sharif al-Idrisi supposedly contains them, and the Cantino planisphere of 1500 and some other contemporary maps clearly show the three islands of the Mascarenes as Dina Arobi (or Harobi), Dina Margabin and Dina Moraze.