Editing Mauritius (section)

== Etymology ==
The first historical evidence of the existence of the island now known as Mauritius is on a 1502 map called the [[Cantino planisphere]] which was smuggled out of Portugal, for the Duke of Ferrara, by the Italian 'spy' Alberto Cantino. On this purloined copy of a Portuguese map, Mauritius bore the name ''Dina Arobi'' or ''Dina Arobin'' (likely {{langx|ar|دنية عروبي}} ''Daniyah 'Arūbi''<!--from root دني indicating low areas i.e. islands--> or corruption of {{lang|ar|دبية عروبي}} ''Dībah 'Arūbi''<!--based on p 108 v 3 of Conrad Malte-Brun's Universal Geography
Or A Description of All Parts of the World, on a New Plan, According to the Great Natural Divisions of the Globe (1827)-->).<ref>Toorawa, S. (2007). ''The medieval Waqwaq islands and the Mascarenes''. Hassam Toorawa Trust, Port Louis, Mauritius</ref><ref>{{Cite web|year=1502|title=Cantino Planisphere by anonymous Portuguese (1502) – Biblioteca Estense Universitaria, Modena, Italy, Public Domain|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26117950}}</ref>{{dubious|date=September 2024}} In 1507, Portuguese sailors visited the uninhabited island after being blown off course from their route to India via the Mozambique channel. The island appears with the [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] names ''Cirne'' (a typographical error where the 's' of the Portuguese 'Cisne' (Swan) became an 'r') or ''Do-Cerne'' (typo of 'do Cisne' meaning 'of' or 'belonging to the Swan') on early Portuguese maps, almost certainly from the name of a ship called ''Cisne'' which was captained by [[Diogo Fernandes Pereira]] in the 1507 expedition which discovered Mauritius and Rodrigues which he called ''ilha de Diogo Fernandes'' but poorly transcribed by non-Portuguese speakers as ''Domigo Friz'' or ''Domingo Frias''.<ref>Clara Pinto Correia (2003) ''Return of the crazy bird: the sad, strange tale of the Dodo''.  New York: Springer.</ref> [[Diogo Fernandes Pereira]] may have been the first European to sail east of Madagascar island ('outer route' to the East Indies) rather than through the perceived safer route through the Mozambique channel, following the East African shore line.

In 1598, a Dutch squadron under Admiral Wybrand van Warwyck landed at [[Grand Port]] and named the island ''Mauritius'', in honour of [[Maurice, Prince of Orange|Prince Maurice van Nassau]], [[stadtholder]] of the [[Dutch Republic]]. Later the island became a French colony and was renamed [[Isle de France (Mauritius)|Isle de France]]. On 3 December 1810, the French surrendered the island to the United Kingdom during the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. Under British rule, the island's name reverted to ''Mauritius'' {{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-Mauritius.ogg|m|ə|ˈ|r|ɪ|ʃ|ə|s}}. Mauritius is also commonly known as ''Maurice'' ({{IPA|fr|mɔʁis|pron}}) and ''Île Maurice'' in French, as well as ''Moris'' ({{IPA|mfe|moʁis|pron}}) in [[Mauritian Creole]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Prime Minister's Office – Cabinet Decisions taken on 24 MAY 2019|url=http://pmo.govmu.org/English/News/Pages/Cabinet-Decisions-taken-on-24-MAY-2019.aspx|access-date=25 June 2019|website=pmo.govmu.org}}</ref>