A surprisingly successful tiny island-state in the Indian Ocean, Mauritius has a rich and startlingly complex history. Understanding the Mauritian experience_a peaceful multiethnic existence with exemplary democratic institutions on a 720-suare-mile island inhabited by more than one million people practicing all the great religions of the planet and coming from Asia, Europe, and Africa_could be useful elsewhere, especially in the Third World. A large bibliographical section will guide scholars and the general reader to further reading. This is an in-depth revision of Lindsay Riviere's 1982 edition.