Port LouisPort-Louis

The Dutch were the first Europeans to claim the island. In 1598 an expedition named it Mauritius after Prince Maurice of Nassau, and the Dutch used a bay on the south-east coast for the next century. They left in 1710, having cut its ebony forests, introduced sugar cane and helped drive the flightless dodo to extinction. The French took possession in 1715 and renamed the island the Isle de France. In 1735 the governor Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais moved the capital to the sheltered harbour on the north-west coast, named it after Louis XV and built a naval port, roads, a hospital and a governor's residence.

The island became a French naval base in the Indian Ocean and a useful staging post on the route to India. In 1810, during the Napoleonic Wars, a French squadron won the naval Battle of Grand Port off the south-east coast, one of the few French victories of the war at sea, but a British force landed in the north weeks later and took Port Louis. The Treaty of Paris in 1814 confirmed British rule, and the island returned to its old name of Mauritius. The British left the French language, law and many landowners in place, which is why French names and Creole speech remain so widespread.

Slavery, on which the sugar economy had depended, ended in 1835. The estates turned to a new labour supply, and from 1834 tens of thousands of indentured workers, mostly from India, began to arrive at the port. Sugar remained king through the 19th century, and Port Louis grew as an administrative and trading centre. Independence came peacefully on 12 March 1968 under the first prime minister, Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, and the island became a republic in 1992. Today the port handles most of the country's trade, and finance, tourism and textiles have joined sugar in the economy.

The centre is compact and lies along the harbour. At the western end, the Caudan Waterfront is the newest layer: a redeveloped dockside with shops, cafés, a casino and the Blue Penny Museum, air-conditioned and easy. A few minutes inland, Place d'Armes and the old government buildings recall the French and British capital, with the statue of La Bourdonnais looking out to sea and the palm-lined avenue leading up to the Government House.

East of the waterfront, the streets around the Central Market are where the city works. The market hall, in use since the 19th century, sells fruit, vegetables, spices and textiles, and the stalls around it offer dholl puri, fritters and cold drinks. Just beyond, Chinatown is a small grid of shops, canteens and temples, where a Chinese community that arrived in the 18th and 19th centuries still keeps its holidays, its dumplings and its pagoda. Nearby, the Jummah Mosque stands on the edge of the district, a reminder of the Muslim merchants from western India who settled in the town.

On the south-east edge, the Champ de Mars is a large racecourse under a hill topped by Fort Adelaide. The course dates from 1812 and is one of the oldest in the world still in use; on race days it fills with crowds, betting slips and food stalls, and on other days it is calm. The fort above was built by the British in the 1830s to guard the city and now offers the best view of the harbour.

The rest of the city is residential and industrial. Plaine Verte and Sainte-Croix hold much of the population and the shrine of the priest Père Laval, and the business district of Ébène lies to the south. Most visitors treat the centre as a day-trip: arrive by mid-morning, do the market and the museums, and leave before the afternoon jam. Understanding that rhythm is the key to enjoying Port Louis.

When slavery ended in 1835, the sugar estates needed workers. The answer was a system known as indenture: labourers signed a contract, usually for five years, in return for a passage, wages, food and lodging. The first ship, the Atlas, brought 36 men from India to Port Louis in November 1834, and in the next eight decades roughly half a million people arrived, most of them from India but also from China, Madagascar and Africa. Many stayed after their contracts ended, took small plots and became the base of today's Mauritian majority.

The arrival point was a small stone complex on the waterfront, the Aapravasi Ghat, whose name combines a Hindi word for immigrant with a word for a landing place. New arrivals were registered, examined and sent on to the estates. Some buildings remain: a hospital, sheds, stairs to the water and a sorting yard. The site was inscribed by UNESCO in 2006, and an interpretation centre now explains how the system worked, who came and what it cost them. The remaining ruins are modest, so read the story first and then look at the stones.

The legacy is visible everywhere. Hindi, Bhojpuri and Tamil words sit inside Creole speech. Festivals such as Divali, Thaipoosam Cavadee and Maha Shivaratri belong to the same families who came through the depot. The 2 November anniversary of the first arrival is now a public holiday, and commemorations take place at the ghat. Read this chapter alongside the story of the Le Morne mountain in the south-west, a maroon refuge for escaped slaves that is also a World Heritage site: together they describe the two labour systems that built the island.

It is worth treating the ghat as a place of memory rather than a photo stop. The system was not slavery, but the conditions could be harsh, and many indentured labourers died or were never able to return. Visit quietly, avoid climbing on the walls, and spend a few minutes reading the names on the wall in the centre if it is open.

Mauritian food is a map of the island's people. Indian influence is strongest: dholl puri, a thin flatbread filled with ground yellow split peas and served with a butter-bean curry called rougaille and a sharp chutney, is the national street snack, and gato piment, chilli-spiced split-pea fritters, are its companion. Briani, the Mauritian biryani, appears at weddings, Sunday lunches and canteens, and its recipe is guarded by families. Farata, a flaky flatbread, comes with curry or omelette.

The Chinese community added noodles and dumplings. Boulettes, small steamed dumplings in a light broth, are a Chinatown staple, and mine frite, fried noodles with egg, vegetables and meat or shrimp, turns up in every corner. Creole cooking, with roots in Africa, Madagascar and France, contributes rougaille, a tomato-and-onion stew with fish, sausage or meat, and vindaye, fish or octopus preserved in mustard and turmeric, which came via Indian and Portuguese routes. French bakeries sell baguettes and pastries beside the market.

Drinks matter. Alouda, a cold sweet drink of milk, basil seeds, jelly and syrup, comes from Persian and Indian falooda and is sold from small stalls in the afternoon. Fresh sugar-cane juice is pressed on the spot. Mauritius is also known for tea, often scented with vanilla, and for rum made from cane, while the local lager, Phoenix, is the default beer. Many locals do not drink alcohol for religious reasons, and Muslim, Hindu and Christian customs shape what is eaten and when.

The market is the best place to see all this at once. Dholl puri and gato piment stalls, a Chinatown dumpling counter and a briani canteen can all be reached on foot within a few blocks. Choose busy stalls with hot food, carry small notes, and ask for less chilli if you are unsure. Vegetarian eaters do well here: much of the Indian street food is meat-free, though it is worth asking about shared oil and stock.

Roughly half the population is Hindu, about a third Christian and about a sixth Muslim, and there is a small Buddhist and Chinese-religion community. The result is a busy religious calendar and a townscape where a mosque, a pagoda, a cathedral and a Tamil temple can stand within a short walk of each other. The Jummah Mosque on the edge of Chinatown is a working place of worship, and the Kwan Tee Pagoda nearby honours a Chinese deity of loyalty and protection. Saint Louis Cathedral, in the centre, and the shrine of Père Laval at Sainte-Croix serve the Christian community.

Père Laval was a French priest who arrived in 1841 and worked among freed slaves until his death in 1864. Every year on 9 September, pilgrims of all faiths visit his shrine, and the streets of Sainte-Croix fill with crowds. Maha Shivaratri, in February or March, is the largest Hindu event: pilgrims dressed in white walk from across the island to Grand Bassin, a crater lake, carrying decorated wooden structures, and roads and buses are crowded for days. Thaipoosam Cavadee, in January or February, is a Tamil festival with processions and piercings; Divali, in October or November, is a festival of lights.

Chinese New Year brings dragon dances and red lanterns to Chinatown, while Eid at the end of Ramadan is a public holiday and a reason for family gatherings and sweets. The calendar of public holidays is unusually long because it includes the major feasts of each community, and the shared holiday is one of the ways the island keeps its balance.

For visitors the rules are simple. Dress modestly at religious sites, remove shoes where asked, avoid visiting during prayers, and ask before taking photographs. A visit to the mosque or pagoda is best done in the morning on a weekday. During festivals, expect crowds and closed shops, and check the date because many move each year with the lunar or solar calendar.

Mauritius is a volcanic island of the Mascarene chain, and it was uninhabited until the 16th century. Its isolation produced flightless birds and unusual plants, and the most famous of them was the dodo, a heavy, flightless pigeon relative that lived only here. Dutch sailors noted it in 1598, and by the late 17th century it was gone, killed by hunting and by the pigs, rats and monkeys that arrived with the ships. It has become a symbol of extinction, and the Natural History Museum in Port Louis keeps dodo material and displays that show what was lost.

Conservation has since taken off. Small islets, such as Île aux Aigrettes off the south-east coast, have been restored as reserves for rare plants and reptiles, and the Mauritian kestrel and the pink pigeon have been brought back from the brink. The Black River Gorges National Park protects the largest remaining fragment of native forest. These efforts rarely appear on a city itinerary, but they are the reason a short trip out of Port Louis can be so rewarding.

The island also lives with storms. Tropical cyclones can arrive between November and April, and Carol in 1960 and other storms left lasting marks on buildings and memory. The Mauritius Meteorological Services use a system of warning classes from I to IV, and higher classes close shops, roads and the airport. Buildings are designed with shutters and anchored roofs, and residents have supplies ready. As a visitor you should check the forecast, follow hotel instructions and plan flexibly in the wet season.

Coral reefs protect much of the coast and are fragile. If you snorkel, wear reef-safe sunscreen, avoid standing on coral and do not feed the fish. Ask a licensed operator about the day's conditions and the marine-park rules. The natural side of Mauritius is as much a part of its identity as the mix of peoples in its capital, and a half-day at the garden of Pamplemousses or a walk in the gorges is a good balance to a day in town.