Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam did have more going for him than his name. (Though I think we can all see it must have given him a pretty big edge.) Ramgoolam was the Mauritian Prime Minister who won independence from Britain. He was a follower of Gandhi, and managed to achieve his country’s freedom completely peacefully. That’s something the United States can’t even claim, so hats off to Sir Seewoosagur on his well-deserved knighthood.
(Ramgoolam, by the way, was preceded as governor-general of Mauritius by Sir Dayendranath Burrenchobay, and succeeded by Sir Veerasamy Ringadoo. They just come up with good names in the Indian Ocean.)
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So where did "Diego Garcia" come come from? And has Mauritania always been just plain old Mauritania?
It looks like the English somehow split Diego Garcia away from the rest of Mauritius before Mauritius became independent, and then hung onto it after Mauritius' independence.
I'd never heard of Diego Garcia until just now. Have you been there? (Fun fact: It's one of those Space Shuttle emergency landing places. You probably knew that.)
Mauritania became independent from France in 1960. I think it was called Mauritania before that, though. I don't know much about it. I think I mix it up with Mauritius.
Yes. It's just a coral outcropping in the middle of nowhere, but it has a hugely long runway that is a Shuttle landing site (others are in the Azores and Easter Island) as well as being a base for B-52's. The island is loaded with exotic antennas as well and there are lots of buildings with no windows. It's not exactly Club Med.
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