The Indian Ocean island of Mauritius changed its colonial affiliation four times. First inhabited in 1598 when the Dutch Vice Admiral Wybrandt van Warwick dropped anchor and named it for his ruler Maurice, Prince of Orange and Count of Nassau. They used Maurice mostly as a supply stop on the way around to Java until abandoning the island in 1710, after having hunted the dodo to extinction. Incidentally, it was from here in 1642 that Abel Tasman left to discover Tasmania.
The Portugese, British and French also had their go at Mauritius until independence was granted on 12 March 1968 with Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (later knighted) elected Prime Minister and serving 13 years. When he died in 1986 his name was added to a host of things around the island. The botanical garden is in the town of Pamplemousses, which is French for grapefruit, but in this case refers to a particular kind of Mauritian grapefruit.
Sir Ramgoolam lent his name to the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanic Gardens, which is where we found these "Victoria Amazonica" water lillies - today's contribution from the Top Fifty Prints collection at EarthPhotos.com.
There's more from the Ramgoolam Gardens in the Mauritius Gallery at EarthPhotos.com.
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