Francophone literatures of the Indian Ocean
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23489269 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bénédicte Mauguière (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2000 |
| Pages | 569-583 |
| Publication date | 2000-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | The Cambridge History of African and Caribbean Literature (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1017/chol9780521832762.008 |
| OpenAlex | W2501371777 |
| ISBN | 9780521832762 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 3 |
Off the southeast coast of the African continent and beneath the Equator lie a rather large number of islands that comprise the Comoros, Madagascar, the Mascarenes (Mauritius, Réunion, and Rodrigues), and the Seychelles. The Indian Ocean was created when the original continent of Gondwana split apart, giving birth to Africa, India, Australia, and Antarctica, around 140 million years ago. Geologically, these islands differ greatly. Whereas most of them are vestiges of the driftage from that original continent, others like Réunion and the Comoros are, on the other hand, the result of more recent volcanic eruptions. Their origins explain why these islands, which are relatively close to one another, reveal such great natural diversity, from the “Great Island” of Madagascar which is almost a continent itself (measuring 1,580 km from north to south and only 580 km at its greatest width for an area of 587,041 km 2 ), to the numerous small coral islands of the Seychelles, to Mauritius with its flattened plains (2,100 km 2 ), Réunion (2,512 km 2 ) with the spectacular contours of its volcano and mountains, and Rodrigues (110 km 2 ) which is but a mass of lava. There is nevertheless a similar tropical-variety “island climate” that along with the monsoon has historically allowed for movement between the islands.
French · Geography · Indian ocean · Linguistics · African history and culture studies · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Environmental Science · Geology · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · Oceanography · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.25 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2022 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |