Mauritius became independent from the United Kingdom on March 12, 1968. The independence process was the result of a long fight involving several political parties, most notably the Mauritius Labour Party (MLP) and the Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate (PMSD).
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, a movement for independence from the United Kingdom emerged, led by several Mauritian political groups.
Harold Macmillan delivered his famous "Wind of Change Speech" in the South African Parliament in Cape Town in 1960, acknowledging that the wisest alternative for Britain was to grant total independence to its colonies. Thus, from the late 1950s, the way has been set for independence.
