One of the autonomous Outer Islands in the Republic of Mauritius, in fact - the only real autonomy within the state, Rodrigues Island is located in the Indian Ocean, 560 kilometers from the island of Mauritius.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, in the context of the conflict between the Creole and Indian communities in Mauritius, Rodrigues held a series of demonstrations in support of the idea of the island's complete independence from the state of Mauritius. The autonomous status was granted in 2002 as a part of the general policy towards reaching a compromise and agreement between the various ethnic communities of the Republic of Mauritius.
Unlike the main ethnic group of the country (Indo-Mauritius), 90% of the population of the island of Rodrigues are Creoles of African descent. Accordingly, the key differences are related to the racial type, as well as to religion (Indomavricans profess Hinduism, and Rodrigues residents are mostly Catholics). The language gap between the population of Rodrigues and the population of Mauritius is insignificant: both speak slightly different versions of Creolian.
At one time, the population of Rodrigues to a lesser extent than the population of Mauritius supported the idea of independence from Britain. At present, the issue of sovereignty from Mauritius or the expansion of its autonomous status is not a primary base for the political split in Rodrigues.
