[1] In 1960, Harold Macmillan had made his famous "Wind of Change Speech" in the Parliament of South Africa in Cape Town in which he acknowledged that the best option for Britain was to give complete independence to its colonies.
[2] At the 1965 Lancaster House Constitutional Conference, it became clear that Britain wanted to relieve itself of the colony of Mauritius.
[3] The General Election was held in 1967 with the pro-independence coalition of political parties winning 54% of the vote.
[1]: 102 Mauritius experienced a period of instability in the days running up to the declaration resulting in the 1968 Mauritian riots before order was restored by the British authorities.
This was done to allow the United States to build a military base on Diego Garcia, the largest island in the archipelago.