阅读文章，回答下列各题： When people print a stamp, any error made on a stamp raises its val

ue to stamp collectors. A mistake on one inexpensive postage stamp has made the stamp worth a million and a half times its original value. More than one hundred years ago in the British colony of Mauritius, a small island in the Indian Ocean, the mistake was made. In 1847 an order for stamps .was sent to a London printer -- Mauritius was to become the fourth country in the world to issue stamps. Before the order was filled and delivered, a bail was planned at Mauritius' s Government House, and stamps were needed to send out the invitations. A locai printer was instructed to copy the design for the stamps. He accidentally inscribed the words "Post Office" instead of "Post Paid" on the severai hundred stamps that he printed. Today there are only twenty-six of these misprinted stamps left-fourteen One Penny Orange - Reds and twelve Two Penny Blues. Because of the Two Penny Blues' rareness and age, collectors have paid as much as $16,800 for it. Over a century ago, Mauritius__________

A. was an independent country

B. was a smail island in the Pacific Ocean

C. belonged to India

D. was one of the British colonies