The Republic of Seychelles, also just the Seychelles, is an
island country in the Indian Ocean. Topographically, the state
belongs to Africa. Its capital is Victoria, which is named after the
British Queen.
Geography
Location and size
Topographically, the
Seychelles belong to Africa. They lie on the northern and western
parts of the Mascarene Ridge, an undersea sill in the western part
of the Indian Ocean. The island states of Madagascar, Mauritius and
the Comoros lie south of the Seychelles off the East African coast.
The territory of the Seychelles
belongs to the time zone UTC+4 (DTG: Delta). This means a time
difference of three hours in the winter months and a time difference
of two hours in summer compared to Central European Time.
The
Republic of Seychelles consists of about 115 islands, according to
geology there are 42 granite islands and 73 coral islands. They are
divided into two main groups, Inner Islands and Outer Islands,
depending on their location.
Inner Islands
The Inner
Islands archipelago consists of 32 islands with a total land area of
266 km². They include:
Mahé (154 km²) (main island)
Praslin
(38 km²)
La Digue (10 km²)
Silhouette (20 km²)
Ile du Nord
(2 km²)
Fregate (2 km²)
Ile Aride (1 km²)
Bird Island (1
km²)
Ile Denis (1.4 km²).
Almost all of the islands
mentioned are made of granite rock, only the islands Bird Island and
Île Denis on the northern edge of the Seychelles Bank are coral
islands in terms of their origin.
Mahé is home to the
country's highest point, Morne Seychellois (905 m above MSL). Also
noteworthy are Mont Dauban (740 m asl) (on Silhouette) and Mont
Praslin (367 m asl) on the island of the same name.
Outer Islands
Outside the "Seychelles Bank" the archipelago of the
Outer Islands extends over a sea area of 400,000 km², including the
island groups:
Amirantes with the main island of Desroche
Alphonse group with the atolls Alphonse and St. François
Aldabra
Cosmoledo
Farquhar group with Farquhar and Providence atolls
Platte, a singular island (about 135 km south of Mahé)
Coëtivy,
another singular island (290 km south of Mahé)
Because of the low
altitude (highest point at 9 m above MSL) and the lack of drinking
water, there are only a few small settlements on the numerous coral
islands.
Flora and fauna
There is a rich endemic flora and
fauna in the Seychelles, including three species of giant tortoises.
Especially on the Aldabra Atoll you will find the world's largest colony
of giant tortoises, with 150,000 Aldabra giant tortoises. It is also
home to the last surviving flightless bird of the Indian Ocean, the
Cuvier's Rail. The Vallée de Mai (“Maital”) on Praslin – designated a
World Heritage Site by UNESCO and managed by the Seychelles Island
Foundation (SIF), established specifically for this purpose in 1979 – is
home to the Seychelles parrot (Coracopsis barklyi) and the famous
Seychelles nut, the "Coco de Mer". The Seychelles frog family, which is
endemic there, can be found on the main island of Mahé and on
Silhouette. Rare animals and plants can also be observed on the
sheltered islands of Aride, Cousin and Curieuse. Also noteworthy are the
karst formations in the granite rocks of the islands, especially on the
coasts.
The native bird life of the Seychelles is among the most
diverse in the entire Western Indian Ocean. Due to the isolated location
of the archipelago, 15 species and 18 subspecies have developed here
that are only found in the Seychelles. Due to this peculiarity, both the
granite islands and the Aldabra Atoll are among the 218 Endemic Bird
Areas (EBA) that have been identified worldwide.
The original
vegetation was pushed back with settlement. They were replaced by crops
that were procured specifically for cultivation in the Seychelles. The
majority of tropical fruit and crops can thrive in the Seychelles and
allow for a varied diet, these include: eggplant, banana, avocado,
pineapple, papaya, mango, passion fruit, star fruit, guava, lemon,
orange, sugar cane, breadfruit, lemongrass and cinnamon as well as many
spices such as vanilla, pepper and nutmeg. Coconut palms were planted in
plantations and provide the country's main export product, copra. Banyan
trees and tropical timbers have been planted on the island, including
the Dragon's Blood and Albizia trees.
Climate
The climate of the Seychelles is determined by the monsoon: from
December to March the northwest monsoon prevails, followed by a windless
transition phase in April. From May to September follows the low-rain
but stormy time of the south-east monsoon, in October-November there is
another transitional phase without wind. Severe storms are rare. The
length of sunshine is determined by the location near the equator. 12
hours per day are astronomically possible, but due to the influence of
cloud cover, an average of 5-8 hours per day is achieved. Temperatures
fluctuate between 24 °C and 30 °C throughout the year, the sea water
temperature is 26 °C all year round.
Rainfall on Mahe varies from
2880mm in the capital Victoria to 3550mm in the mountainous regions. The
humidity is always more than 80 percent. The preferred travel time for a
visit to the Seychelles is May to October.
population structure
The population of the Seychelles - the
Seychellois - consists mainly of the descendants of settlers who
immigrated from various French colonial areas and their African
slave workers. This group still makes up more than 90 percent of
today's population. There is also a minority of purely European
descent as well as small Chinese and Indian minorities. In 2017,
13.6% of the population was foreign-born.
There are now many
unmarried parents. The children of working parents mostly grow up in
the household of their grandparents.
Languages
As a common
language of this strongly mixed population, a separate variant of
the creole languages developed here, which is referred to as
Seychelles Creole or Seselwa and is based on French. According to
Article 4 of the Constitution, the official languages are
Seychellois Creole, English and French.
religion
According
to figures from 2010, the population is 76.2% Catholic (diocese of
Port Victoria), around 10.5% are Protestants or Anglicans - mostly
descendants of British sailors and farmers, 2.4% belong to other
Christian denominations. 2.4% are Hindus, 1.6% belong to Islam, 1.1%
are of other faiths.
Education
The average school
attendance of the over 25 year olds is 10 years, the expected school
attendance of the next generation is 14.1 years. Accordingly, the
proportion of illiterates is only 4.1%.
It is believed that the islands were discovered by Arab traders. In
1502 ships from the fleet of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama
anchored at the Amirante Islands. Although now well known to the western
world, the Seychelles were not permanently settled by the French until
250 years after their discovery. The French captain Lazare Picault was
on his way to India in 1742 and, coming from Mauritius, accidentally
found the still "unowned" islands, which were proclaimed French
possessions in 1753 and named after Jean Moreau de Séchelles, Louis XV's
finance minister. A permanent settlement can be proven from 1768 after
the establishment of spice plantations. During the First Coalition War,
the Seychelles were occupied by the British in 1794 and ceded to Great
Britain in the Treaty of Paris in 1814. Under British rule, the
archipelago was initially part of the Mauritius colony. On August 31,
1903, the Seychelles received the status of an independent colony. In
1945, while still under British administration, women were granted the
right to vote at the local level and on August 6, 1948 women were
granted active and passive suffrage at the national level. At
independence in 1976, these rights were confirmed.
The Seychelles
gained self-government in 1970, independence followed in 1976, but the
island republic remained in the Commonwealth. The so-called First
Republic of Seychelles was established in 1976 and abolished in 1979 in
favor of a one-party regime, the Second Republic. In 1993 the current
constitution came into force as a state treaty for the Third Republic.
Now opposition parties are allowed again. The ruling party is the former
unitary Seychelles People's Progressive Front (SPPF).
The tsunami
that was triggered by a seaquake off Indonesia on December 26, 2004 also
reached the Seychelles and caused damage.