SeychellesSesel

The inner islands — Mahé, Praslin, La Digue, Silhouette and their neighbours — are granite, the tops of a micro-continent left behind when India split from Madagascar around 65 million years ago. That is why their beaches are framed by huge rounded boulders and their hills rise steeply to over 900 metres.

The outer islands are low coral atolls and sand cays spread over a vast area of ocean toward Madagascar. Aldabra, one of the largest raised coral atolls in the world, is home to around 100,000 giant tortoises and has been kept almost untouched.

Seychelles' exclusive economic zone covers about 1.3 million km², nearly three thousand times its land area. That ocean feeds a tuna industry and gives the country a big voice on marine protection; it declared about 30 per cent of its waters as protected areas in 2020.

The coco de mer palm grows wild only on Praslin and Curieuse. Its double nut, the heaviest seed in the plant kingdom, washed up on distant shores long before the islands were found, and sailors believed it grew on a tree beneath the sea. The Vallée de Mai, a forest of these palms, is a UNESCO site and the only home of the Seychelles black parrot.

Isolation produced endemic birds, frogs, jellyfish tree and pitcher plants. Settlers cleared much of the forest and introduced rats and cats; conservation on islands such as Cousin, Aride and Frégate brought birds like the Seychelles magpie-robin and warbler back from a few dozen individuals.

Giant tortoises once lived on all the granitic islands and were eaten out by sailors; today they survive wild on Aldabra and roam on Curieuse and in gardens. Hawksbill and green turtles nest on many beaches.

Arab and Portuguese sailors knew of the islands, and pirates used them, but there were no inhabitants until 1770, when French settlers landed on Sainte-Anne with enslaved Africans and Indians. Named after the French finance minister Jean Moreau de Séchelles, the colony grew spices, cotton and food for Île de France (Mauritius).

Britain took the islands during the Napoleonic wars and kept them in 1814, ruling them from Mauritius until 1903. Slavery ended in 1835. From the 1860s the Royal Navy landed thousands of Africans freed from slave ships on Mahé; their descendants make up much of the population.

Plantation owners, mostly of French origin, kept their land and language, and the Catholic Church became central to island life. Copra, cinnamon and vanilla sustained a small, poor colony into the 20th century.

Seychelles became independent on 29 June 1976 with James Mancham as president. Less than a year later, while Mancham was abroad, his prime minister France-Albert René took power in a coup and created a one-party socialist state, surviving a botched mercenary invasion in 1981.

Multiparty politics returned in 1993, but René's party, later renamed United Seychelles, won every election until 2020, when Anglican priest Wavel Ramkalawan became the first opposition president. In October 2025 voters swung back, electing United Seychelles leader Patrick Herminie (check).

The international airport opened in 1971 and changed everything: tourism grew from almost nothing into the main industry, and Seychelles now has the highest income per head in Africa, though costs of living and inequality are high.

Seychellois of African, Malagasy, European, Indian and Chinese descent share a Creole identity. Kreol Seselwa, based on French, became an official language in 1981 and is used in early schooling, alongside English and French.

Moutya, drumming and dance around a fire that grew from the gatherings of enslaved people, is on UNESCO's urgent safeguarding list. Sega and kanmtole, a dance music with European roots, fill festivals, and Festival Kreol each October celebrates Creole cultures from across the ocean.

Catholicism shapes the calendar: 15 August draws pilgrims to La Digue, and church bells still mark Sunday life. Old beliefs in gris-gris, charms and spells, linger in folklore.

Fish is the centre of the table: red snapper, job fish, tuna and bourzwa grilled or curried with coconut. Octopus is tenderised and slow-cooked; salted fish flavours ladob and chutneys. Breadfruit, cassava and plantain add starch alongside rice.

Indian traders brought curry spices; Chinese families opened the island shops; French planters left sauces and pastries. The result is a mild, coconut-rich cooking with chilli on the side.

Victoria's port is the base of the Indian Ocean tuna fleet and one of the world's largest tuna canneries, which, with tourism, earns most of the country's income.