See Also: Seychelles(medicine)
Seychelles(tourism)
Seychelles map(tourism)
Air Seychelles(tourism)
Seychelles(encyclopedia)
Seychelles, the(dictionary)
Seychelles travel(tourism)
Air Seychelles flights(tourism)
Air Seychelles code(tourism)
Seychelles doctor(health)

Seychelles (sh)




officially Republic of Seychelles

Island republic, western Indian Ocean.



Area: 175 sq mi (453 sq km). Population (2002 est.): 83,400. Capital: Victoria. The mixed population is of French, African, and Asian ancestry. Languages: Creole, English, French. Religion: Roman Catholicism. Currency: Seychelles rupee. Located east of northeastern Tanzania, the Seychelles are composed of two main island groups: the Mahe group of 40 central mountainous islands and a second group of over 70 outlying, flat, coralline islands. The country has a developing economy that is heavily dependent on tourism. Exports include fish, copra, and cinnamon. It is a republic with one legislative house; its head of state and government is the president. The first recorded landing on the uninhabited Seychelles was made in 1609 by an expedition of the British East India Company. The archipelago was claimed by the French in 1756 and surrendered to the British in 1810. The Seychelles became a British crown colony in 1903 and a republic within the Commonwealth in 1976. A one-party socialist state since 1979, it began moving toward democracy in the 1990s; it adopted a new constitution in 1993. Multiparty elections have been held since 1991.