the Republic of Seychelles (République des Seychelles )

Seychelles, officially the Republic of Seychelles (French: République des Seychelles )is an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, lies 1,500 kilometres (932 mi) east of mainland East Africa. Other nearby island countries and territories include Comoros, Mayotte, Madagascar, Réunion and Mauritius to the south.

It is well known for its beaches, coral reefs, diving, nature reserves and rare wildlife such as giant Aldabra tortoises. Mahé island, with an international airport, is a key transport hub, home to capital Victoria, the mountain rainforests of Morne Seychellois National Park and white-sand beaches including Beau Vallon and Anse Takamaka.

Seychelles, with a population of 90,024, has the smallest population of any independent African state, however it does have a larger population than the UK overseas territory Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.

History

The Seychelles were uninhabited throughout most of recorded history. The earliest recorded sighting by Europeans took place in 1502 by the Portuguese Admiral Vasco da Gama, who passed through the Amirantes and named them after himself (islands of the Admiral).

French began to take control starting in 1756 when a Stone of Possession was laid by Captain Nicholas Morphey. The islands were named after Jean Moreau de Séchelles, Louis XV’s Minister of Finance.

The British controlled the islands between 1794 and 1810. Jean Baptiste Quéau de Quincy, French administrator of Seychelles during the years of war with the United Kingdom, declined to resist when armed enemy warships arrived. Instead, he successfully negotiated the status of capitulation to Britain which gave the settlers a privileged position of neutrality.

Britain eventually assumed full control upon the surrender of Mauritius in 1810, formalised in 1814 at the Treaty of Paris. Seychelles became a crown colony separate from Mauritius in1903. Elections were held in 1966 and 1970.

Independence

Independence was granted in 1976 as a republic within the Commonwealth. In the1970s Seychelles was “the place to be seen, a playground for film stars and the international jet set”. In 1977, a coup d’état by France Albert René ousted the first president of the republic, James Mancham. France Albert Rene discouraged over-dependence on tourism and declared that he wanted “to keep the Seychelles for the Seychellois.

Politics

The Seychelles president, who is head of state and head of government, is elected by popular vote for a five-year term of office. The cabinet is presided over and appointed by the president, subject to the approval of a majority of the legislature.

The unicameral Seychellois parliament, the National Assembly or Assemblée Nationale ,consists of 34 members, of whom 25 are elected directly by popular vote, while the remaining nine seats are appointed proportionally according to the percentage of votes received by each party. All members serve five-year terms.

Political culture

The primary political parties are the ruling socialist People’s Party (PP), known until2009 as the Seychelles People’s Progressive Front (SPPF), and the socially liberal Seychelles National Party(SNP).

Foreign relations

Seychelles is a member of the African Union, the francophone Indian Ocean Commission(IOC), La Francophonie and the Commonwealth.

Administrative divisions

Seychelles is divided into twenty-six administrative regions that comprise all of the inner islands. Eight of the districts make up the capital of Seychelles and are referred to as Greater Victoria. Another 14 districts are considered the rural part of the main island of Mahé with two districts on Praslin and one on La Digue which also includes respective satellite islands. The rest of the Outer Islands ( Îles Eloignées) are the last district, recently created by the tourism ministry.

Geography

An island nation, Seychelles is located in the Indian Ocean, northeast of Madagascar and about 1,600 km (994 mi) east of Kenya. The archipelago consists of more than 116 islands. The granitic islands are considered the oldest and hardest granite in the world. The majority of the islands are uninhabited, with many dedicated as nature reserves.

The islands as per the Constitution are divided into groups as follows:

45 granite based islands known as the Granitic Seychelles

Two coral sand cays north of the Granitics
Two coral islands south of the Granitics
29 coral islands in the Amirantes group, west of the granitics.
13 coral islands in the Farquhar Group , south-southwest of the Amirantes
67 raised coral islands in the Aldabra Group , west of the Farquhar Group

Language

Seychellois Creole, also known as kreol or seselwa, is the French-based creole language of the Seychelles. It shares official language status with English and French(in contrast to Mauritian and Réunion Creole, which lack official status in Mauritius and Réunion).

Since its independence in 1976, the government of the Seychelles has sought to develop the language, with its own orthography and codified grammar, establishing Lenstiti Kreol (the Creole Institute) for this purpose.

In Creole, the definite article (derived from the French le, la and les) forms part of the word, so that ‘the future’ is lavenir (as opposed to the French l’avenir ). The possessive is formed by adding the pronoun, so that ‘our future’ is nou lavenir , literally, ‘we-the-future’. Similarly in the plural, les Îles Éloignées Seychelles in French (‘the Outer Seychelles Islands’) becomes ZilElwanyen Sesel in Creole. Note the z in Zil as, in French, “les Îles” is pronounced /le” z il/.

Climate

The climate is equable although quite humid, as the islands are small, classified by Köppen-Geiger system as tropical rain forest( Af). The temperature varies little throughout the year. Temperatures on Mahé vary from 24 to 30 °C.

During the coolest months, July and August, the average low is about 24 °C (75 °F). The south east trade winds blow regularly from May to November, and this is the most pleasant time of the year. The hot months are from December to April, with higher humidity (80%).March and April are the hottest months, but the temperature seldom exceeds 31 °C (88 °F).Most of the islands lie outside the cyclone belt, so high winds are rare.

Demographics

When the British gained control of the islands during the Napoleonic Wars, they allowed the French upper class to retain their land. Both the French and British settlers used enslaved Africans, and although the British prohibited slavery in 1835, African workers continued to come. Thus the Gran blan (“big whites”) of French origin dominated economic and political life. The British administration employed Indians on indentured servitude to the same degree as in Mauritius resulting in a small Indian population. The Indians, like a similar minority of Chinese, were confined to a merchant class.

Through harmonious socioeconomic policies and developments over the years, today Seychelles is described as a fusion of peoples and cultures. Numerous Seychellois are considered multiracial: blending from African, Asian and European descent to create a modern creole culture. Evidence of this harmonious blend is also revealed in Seychellois food, incorporating various aspects of French, Chinese, Indian and African cuisine.

Religion

According to the 2010 census, most Seychellois are Christians: 76.2% were Roman Catholic, 10.6% were Protestant (Anglican6.1%, Pentecostal Assembly1.5%, Seventh-Day Adventist 1.2%, other Protestant 1.6).

Hinduism is practiced by 2.4%, and Islam by 1.6%. Other non-Christian faiths accounted for1.1% of the population while a further 5.9% were non-religious or did not specify a religion.

Education

Until the mid-19th century, little formal education was available in Seychelles. The Catholic and Anglican churches opened mission schools in 1851. The Catholic mission later operated boys’ and girls’ secondary schools with religious Brothers and nuns from abroad even after the government became responsible for them in 1944.

A teacher training college opened in 1959, when the supply of locally trained teachers began to grow, and in short time many new schools were established. Since 1981 a system of free education has been in effect requiring attendance by all children in grades one to nine, beginning at age five. Ninety percent of all children attend nursery school at age four.

The literacy rate for school-age children rose to more than 90% by the late 1980s. Many older Seychellois had not been taught to read or write in their childhood; adult education classes helped raise adult literacy from 60% to a claimed 100% in 2014.

There is a total of 68 schools in Seychelles. The public school system consists of 23 crèches, 25 primary schools and 13 secondary schools.

The administration launched plans to open a university in an attempt to slow down the brain drain that has occurred. University of Seychelles, initiated in conjunction with the University of London, opened on 17 September 2009 in three locations and offers qualifications from the University of London.

Economy

Since independence in 1976, per capita output has expanded to roughly seven times the old near-subsistence level. Growth has been led by the tourist sector, which employs about 30%of the labour force, compared to agriculture which today employs about 3% of the labour force. Despite the growth of tourism, farming and fishing continue to employ some people, as do industries that process coconuts and vanilla.

The prime agricultural products currently produced in Seychelles include sweet potatoes, vanilla, coconuts and cinnamon. These products provide much of the economic support of the locals. Frozen and canned fish, copra, cinnamon and vanilla are the main export commodities.

Tourism

In 1971, with the opening of Seychelles International Airport, tourism became a significant industry, essentially dividing the economy into plantations and tourism. The tourism sector paid better, and the plantation economy could only expand so far. The plantation sector of the economy declined in prominence, and tourism became the primary industry of Seychelles.

In recent years the government has encouraged foreign investment to upgrade hotels and other services. These incentives have given rise to an enormous amount of investment in real estate projects and new resort properties.

The government has moved to reduce the dependence on tourism by promoting the development of farming, fishing, small-scale manufacturing and most recently the offshore financial sector, through the establishment of the Financial Services Authority and the enactment of several pieces of legislation (such as the International Corporate Service Providers Act, the International Business Companies Act, the Securities Act, the Mutual Funds and Hedge Fund Act, amongst others).

Cuisine

Staple foods include fish, seafood and shellfish dishes, often accompanied with rice. Fish dishes are cooked in several ways, such as steamed, grilled, wrapped in banana leaves, baked, salted and smoked. Curry dishes with rice are also a significant aspect of the country’s cuisine.

Additional food staples include coconut, breadfruit, mangoes and kordonnyen fish . Dishes are often garnished with fresh flowers.

Traditional foods:

Ladob is eaten either as a savoury dish or as a dessert. The dessert version usually consists of ripe plantain and sweet potatoes (but may also include cassava, breadfruit or even colossal) boiled with coconut milk, sugar, nutmeg and vanilla in the form of a pod until the fruit is soft and the sauce is creamy. The savoury dish usually includes salted fish, cooked in a similar fashion to the dessert version, with plantain, cassava and breadfruit, but with salt used in place of sugar (and omitting vanilla).
Shark chutney typically consists of boiled skinned shark, finely mashed, and cooked with squeezed bilimbi juice and lime. It is mixed with onion and spices, and the onion is fried and it is cooked in oil.

Music

The music of Seychelles is diverse, a reflection of the fusion of cultures through its history. The folk music of the islands incorporates multiple influences in a syncretic fashion, including African rhythms, aesthetic and instrumentation—such as the zez and the bom (known in Brazil as berimbau), European contredanse, polka and mazurka, French folk and pop, sega from Mauritius and Réunion, taarab, soukous and other pan-African genres, and Polynesian, Indian and Arcadian music.

A form of percussion music called contombley is popular, as is Moutya, a fusion of native folk rhythms with Kenyan benga. Kontredans (based on European contredanse) is popular, especially in District and School competitions during the annual Festival Kreol (International Creole Festival). Moutya playing and dancing can often be seen at beach bazaars. Their main languages are Seslwa Creole of The French Language, French, English Language.

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THE REPUBLIC OF SEYCHELLES (RÉPUBLIQUE DES SEYCHELLES)

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