Sonny Morgan

The Seychelles

The Seychelles are made up of 115 Islands, the easiest way to locate them is to look north of Madagascar and to the East of Zanzibar Island (off the East African coast).

It has always been rumoured that Persian and Arab seafarers visited the islands hundreds of years before Christ was even born, but with no physical evidence most people look to the ninth century when the Seychelles appear for the first time on Arab charts as the "Tall Islands". A few hundred years later they had the first name change to "Zarin"; the Sisters. The first British acknowledgement was made by John Jourdain in 1609, but in 1742 Lazare Picault became the first Frenchman to visit and he renamed the Island of Mahe; Ile d'Abondance ( "Isle of Abundance" ) due to the amount of natural resources including fresh water, coconuts and tortoise.

Due to the military importance of the position of the Islands, the French made claim to the larger Islands and renamed them after Jean Moreau de Sechelles who was the minister of finance for King Louis XV from 1754 to 1756. Later in 1790 the inhabitancy declared independence from France laying claim to the whole of the Seychelles group as a single country.

Independence didn't last long, in 1794 the French moved back in to control, then moving into the 1800's the ownership changed between French & British control 7 times! Finally in 1903 Seychelles became a Crown Colony under the new British Governor, Mr Sweet-Escott. The event was commemorated by erecting a clock tower in the centre of Victoria that can still be seen today, this was modelled on the clock standing outside Victoria railway station in London.

The natural beauty of the Seychelles has not been spoilt by its turbulent past. With conservation tasks in some areas to stop any new buildings being taller than the coconut trees, from the sea the Islands still look sparsely populated. Land reclamation has taken place to give more flat ground for housing and industrial development, as the Main Island is predominantly mountainous volcanic rock. The International airport was opened in 1971, this was an important step for building the tourism industry which had previously relied on ships arriving via Africa. Visiting today, tourists can appreciate that almost 50% of the Islands are Nature Reserve or Parks. The beauty, friendly local ambience and fantastic weather normally leave most people with the wish to visit again and enjoy 'Paradise'.

For more information, please look on our links page for specific Seychelles sites.

Fancy a holiday in Eden? - Have a look on the Air Seychelles website for flights and further details, click here.

Seychelles Links