Seychelles

Where the name comes from

Seychelles honours Jean Moreau de Séchelles, finance minister to France’s Louis XV from 1754 to 1756.

First people

Nobody lived on the islands when the French claimed them in the 1750s.¹

Known for

Seychelles is known for the coco de mer, the world’s largest seed, which grows wild only on Praslin and Curieuse, and for giant tortoises.²

Outside rule

Permanent settlement began in 1770, when French colonists and enslaved Africans arrived from Mauritius; Britain took the islands in 1810 and formally gained them in 1814.^3,4

The modern country

Its people grew from Indian Ocean journeys, forced and free, and speak Seychellois Creole; independence came in 1976.³