Seychelles – from uninhabited islands to an independent island republic
For most of their history the Seychelles were uninhabited. Arab and later European sailors knew of the islands, and a British East India Company expedition landed there in 1609, but no one settled. In the mid-18th century France claimed the archipelago and named it after Jean Moreau de Séchelles, a finance minister under Louis XV.
The first settlers arrived in 1770: French colonists accompanied by enslaved Africans, together with people from India. Plantations of spices, cotton and later coconuts shaped the economy. During the Napoleonic Wars Britain took control, and the Seychelles were formally ceded to Britain in 1814. Slavery was abolished in the 1830s, and many Africans freed from slave ships were later settled on the islands, adding to the mixed Creole population. The Seychelles were governed from Mauritius until they became a separate crown colony in 1903.
The islands became independent as a republic within the Commonwealth in 1976. A coup in 1977 was followed by a period of one-party rule, before multiparty democracy returned in 1993. The opening of the international airport in the early 1970s transformed the economy, making tourism and, later, fishing its main pillars, and the country became known for its efforts to protect its unique nature.
Today the Seychelles are shaped by their Creole culture, their spectacular granite and coral islands and a strong commitment to conservation.
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