Seychelles:

An archipelago discovered by the Portuguese

Seychelles situated in the west of the Indian Ocean, was in the news in May this year. Britain's Prince William and his bride Katherine, went there for a holiday after their wedding. The name is pronounced "sayshells" not Seashells as is often done.

Seychelles is not one island like Sri Lanka or Reunion about which you read on November 27, last year.

It is an archipelago of islands and atolls. You know what atolls are, don't you? I explained what they are in a previous article.

There are 92 islands in the archipelago lying between 4-10 degrees south latitude and 46-56 degrees east longitude. Look up the map of the Indian Ocean and note the exact location.

Only 32 of the 92 islands are inhabited. Mahe the largest island is only 16 miles long and 4 miles wide.

Think of places 16 miles and 4 miles from your home town or village, and you can guage how small the largest island is. Praslin, one of the bigger islands, is 8m long and 1-3 miles wide.

Victoria is the capital and the main port is on Mahe. The only sizable city in the Seychelles, Mahe is situated at the head of an excellent harbour three miles wide.

Many of the islands are extremely fertile. Coconuts and maize grow luxuriantly. Breadfruit is the people's staple food. Manioc, sweet potato and other yams are cultivated.

As in other small islands in the Indian Ocean,vanilla grows well, and vanilla beans are exported. Making of copra is a big occupation and copra too is exported. Salted fish is an important export.

We call it jaadi, in Sinhala and uppu karavadu, in Tamil.

Green turtles which are edible (fit to be eaten) and giant tortoises frequent the waters around Seychelles.

Portuguese were the first to discover Seychelles. They were the first Europeans to enter the Indian Ocean after Vasco Da Gama discovered the Cape of Good Hope route round South Africa, to the Indian Ocean. Seychelles is marked in one of the Portuguese charts dated 1502, that is three years before they landed in Sri Lanka. They only passed by the uninhabited islands.

It was a Frenchman Capt. Lazare Picault who annexed the islands to France in 1743 and the islands were permanently selected by French colonists.

French deportees, (sent away from the country for good) and slaves from Mauritius and E. Africa. Later Indians, Malays and Chinese settled down in small numbers.

The first controller of the archipelago was General Moreous da Sechelles, and the group of islands was given his name.

The mother tongue of the people is Seslwa, a mixed language of French, Bantu, (an E. African language) Indian and English. It is the language of everyday conversation. English is the official language.

During the war with Napolean, the British occupied Seychelles and by the Treaty of Paris in 1814, Seychelles was ceded (given over) to Britain.

It became a colony of the British Empire and remained a so until Independence in 1976.

Since 1910, Seychelles is heavily dependent on tourism. Many hotels have come up and some are staffed by Sri Lankans. Prince William and Princess Katherine had an island all to themselves during their holiday there.

People are mainly of mixed African and European descent and are mainly Roman Catholic. About 81 per cent of the population lives in Mahe, the main island. The 92 islands that make up the archipelago are scattered far and wide. Aldbra the island farthest from the main group is 630 miles from Mahe.

The nine years of Primary School Education is free and compulsory.

So,all children of school going age attend school. The population on the whole is young - about one third (1/3) of the population is under 15 years.

- Sumana SAPARAMADU