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Seychelles Islands
The Seychelles (English: Seychelles), officially called the Republic of Seychelles, is the smallest African country, located in the Indian Ocean. Seychelles is made up of several islands, numbering to 155 islands, of which 42 are rocky granite islands and 113 coral islands, and the largest of these is Mahe Island, where the Republic of the Seychelles is located, which is the city of Victoria, and it contains 90% of the population of the Republic. Seychelles was named by French General Corneille Nicholas Murphy, after the French Finance Minister Jean-Moreau de Seychelles in 1756 AD, and it followed a republican presidential system of government, and under its rule included 25 administrative regions.
Geography of Seychelles
Location
The Seychelles Islands are a marine archipelago, located geographically in the Indian Ocean, northeast of the island of Madagascar, at the crossroads between two continents: Asia and Africa, and away from the coasts of eastern Africa at a distance of 1,600 km, and do not share borders with any country, while the Seychelles is astronomically located in The time zone is UTC + 4H, the coordinates of which extend between 4′35 ° S and 55 ° 40 55E.
The space
The total area of the Republic of Seychelles is 455 km2, and it has a coastline of 491 km. The islands are made up of tropical forests, with an area of 88.5% of the total area of the republic, while the proportion of agricultural land reaches only 6.5%.
History of Seychelles
The Republic of Seychelles was not inhabited in the past, and there are no indigenous inhabitants of the state, and although it did not witness any form of life until the seventeenth century, only travelers and explorers visited it since ancient times, as the Portuguese traveler Vasco da Gama was the first to locate the islands of Si In the year 1502 AD, he called it the Admiral Islands, meaning the Prince of the Sea, after himself. In 1517 CE, the Portuguese map the region and name the islands surrounding the Seven Sisters.
British explorers from the East India Company first set foot in the islands. This happened in 1609 AD, after their ships veered to the sea. It is also mentioned that Arab merchants flocked to the island in the Middle Ages for Coco de Mer nuts. A form of life for the next hundred and fifty years.
the French occuAl Bahahn
French attempts began in the eighteenth century to occupy the islands, and in 1744 AD the French occupied the island known today as Mauritius, and they drew a map of Mahe Island. Twelve years later, they occupied the islands and named Mahe Island the name of French Finance Minister Jean-Moreau de Seychelles, then the name was later released. On all islands.
The island of Mahe witnessed the first human life on its land in 1770 AD, where a French colony consisting of 15 French, 7 slaves, and 5 Indians was established, and they relied on agriculture to secure their food, and when the French Revolution in 1790 AD the island declared independence from France, it remained a source of supplies French, British and Arabic merchant ships.
British occuAl Bahahn
The British took control of Seychelles in 1811, and many problems escalated regarding the slave trade between the city’s residents and the British government, which allowed the slave trade, and these problems led to the emigration of many slave traders from the island, and the number of islanders reduced to half, and as a result of the campaigns launched by Island residents against the slave trade, saved nearly 2,500 people from slavery, and were brought to the island.
The majority of the population relied on cotton and sugarcane cultivation, as well as coconut and fishing. In 1903, the Seychelles Islands were declared an official British colony, but the population continued to speak the French language, following French customs and traditions as well, and at the time of the Second World War a group of French-speaking farmers took control of the islands.
Independence
The residents of Seychelles demanded their own laws at the time of the Second World War, and in 1939 AD the first political party was formed in the Seychelles, and the first legislative council in the country was elected in 1948 AD, as the political movements that demanded the rights of the population in the 1960s, while the first constitutional conference was held in the year 1970 AD, James Monshaw was appointed as the first Prime Minister of the Seychelles.
Seychelles’ independence was declared as a state on June 29, 1976 AD, and James Munsho was appointed its president, but soon Albert Planet planned a bloodless coup, and then he was appointed president of the country, ruling it for 16 years, until 2004 AD, when René handed the seat of government to James Michel; the current president Of the Republic of Seychelles.
Residents of the Seychelles
According to statistics from 2016, 93,186 people live in Seychelles; the republic includes five ethnic groups: the French, the Arabs, the Chinese, the Indians, and the Africans. The official language of Seychelles is the Seychellois Creole language, and 89.1% of the population speaks it, along with English, French, and other languages, according to the statistics of 2010. The majority of the Romen Catholic population is 76.2%, while the percentage of Protestants is 10.6%, there are other Christian schools of thought, at 2.4%, while Hinduism constitutes 2.4%, Islam 1.6%, and other religions.
Tourism in Seychelles
The Seychelles has a very important and vital tourism sector, as it is considered one of the most important contributors to the local economy, and because of its picturesque location and its enchanting natural landscapes rich in natural scenery, Seychelles attracts thousands of tourists annually from all over the world; where the number of tourists arriving in the island reached 33,336 Year 2015 AD.
Seychelles is witnessing an active and prosperous tourism movement at the present time, and excellence in building, construction of hotels, tourist resorts, and even its beaches which are the most beautiful and best in the world, in addition to the fact that its distinguished services provided to tourists are the best in the whole world, and the Republic of Seychelles hundreds of tourist beaches The beautiful, which tourists can visit and enjoy its beauty, and this is why two sites of the Republic were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in the year 1980 AD.
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