Seychelles

Seychelles, officially the Republic of Seychelles, is an archipelago nation of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some 1,500 kilometers east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar. Other nearby island countries and territories include Zanzibar, Mauritius, Réunion, Comoros, Mayotte, and the Suvadives of the Maldives. Seychelles has the smallest population of any sovereign state of Africa.

As a transit point for trading between Africa and Asia, Seychelles were occasionally used by pirates until the French began to take control of the islands starting in 1756. The islands were named after Jean Moreau de Séchelles, Louis XV’s Minister of Finance.

Britain assumed control of Seychelles upon the surrender of Mauritius in 1812 and this was formalized in 1814 at the Treaty of Paris. The Seychelles became a crown colony separate from Mauritius in 1903 and independence was granted in 1976, as a republic within the Commonwealth. In 1977, a coup d'état ousted the first president of the republic. The 1979 constitution declared a socialist one-party state, which lasted until 1991. The first draft of a new constitution failed to receive the requisite 60 percent of voters in 1992, but in 1993 an amended version was approved.