Seychelles, officially the Republic of Seychelles, is an island country and archipelagic state consisting of 155 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, Victoria, is 1,500 kilometres east of mainland Africa. Nearby island countries and territories include the Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, and the French overseas departments of Mayotte and Réunion to the south; and the Chagos Archipelago to the east. Seychelles is the smallest country in Africa as well as the least populated sovereign African country, with an estimated population of 100,600 in 2022.
Demographic features of the population of Seychelles include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
Seychellois Creole, also known as Kreol, Seselwa Creole French, and Seselwa Creole is the French-based creole language spoken by the Seychelles Creole people of the Seychelles. It shares national language status with English and French.
The unicameral National Assembly is the Seychelles's legislative body.
A French creole, or French-based creole language, is a creole for which French is the lexifier. Most often this lexifier is not modern French but rather a 17th- or 18th-century koiné of French from Paris, the French Atlantic harbors, and the nascent French colonies. This article also contains information on French pidgin languages, contact languages that lack native speakers.
Seychellois Creole people are an ethnic group native to Seychelles, who speak Seychellois Creole. They are the predominant ethnic group in the country.
Indo-Seychellois are inhabitants of Seychelles with Indian heritage. With about 10,000 Indo-Seychellois in a total Seychellois population of nearly 100,000, they constitute a minority ethnic group in Seychelles. According to National Bureau of Statistics Seychelles in 2022, Indian community in Seychelles representing 9.0% from Seychelles population, up from 4.4% in 2010.
Franco-Seychellois are people of French descent living in the Seychelles. Franco-Seychellois have played an important role in the country's history both before and since independence.
Danielle Marie-Madeleine Jorre de St Jorre was a Seychelles politician. She was the foreign minister of Seychelles under President France-Albert René from 1989 until her death in 1997. Danielle de St Jorre was a teacher by profession and also a linguist. She was known as a pioneer in the promotion of Creole language. Her passion and determination to ensure the development of Seychellois Creole was known in the Indian Ocean island nation.
Seychelles passports are issued to citizens of Seychelles to travel outside the country.
Education in Seychelles is free and compulsory from the ages of 6 to 15. The language of instruction is Creole from ages 6 to 10, and then English is gradually introduced as the language of instruction, with French introduced as a foreign language. It has evolved from private mission schools to compulsory public education in the modern system. It is the only African country whose education system features among the top 50 in the world. Seychelles has the highest literacy rate of any country in sub-Saharan Africa at 96.20%. According to The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency as of 2018, 95.9% of the population age 15 and over can read and write in Seychelles were respectively literate.
Chagossian creole also known as Chagossian Kreol is a French-based creole that was still spoken in 1994 by the 1,800 or so Chagossians, the former inhabitants of the Chagos Archipelago evicted in the early 1970s. Ilwa is a variety of Mauritian Creole with influences from Seychellois Creole. It is currently spoken mainly in Mauritius and the Seychelles. There is also a small minority community speaking the language in the United Kingdom.
Articles related to Seychelles include:
The history of Seychelles dates back to the fourth of the Portuguese India Armadas led by Vasco da Gama, though Seychelles was likely already known to Arab navigators and other sailors for many centuries. On 15 March 1503, the scrivener Thomé Lopes noted the sighting of an elevated island, doubtless one of the granitic islands and almost certainly Silhouette Island. The first recorded landing was by the men of the English East India Company ship Ascension, which arrived in Seychelles in January 1609. The islands were claimed by France in 1756. Seychelles remained uninhabited until the first settlers arrived on board the ship Thélemaque, which arrived on 27 August 1770. Captain Leblanc Lecore landed the first colonists, comprising 15 white men, eight Africans and five Indians. The Seychellois Creole language developed as a means of communication between the different races. The British frigate Orpheus commanded by Captain Henry Newcome arrived at Mahé on 16 May 1794. Terms of capitulation were drawn up and the next day Seychelles was surrendered to Britain. Following the fall of Mauritius to British forces, Captain Phillip Beaver of the Nisus arrived at Mahé on 23 April 1811 and took possession of Seychelles as a permanent colony of Britain. The Seychelles became an independent republic in 1976. Following a coup d'état, a socialist one-party state ruled the country from 1977 to 1993. The subsequent democratic Presidential elections were won by candidates of the same party.
Vivianne Simone Fock Tave is a Seychellois Principal Secretary of Foreign Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tourism. She is the daughter of Gontran Fock Tave and Agnezina. In 2015, she became the ambassador to the People's Republic of China.
Seychellois cuisine is the cuisine of the Republic of Seychelles, an archipelago country consisting of 115 islands. Fish plays a prominent part in the country's cuisine because of its location in the Indian Ocean. Seychellois cuisine has been influenced by African, British, French, Spanish, Indian and Chinese cuisines.
Mauritian Creole or Morisien is a French-based creole language spoken in Mauritius. English words are included in the standardized version of the language. In addition, the enslaved people and indentured servants from cultures in Africa and Asia left a diverse legacy of language in the country. The words spoken by these groups are also incorporated into contemporary Morisien.
Justin Davis Valentin is a Seychellois politician and teacher. In 2018, he was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Seychelles. As of 3 November 2020, he serves as the Minister of Education and Human Resources Development, succeeding Jeanne Siméon.
Regina Melanie was a Seychellois writer and poet. She was heavily involved in efforts to document and promote Seychellois Creole.
Seychelles Sign Language, also known as Lalang Siny Seselwa, is a sign language used by deaf and hard of hearing Seychellois Creole people. Formalization of the language began as an effort in 2008 between representatives of the Seychellois Association for People with Hearing Impairment and the Paris-based Institut National de Jeunes Sourds de Paris. In 2011, the Seychelles government, with support from UNESCO, began work on a standardization project for the language, which culminated in 2019 the first dictionary of Seychelles Sign. The language shows influence from French, American, and Mauritian Sign Language.
