History
The original name of Seychelles is "Seven Sisters", given by the Portugese. The
beautiful archipelago, was once under the French colony, bearing the name of Sechelles,
named after Moreau of Sechelles, the Minister of Finance under the kingdom of
Louis XV. In the XIX century, the English changed the to Seychelles.
Seychelles declared independence from the English in 1976, thus becoming the Republic
of Seychelles. The Seychellois, consisting of the Arabs, Phoenicians, Portuguese,
English, French and Asians create a unique island with a multiculture heritage.
More on History
The Seychelles islands remained uninhabited for more than 150 years after they
became known to Western explorers. The island appeared on Portuguese charts as
early 1505, although Arabs may have visited them much earlier. In 1742, the French
Governor of Mauritius, Mahe de Labourdonais, sent an expedition to the islands.
A second expedition in 1756 reasserted formal possession by France and gave the
islands their present name in honor of the French finance minister under King
Louis XV. The new French colony barely survived its first decade and did not begin
to flourish until 1794, when Queau de Quincy became commandant.
The Seychelles islands were captured and freed several times during the French
Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, then passed officially to the British under
the Treaty of Paris 1814.
From the date of its founding by the French until 1903, the Seychelles Colony
was regarded as a dependency of Mauritius, which also passed from the French to
British rule in 1814. In 1888, a separate administrator and executive and administrative
councils were established for the Seychelles archipelago. Nine years later, the
administrator acquired full powers of a British colonial governor, and on August
31, 1903, Seychelles became a separate British Crown colony.
In March 1970, colonial and political representatives of Seychelles met in
London for a constitutional convention. Elections in November 1970 brought a resulting
constitution into effect. Further elections were held in April 1974, in which
both major political parties campaigned for independence. Following this election,
negotiations with the British resulted in an agreement by which Seychelles became
a sovereign republic on June 29, 1976. These negotiations also restored the islands
of Aldabra, Farquhar, and Des Roches, which had been transferred from Seychelles
in November 1965 to form part of the new British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT)
to Seychelles upon independence.
|