Seychelles
A scattering of granite and coral in the open Indian Ocean
Seychelles is a constellation of islands flung across the western Indian Ocean, the smallest sovereign nation in Africa by population yet among its wealthiest by income per head. Its inner islands are unusual in the ocean world: ancient granite outcrops, not volcanoes or coral, with boulder-strewn beaches and forests found nowhere else. Pristine reefs, giant tortoises, and the suggestive coco de mer palm have made the archipelago a byword for luxury tourism, while careful conservation has turned much of its territory into protected marine and island reserves.
The country comprises around 115 islands split between the granitic inner group, clustered near the main island of Mahé, and far-flung low coral islands and atolls to the southwest. Mahé holds the capital, Victoria, and the highest point, Morne Seychellois, at 905 meters. The granitic islands carry remnant mist forests, home to endemics like the Seychelles black parrot and the towering coco de mer, whose enormous seed is the largest of any plant. The climate is tropical and humid, cooled by sea breezes and shaped by the monsoon winds, and the islands sit largely outside the cyclone belt.
Uninhabited until the eighteenth century, the islands were settled by the French, who brought enslaved Africans, and then taken by Britain, producing a Creole society and language that fuse African, European, and Asian roots. Independence came in 1976, followed by a one-party socialist era and a return to multiparty democracy in the 1990s. With few natural resources beyond its seas and scenery, Seychelles built an economy on high-end tourism and tuna fishing, and has become a global leader in ocean conservation, pioneering debt-for-nature swaps to protect vast stretches of its waters. Seychellois Creole, English, and French are all official.