Interesting Facts about Seychelles - Fun Facts about Seychelles

Seychelles is an archipelago nation, located in the Indian Ocean. The official name of the country is Republic of Seychelles. The major chunk of the current Seychellois population has immigrated to the island. The dominant ethnic groups belong to French, African, Indian and Chinese descent. The official languages of the nation are French and English along with Seychellois Creole, which is primarily based upon French. Most Seychellois are Christians and the Roman Catholic Church is the main denomination. The island has a matriarchal society, with mothers being the head. Apart from this, the archipelago boasts of rich flora and fauna, housing some rare animal and plant species on earth. While you are in Seychelles, you can opt for sailing and wind surfing and the best time to visit Seychelles to enjoy it to the core would be during May to October. Given below are some more interesting and fun facts about Seychelles, read on.

Image: By Hansueli Krapf (User:Simisa) (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

Fast Facts

Continent: Africa

Area: 451 km²

Capital: Victoria

Population: 86,000 (2011)

Currency: Seychelles rupee

Official Languages: French, English and Seychellois Creole

Independence Day: 29 June 1976

Calling Code: +248

Type Of Government: Presidential system, Republic

Interesting & Fun Facts about Seychelles

Seychelles is an archipelago of more than 155 islands.
The capital of Seychelles is Victoria and the currency is Seychellois rupee (SCR).
The largest island in the archipelago is Mahe.
Aldabra (group of islands) is the world’s largest raised coral atoll, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Aldabra is home to the only flightless bird in the Indian Ocean, the White-Throated Rail.
Aldabra also boasts of the largest population of Giant Tortoises in the world.
Seychelles is scattered over an area of 1.4 million km² in the Indian Ocean.
Victoria is one of the smallest capitals in the world, which can be easily covered by foot in less than a day.
Seychelles was under French administration for 44 years and under British administration for 162 years.
The granitic islands of Seychelles are the oldest oceanic islands on earth.
Seychelles is also home to the heaviest land tortoise living in the world.
The archipelago was first discovered by Vasco da Gama in 1502.
Seychelles holds world records for dogtooth tuna and indo-pacific bonito.
The main source of income in Seychelles is tourism followed by tuna fishing and canning.
Seychelles has the highest Human Development Index in Africa; it also has the highest income inequality in the world, as measured by the Gini index.
About 90% of the total population of Seychelles is Roman Catholics out of which Anglicans form 7% of it and many other religions including Islam is growing at a faster rate.
About 50% of land area of Seychelles is set aside either as nature reserve or national park. This is the highest percentage of land mass which any country has set aside for nature reserve.
This island was the main hideout option for the pirates and was also thought that a pirate named Olivier Le Vasseur who hid about 1,00,000 euros which were not retrieved till date.
The first set of people to settle in the island of Seychelles was during the 18th century before which there was no sign of occupancy.
There are several sharks which are found in the surrounding oceans of this island which pose a danger to human life.
About 91.8% people of this island speak Creole, which is a simplified version of French adopted since 1981. Other sections of the people communicate either in English or French.
There are 8 concreted airports till 2005 out of the total 15 airports.
The temperature of the island is in between 26 degree Celsius and 28 degree Celsius.
Seychelles is one of the most sought after tourist destinations of the world as it has sunny days throughout the year.

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