Seychelles

Seychelles is an island nation in the Indian Ocean made up of 115 islands about 1,500 kilometers east of mainland Africa, the smallest country in Africa and the least populated sovereign African country, with approximately 100,600 residents as of 2022 and Victoria as its capital. The archipelago was uninhabited until European contact in the sixteenth century; France formally claimed and settled the islands in the eighteenth century using enslaved African labor on plantations, before Britain took control in the early nineteenth century, abolished slavery and replaced it with indentured workers from India. Since independence in 1976, Seychelles has transformed from a largely agricultural society into a market-based diversified economy and now leads Africa in nominal per capita GDP and human development rankings, with a culture described as an eclectic mix of French, British, Indian and African influences with infusions of Chinese elements. The country belongs to major international organizations including the United Nations and the African Union.