Geography · c. 66 million years ago
Mahé's granite predates the dinosaurs.
Did you know that the granite of Mahé and its neighbours is roughly 750 million years old, and the islands only drifted free when the Seychelles microcontinent split from India around 66 million years ago.
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Science · c. 136,000 years ago
A bird that lost flight twice.
Did you know that the flightless Aldabra rail evolved twice: its ancestors lost flight, vanished when Aldabra sank beneath the sea about 136,000 years ago, and flighted rails recolonised the atoll and became flightless again.
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Heritage · 1502
The Amirantes are named after an admiral.
Did you know that the Amirante Islands take their name from Vasco da Gama, the 'Admiral' who sighted them on his second voyage to India in 1502, long before anyone settled in Seychelles.
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Firsts · January 1609
English sailors landed first, in 1609.
Did you know that the first recorded landing in Seychelles was made in January 1609 by the crew of the English East India Company ship Ascension, who found the granite islands completely uninhabited.
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Heritage · 1742
Mahé was first called 'Island of Abundance'.
Did you know that Lazare Picault, sent by Mauritius governor Mahé de La Bourdonnais in 1742, called the main island 'Île d'Abondance' for its plenty, before it was renamed Mahé in his patron's honour.
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Heritage · 1756
A finance minister gave the islands their name.
Did you know that the islands are named after Jean Moreau de Séchelles, Louis XV's finance minister, and the 'Stone of Possession' laid by Captain Corneille Nicolas Morphey in 1756 still survives.
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Nature · 1768
The coco de mer's home stayed secret for centuries.
Did you know that the coco de mer palm was only found growing on Praslin by a French expedition in 1768, though its huge nuts had washed up on Indian Ocean shores for centuries.
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Firsts · 27 August 1770
The first settlers started on Ste Anne.
Did you know that the first settlers of Seychelles arrived aboard the Thélémaque on 27 August 1770 and landed not on Mahé but on tiny Ste Anne Island, under Captain Leblanc Lecore.
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Economy · 1771
A French bid to steal the spice trade.
Did you know that in 1771, on the orders of Pierre Poivre, Antoine Gillot planted a spice garden at Anse Royale with nutmeg, clove, cinnamon and pepper, part of a French bid to break the Dutch spice monopoly.
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Heritage · 1794
Surrendered once, renewed seven times.
Did you know that when British warships appeared in 1794, French commandant Jean-Baptiste Quéau de Quinssy surrendered Seychelles on such favourable terms that they were renewed seven times as later British ships called.
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Society · 1801
Napoleon exiled Jacobins to Seychelles.
Did you know that after a 1800 bomb plot against Napoleon, dozens of Parisian Jacobins, including the revolutionary general Jean Antoine Rossignol, were deported to Seychelles in 1801, some later moved on to the Comoros.
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Heritage · 1841
Victoria was once just 'the Settlement'.
Did you know that the capital Victoria was simply called L'Établissement, 'the Settlement', for decades before it was renamed in 1841 after the young Queen Victoria.
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Society · 1861–1874
Thousands of freed Africans landed here.
Did you know that between 1861 and 1874 the Royal Navy landed about 2,400 Africans freed from Arab slave dhows in Seychelles, where many were apprenticed to planters and taught at mission schools.
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Nature · 12 October 1862
A mud avalanche buried Victoria.
Did you know that on 12 October 1862 torrential rain sent an avalanche of mud and boulders down the hills onto Victoria, killing more than 70 people in the disaster Seychellois remember as the Avalasse.
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Science · 1874
Darwin lobbied to save Aldabra's tortoises.
Did you know that Charles Darwin co-signed an 1874 petition urging the Mauritius government to protect Aldabra's giant tortoises, one of the earliest conservation appeals for any reptile.
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Myth or fact · 1881
Gordon thought Eden was on Praslin.
Did you know that British general Charles Gordon visited Praslin in 1881 and became convinced the Vallée de Mai was the biblical Garden of Eden, with the coco de mer as the Tree of Knowledge.
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Society · 1900–1924
An Ashanti king lived 20 years in exile here.
Did you know that the deposed Asantehene Prempeh I of Ashanti spent over two decades in exile in Seychelles, the British prison-island of choice for troublesome rulers, before returning to the Gold Coast in 1924.
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Heritage · 1903
Victoria's clock tower copies a London one.
Did you know that Victoria's little silver Clock Tower, known locally as 'Lorloz', was erected in 1903 to mark Seychelles becoming a separate crown colony and copies a clock tower in London.
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Society · 1903
A Ugandan king died in Seychelles exile.
Did you know that Kabaka Mwanga II of Buganda died in exile on Mahé in 1903, having been deported there with Omukama Kabalega of Bunyoro after they fought British rule in Uganda.
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Myth or fact · 1949
A decades-long dig for pirate gold.
Did you know that from 1949 Reginald Cruise-Wilkins spent decades excavating the beach at Bel Ombre on Mahé, hunting the legendary treasure of pirate Olivier Levasseur, 'La Buse', which has never been found.
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Society · 1956–1957
Cyprus's future president was exiled here.
Did you know that Archbishop Makarios III, leader of the Greek Cypriot struggle and later Cyprus's first president, was exiled by Britain to Seychelles in 1956 and kept at a house in Sans Souci above Victoria.
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Geography · 1965–1976
Three island groups were borrowed by Britain.
Did you know that Aldabra, Farquhar and Desroches were detached from Seychelles in 1965 to form part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, and only returned at independence in 1976.
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Nature · 1967
Scientists stopped an airbase on Aldabra.
Did you know that Britain and the United States planned an air base on Aldabra in the 1960s, but a campaign by scientists and the Royal Society helped kill the scheme in 1967, saving the atoll's tortoises.
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Nature · 1970s
A 'lost' tree turned up alive.
Did you know that the jellyfish tree of Mahé, named for its dangling jellyfish-like fruits, was believed extinct until a few surviving trees were rediscovered in the 1970s.
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Firsts · 1971
Until 1971, everyone arrived by ship.
Did you know that until Seychelles International Airport opened in 1971 the islands could only be reached by sea, and the airport was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1972.
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Society · 5 June 1977
The president was in London during the coup.
Did you know that President James Mancham was overthrown on 5 June 1977, barely a year after independence, while he was in London attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
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Language · 1978
Kreol is spoken by almost everyone.
Did you know that since 1978 Seychellois Creole, or Kreol Seselwa, has been an official language alongside English and French, and it is the native language of over 99 percent of Seychellois.
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Society · 25 November 1981
Mercenaries posed as a beer club.
Did you know that Mike Hoare's 1981 mercenary coup attempt flew in disguised as a rugby-playing beer club, 'Ye Ancient Order of Froth Blowers', and collapsed when a customs officer found a rifle in their luggage.
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Records · 1982
Aldabra holds about 100,000 tortoises.
Did you know that Aldabra, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982, is one of the world's largest raised coral atolls and is home to around 100,000 giant tortoises.
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Heritage · 1983
A UNESCO forest of giant nuts.
Did you know that the Vallée de Mai on Praslin, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983, is one of only two places where the coco de mer grows wild and shelters the rare Seychelles black parrot.
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Culture · 1985
Festival Kreol began in 1985.
Did you know that Seychelles launched its annual Festival Kreol in 1985, an October celebration of Creole music, food and language that became one of the first such festivals in the Creole-speaking world.
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Culture · 1996
The flag's rays fan into the future.
Did you know that the Seychelles flag adopted in 1996 has five oblique bands fanning out from the lower hoist corner, meant to symbolise a dynamic young country moving into the future.
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Nature · 26 December 2004
The 2004 tsunami reached Seychelles too.
Did you know that the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami crossed more than 4,500 kilometres of ocean to reach Seychelles hours after the Sumatra earthquake, killing three people and damaging bridges and roads.
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Economy · 2008
From default to high income.
Did you know that Seychelles defaulted on its foreign debt in 2008, then floated its rupee and adopted an IMF-backed reform programme that turned it into one of Africa's richest economies per person.
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Firsts · 2009
No university until 2009.
Did you know that Seychelles had no university of its own until the University of Seychelles was founded in 2009, so for generations students had to go abroad for degrees.
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Sport · August 2011
Victoria hosted the island Olympics.
Did you know that Victoria hosted the 8th Indian Ocean Island Games in 2011, a multi-sport event shared by Seychelles, Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros, Réunion, Mayotte and the Maldives.
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Records · December 2015
A presidency won by 193 votes.
Did you know that the 2015 presidential election produced Seychelles' first ever runoff, which James Michel won with about 50.15 percent of the vote, a margin of only 193 votes over Wavel Ramkalawan.
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Society · September 2016
The opposition finally won in 2016.
Did you know that in September 2016 the opposition Linyon Demokratik Seselwa won control of the National Assembly, the first time since 1977 that René's party had lost a national election.
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Economy · 2016
Debt traded for ocean protection.
Did you know that in 2016 Seychelles swapped about US$21 million of its debt with help from The Nature Conservancy in return for pledging to protect 30 percent of its ocean, the first debt-for-ocean swap of its kind.
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Firsts · October 2018
The world's first blue bond.
Did you know that in 2018 Seychelles issued the world's first sovereign blue bond, raising US$15 million from investors to fund sustainable fisheries and marine projects.
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Nature · March 2020
Ocean reserves bigger than Germany.
Did you know that by 2020 Seychelles had placed 30 percent of its vast ocean territory, about 410,000 square kilometres, an area larger than Germany, under marine protection.
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Firsts · October 2020
A priest ended a 43-year rule.
Did you know that Wavel Ramkalawan, an Anglican priest, became in 2020 the first opposition candidate to win the presidency since 1977, ending decades in opposition.
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Records · 2021
World's most vaccinated, still a surge.
Did you know that in early 2021 Seychelles had the world's highest COVID-19 vaccination rate per person, yet still faced a sharp surge in cases that spring.
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Culture · 2021
Slave-era Moutya is UNESCO heritage.
Did you know that the Moutya, a drum-driven dance born among enslaved people who gathered secretly at night, was added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2021.
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Society · 7 December 2023
Blast and floods on the same day.
Did you know that on 7 December 2023 a huge blast at an explosives store in the Providence industrial zone, coinciding with deadly floods, led President Ramkalawan to declare a state of emergency.
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Society · 2025
A resort plan shook the 2025 vote.
Did you know that the long lease of remote Assomption Island to a Qatari developer for a luxury resort near Aldabra, reported as 70 years, became a hot issue in the 2025 election, with activists campaigning to stop it.
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Society · October 2025
Two incumbents ousted in a row.
Did you know that Patrick Herminie of United Seychelles won the October 2025 runoff with 52.73 percent, meaning sitting presidents lost two elections in a row after Ramkalawan himself unseated Danny Faure in 2020.
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Records · Timeless
The world's biggest seed grows here.
Did you know that the coco de mer palm of Praslin and Curieuse produces the largest seed of any plant, weighing up to about 25 kilograms and taking around seven years to mature.
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Myth or fact · Timeless
Sailors thought it grew under the sea.
Did you know that before its palm was found, sailors believed the coco de mer grew on a tree beneath the sea because its nuts were only ever seen floating or washed up on the Maldives, hence its name.
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Records · Timeless
The oldest land animal is Seychellois.
Did you know that Jonathan, the world's oldest known living land animal, is a Seychelles giant tortoise hatched around 1832 and shipped to Saint Helena in 1882.
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Geography · Timeless
The only granite islands in mid-ocean.
Did you know that the inner Seychelles are the world's only mid-ocean islands made of granite rather than volcanic rock or coral, the stranded peaks of a sunken microcontinent.
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Geography · Timeless
115 islands, top peak 905 m.
Did you know that Seychelles is made up of 115 islands scattered across a vast ocean, yet the highest point of all, Morne Seychellois on Mahé, is only about 905 metres above sea level.
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Records · Timeless
Africa's least populous country.
Did you know that with roughly 100,000 people Seychelles has the smallest population of any sovereign African state, and Victoria is one of the world's smallest capital cities.
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Nature · Timeless
La Digue's black 'widow' bird.
Did you know that the vulnerable Seychelles paradise flycatcher, whose glossy black males trail tail feathers twice their body length, lives almost only on La Digue, where locals call it the 'vev'.
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Nature · Timeless
A frog smaller than a fingernail.
Did you know that Gardiner's Seychelles frog, found only in the misty mountains of Mahé and Silhouette, is one of the smallest frogs in the world at a maximum of about 11 millimetres long.
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Nature · Timeless
Saved from just 16 birds.
Did you know that the Seychelles magpie-robin was down to just 16 birds, all on Frégate Island, in 1970, but translocations to other islands have since pulled it back from extinction.
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Nature · Timeless
The national bird lives on one island.
Did you know that the national bird, the Seychelles black parrot, lives only on Praslin and nearby Curieuse and feeds largely in the coco de mer forests of the Vallée de Mai.
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Nature · Timeless
Bird Island's huge tern colony.
Did you know that tiny Bird Island, the northernmost of the Seychelles at under one square kilometre, hosts a vast breeding colony of sooty terns numbering in the hundreds of thousands of pairs.
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Culture · Timeless
Fruit bat curry is on the menu.
Did you know that Seychellois Creole cuisine includes fruit bat curry, alongside octopus curry, grilled red snapper and breadfruit, reflecting a mix of African, French, Indian and Chinese influences.
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Language · Timeless
In Kreol, Seychelles is 'Sesel'.
Did you know that Kreol Seselwa is a French-based Creole whose spelling was standardised phonetically, so French 'bonjour' becomes 'bonzour' and the country itself is written 'Sesel'.
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