-
Make a real difference...
-
to communities across Africa.
-
Share skills and knowledge...
-
and sponsor children...
-
to develop a better future
-
...and change lives forever!
Victoria is the present day
capital of the Seychelles, an archipelago of islands in the Indian Ocean to
the north-east of Madagascar. They were long known to Arab traders before
coming to the attention of Europeans en route to India who first landed on them in
1609 when members of the British East India company spent time on Mahe island,
Victoria's location. After
earlier expeditions, the Seychelles were claimed by
France in 1756 and settled by them in the 1770s naming them after Viscount
Jean Moreau de Seychelles, Louis XV's Minister of Finance, however they came under British control during the Napoleonic Wars
following the defeat of French Mauritius from where they were administered and
formally ceded to the British under the treaty of Paris 1814 and later, in
1841, the town was renamed Victoria, after Queen Victoria.
In the early nineteenth century most of
the population of Victoria worked on white owned farms producing maize,
rice, cotton and sugar cane. However, after the abolition of slavery there in
1834, many settlers left with their slaves with 'replacement' incomers
arriving from India, China and Malaysia who set themselves up as shop keepers
and traders to supplement the growing number of other settlers, many of them
former slaves freed from slave ships by the British Navy operating in the
Indian Ocean. The British had little interest in the Seychelles during this period seeing it as
a burden. The plantations were in decline due to over-farming, former slaves
held no land and squatted where they could and there was little income from
exports to develop the island's infrastructure to meet its growing population.
During this period the Seychelles were largely dependent on imports to survive
and there was a growing resentment at colonial rule from Mauritius to some
extent spurred by Mauritius's poor response to the avalanche of 1862 which
killed 70 in Victoria alone and damaged much of the town.
In 1897
administrative rule was transferred to Victoria with the island being granted
separate Crown Colony status from Mauritius in 1903. Following independence from the UK in
1976, Victoria remained the archipelago's capital and today is Africa's smallest capital with a population of some 98,347 people (2020) with a
busy port in the east of the 'city' where the tuna fishing and canning
industries employ much of its population in addition to exports of vanilla,
coconuts and coconut oil, tortoise shells, soaps and fertiliser. Attractions
for tourists include its clock tower (above), botanical gardens and national
museum as well as island tourism.
Victoria Profile: Volunteer in the Seychelles
|
Victoria Profile: Victoria City Map
|
Victoria Profile: Seychelles News
|
Victoria Profile: Seychelles Country Profile
|
|
Details of current volunteer work
opportunities in each of the
countries of Africa.
Find how to sponsor a child in Africa
with our list of organisations,
charities, programs and projects.
Discover all about Africa, its tourist
attractions, history, people, culture
and daily life there.
