Seychelles Islands

Seychelles, officially the Republic of Seychelles, is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. 

Nearby island countries and territories include Zanzibar to the west, Mauritius and Réunion to the south, Comoros and Mayotte to the southwest. An island nation, Seychelles is located to the northeast of Madagascar and about 1,600 km east of Kenya.  The climate is equable although quite humid, as the islands are small. The temperature varies little throughout the year. During the plantation era, cinnamon, vanilla, and copra were the chief exports. Growth has been led by the tourist sector, which employs about 30% of the labour force, compared to agriculture which today employs about 3% of the labour force. Despite the growth of tourism, farming and fishing continue to employ some people, as do industries that process coconuts and vanilla. The prime agricultural products currently produced in the Seychelles include sweet potatoes, vanilla, coconuts, and cinnamon. These products provide much of the economic support of the locals. Frozen and canned fish, copra, cinnamon, and vanilla are the main export commodities of the islands. In recent years the government has encouraged foreign investment in order to upgrade hotels and other services. These incentives have given rise to an enormous amount of investment in real estate projects and new resort properties.

The music of Seychelles is diverse. The folk music of the islands incorporates multiple influences in a syncretic fashion, including African rhythms, aesthetic and instrumentation - such as the zez and the bom (known in Brazil as berimbau), European contredanse, polka and mazurka, French folk and pop and other pan-African genres, and Polynesian, Indian and Arcadian music.

The marine life around the islands, especially the more remote coral islands, can be spectacular. More than 1,000 species of fish have been recorded.