Talk:Seychelles

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Is it more properly Seychelles or the Seychelles? That is, History of Seychelles or History of the Seychelles? I notice they're not all in agreement. e.g. Demographics of Seychelles vs. Economy of the Seychelles. --KQ 20:58 Sep 6, 2002 (UCT)

Short form "Seychelles", no direct article. Long form "Republic of Seychelles". Here's their ministry of foreign affairs. --Brion 05:30 Sep 7, 2002 (UTC)

I think that, as with most archipelagos, common use is to add "the". As in "the government of the US Virgin Islands decided that.." or the "the team of the Maldives were defeated by.." etc. The official French name (French is spoken there) is also République des Seychelles, which I would also translate with Republic of the Seychelles... Anyway, it doesn't really matter, as long as the use is consistent. Jeronimo

Yes, and Canada is le Canada in French. On va au Canada. Voici le site web du gouvernement du Canada. But, we're speaking English here, and the official English name does not have an article, neither for Canada nor for Seychelles. Informal usage with "the" is not uncommon, but what can you do? --Brion

Yeah, the French always use articles for countries, I kinda forgot about that... But in English, it is also common to use articles for plurals: the United States, f.e. But if the official name appears to be without the, so be it. Jeronimo

The impression I get from looking through dictionaries is that if I'm talking about the islands, I can say "the Seychelles (islands)", but if I'm talking about the country (which of course covers the same ground, no?), I probably should prefer to say "Seychelles". Furthermore, I'm unsure about pronunciation... my tendency would be to say "the say-shells" but "say-shell" or "the say-shell islands", but this may just be me. In any case, the official name of the country, for good reason or not, is article-less and that's that. :) --Brion

So the pages should be without "the" in the title? --KQ 14:10 Sep 7, 2002 (UTC)


I say yes. If you're paranoid, make redirects that have "the" in em. --Brion 03:54 Sep 9, 2002 (UTC)
Fair enough. I'm doing this and then going to bed. --KQ 04:05 Sep 9, 2002 (UTC)
Is it worth pointing out that Seychelles (or "The" Seychelles, if you prefer) is one of the most corrupt countries in the world?
    • According to Transparency International Seychelles is ranked 55th cleanest country out of 158. And as 55 is closer to 1 than it is to 158 I disagree with your statement (though I do agree that there is some corruption and that it should be eliminated). RajivShah 18:31, 11 August 2006 (UTC)


I used to live in Seychelles and family living there, and we say Seychelles, The Seychelles and Seychelle Islands. Im not sure what the official line is, or if it is acceptable to use either. I agree that the redirects should be implemented. And yes, corruption has been a great problem since independance, although the official line says that all has been well hah... Marc


My mother's first name was Seychelles. And she pronounced it "say shell" not "say shells" With a silent S. Is that not how the island chain is pronounced? Thekevinmiller 01:50, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Definite article

Is Seychelles plural? Seychelles or the Seychelles? — Instantnood 19:43, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Number of islands

The article says in the lead section that Seychelles is "a nation of 115 islands". In the "Geography" section, however, the count is "41 islands, of which 33 are inhabited." Would someone please edit the article to clear up this discrepancy? JamesMLane t c 14:52, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Now, the lead section says 158 islands, but the Geography section says 115. It's still inconsistent!

It sounds a simple question: “How many islands are there in Seychelles?” Yet there isn’t a simple answer. Nowadays, most people use the number 115. This is partly my fault because when writing for Spectrum Guide to Seychelles I decided to try to produce a definitive list. At this time the number 92 was quite popular while some people opted for a more vague “over 100”. I went to the Survey Division and they kindly furnished me with a list of islands. I totted them up to 115 and published the list. Voila! 115 QED! Or was it? The Constitution of the Republic of Seychelles was published a few years later. It listed 155 islands. I have switched to using this figure but most people still use 115. Maybe they think 155 is a misprint? So, we have a new definitive answer, what could be more authoritative than the Constitution? Except this figure is wrong, too. For a start, we have the seven new reclaimed islands since the Constitution was written. These are Ile Perseverance, Ile Aurore, Romainville, Eden Island, Eve, Ile du Port and Ile Soleil.

So, there are 162 islands? Unfortunately that is wrong too, because we have lost a few. African Banks used to consist of two islands but South Island has gone. St Joseph Atoll lost Banc de Sable following a storm a few years ago, while Pelican Island has gone the same way as the pelicans and become extinct. Grand Carcassaye and Petit Carcassaye have merged to form one island. Perhaps we should call it Tres Grand Carcassaye?

Now we are back down to 158. Mind you, there are some islands with no name at all. There are six at St Joseph Atoll alone, so far from losing islands the atoll has a net gain compared to the Constitution. Cosmoledo has even more islands with no name in the Constitution. As for Aldabra, the atoll has arguably more than 100 islands on its own.

What ever the definition you use, the situation is a dynamic one. Even without global warming islands come and islands go, some quicker than others. But perhaps for the sake of argument, the Constitution is as good a reference as any, so until its updated I'm sticking with 155! Adrian Skerrett

[edit] Proposed WikiProject

In my ongoing efforts to try to include every country on the planet included in the scope of a WikiProject, I have proposed a new project on Eastern Africa at Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals#Eastern Africa whose scope would include Seychelles. Any interested parties are more than welcome to add their names there, so we can see if there is enough interest to start such a project. Thank you for your attention. Badbilltucker 16:29, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Error in the number of islands.....

There are 115 islands in the (Seychelles)archipialago, not 155.It's correct in the spanish version of Wikipedia.

[edit] Naming of Seychelles

Much of the following is questionable, and even if it were true, it clutters the article:

"Some historians have claimed the islands were named after Jean Moreau de Séchelles, the French finance minister appointed in 1754. However, he resigned in 1756 (the year the islands were claimed by France) when he showed signs of senility attributed to over-fondness for ladies."

From the French Wikipedia article on Moreau at http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Moreau_de_S%C3%A9chelles: "Il fut victime d'une congestion cérébrale en mars 1756 et François Marie Peyrenc de Moras, son gendre, fut désigné par Louis XV pour le remplacer." Translation: He was the victim of a stroke in March 1756 and François Marie Peyrenc de Moras, his son-in-law, was designated by Louis XV to replace him. No strange tale about womanizing and dementia. Maybe it did happen, though, and it would be pertinent to an article on Moreau, yet why's it pertinent to an overview article about the Seychelles? It'll have to be for more than the following reason:

"Historian Marcel Emerit suggests it was the alliances of his daughters that led to the name Seychelles. His elder daughter married the Chief of Police and the younger married the Minister of Marine, Marquis de Moras who succeeded Jean Moreau as Minister of Finance. Morphey originally named the island of Praslin as Ile Moras, showing he was well aware of the political changes of that year."

Presuming this is true, how does this contradict the first assertion ("Some historians have claimed the islands were named after Jean Moreau de Séchelles")? If the daughters wanted to name the islands after themselves instead of their father, it was totally lost on just about everyone, who thought it was named for their father. They probably wouldn't have named it after other Séchelles either since the historic family was unrelated to their father (see his article).

In the end, what appears on the Seychelles government's website (http://www.virtualseychelles.sc/pages/vs_ie.htm) should appear here and nothing more: "The islands were named after Jean Moreau de Séchelles, Louis XV’s Minister of Finance." I'd argue that you need more than one historian's musing (preferably those more up to date as well, since Emerit was early to mid-20th century) in a confusing context (since what he wrote doesn't seem to contradict the standard story about the name) to say something different. Even if it were determined that the name came from elsewhere, it deserves only one or two lines of note in this type of article. Extra details should go to the history article. RemiCogan 13:30, 26 June 2007 (UTC)