The main islands have only been settled for about 200 years. A possession Stone was erected by Frenchman Captain Morphey on the first of November 1756, signifying that he had taken possession of Mahe and several other nearby islands on behalf of the King of France. 

It was Morphey who named these islands Seychelles, thought to have been in the honour of Vicompte Moreau des Sechelles who was controller-general of France at the time. The stone was almost lost in 1894, removed by a visiting French General wanting to take it back to the Paris Museum. However, on his way back to France he had a telegram demanding its immediate return to Mahe. During the Napoleonic Wars the islands passed from French to English rule then back again several times over, before the English finally took over as colonial masters in 1811. The English never really settled on the islands and the French influence remains strong. Many African slaves were also brought in to work on the land. After the abolition of slavery many of them were liberated in Seychelles, when illegal slaving ships were captured by the English frigates in the Indian Ocean.

It was the slaves who introduced the musical traditions of the Sega and the Moutia. The Sega, similar to the music and dance of neighboring Mauritius, is a calypso-like rhythm with a shuffling, hip-swaying dance. 

The Moutia is much more African - usually played by the light of a beach bonfire. It is a primitive sounding beat played on a heated goatskin drum and helped along with the large doses of bacca or calou - both locally brewed liqueurs made from sugar cane and coconut palm sap.

Besides the African slaves and the French landowners, other nationalities came to Seychelles - Arabs, Chinese and Indians have stayed and settled and the Seychelles population today is a wonderful mixture of all these influences, resulting in a complete lack of racial tension. Seychellois women, in particular, are famed throughout Africa for their beauty and elegance. They are sometimes described as 'French enough to have good shapes', English enough to have good manners, Asian enough to have the touch of exotic about them, and African enough to have a call of the wild in them!

Does it all sound too good to be true? Perhaps we are biased, but Seychelles is paradise on earth, indeed it is a pirate's treasure trove waiting to be discovered.

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