Districts of Seychelles

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Updates: 

There is enough evidence for the new districts now, so I have updated the main table.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter I-8, published on 2007-04-17, has new ISO commune codes for Seychelles. They are shown in the table below, under the "Change history" heading. They replace codes from a draft version, ISO/DIS 2166-2, which had not been supported.

FIPS Publication Change Notice No. 10, affecting FIPS PUB 10-4, was issued on 2006-03-23. It drops one district, adds three new ones, and changes five. As explained under "Change history", this scenario doesn't quite seem to fit.

Country overview: 

Initially a dependency of Mauritius, Seychelles became a separate British colony in 1903-11. It gained independence on 1976-06-29.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Seychellerne
2. Dutch: Seychellen, Republiek Seychellen (formal)
3. English: Republic of Seychelles (formal)
4. Finnish: Seychellit
5. French: Seychelles fp
6. German: Seychellen fp, Seschellen fp (obsolete)
7. Icelandic: Seychelleseyjar
8. Italian: Seicelle fp, Seychelles
9. Norwegian: Seychellene, Republikken Seychellene (formal) (Bokmål), Seychellane, Republikken Seychellane (formal) (Nynorsk)
10. Portuguese: Seicheles, Seychelles, República f das Seychelles fp (formal)
11. Spanish: Seychelles, República f de Seychelles (formal)
12. Swedish: Seychellerna

Origin of name: 

named in honor of Marie Jean Hérault de Séchelles, French comptroller at the time of discovery

Primary subdivisions: 

Seychelles is divided into 25 districts, plus Outer Islands.

Territorial extent: 

The main island of Seychelles is Mahé, where the capital, Victoria, is located. Within 100 km. of it are the Inner Islands: Praslin, Silhouette, La Digue, North, Curieuse, and some smaller islands. The Outer Islands are the Cosmoledo Group, including Aldabra, Assumption, and Astove; the Farquhar Group, including Cerf, Saint Pierre, and Providence; and other scattered islands like Desroches. All of the districts are on Mahé except for Baie Sainte Anne and Grand' Anse (Praslin) on Praslin, and La Digue on La Digue Island.

Origins of names: 

1. Mahé: named by Capt. Lazare Picault in honor of Bertrand-François Mahé, governor of Mauritius.
2. Praslin: named in 1768 for César Gabriel de Choiseul, duc de Praslin (1712-1785), then French Secretary of the Navy
3. Anse aux Pins: = pine cove (French); casuarina trees, resembling pines, grew there
4. Anse Boileau: after a Captain Boileau who landed there in 1790-06
5. Anse Étoile: = star cove (French)
6. Anse Royale: = royal cove (French), for the King's Garden there
7. Au Cap: = at the cape (French)
8. Baie Lazare: after Captain Lazare Picault, who landed there 1742-11-22
9. Baie Sainte Anne: after Sainte Anne Church, located there
10. Beau Vallon: = beautiful dale (French)
11. Bel Air: = fine air (French)
12. Belombre: = beautiful shade (French)
13. Cascade: after a waterfall in the Cascade River
14. Glacis: = slope (French)
15. Grand Anse: = great cove (French)
16. La Digue: = the dike (French)
17. Les Mamelles: = the breasts (French)
18. Mont Buxton: after Thomas Fowell Buxton (1786–1845)
19. Mont Fleuri: = blooming mount (French)
20. Plaisance: = pleasure spot (French)
21. Pointe La Rue: after Madame Larue, early settler
22. Roche Caïman: = caiman rock (French); the crocodilian species was found there
23. Saint Louis: after Saint Louis College, located there
24. Takamaka: for its takamaka trees

Change history: 

The divisions of Seychelles before World War II were five districts: Central Mahé, North Mahé, Outlying Islands, Praslin, and South Mahé. The Virtual Seychelles  website omits Outlying Islands.

1. 1965-11-08: Islands of Aldabra, Desroches, and Farquhar taken from Seychelles to form part of the new British Indian Ocean Territory.
2. 1967: Seychelles divided into eight electoral areas: East Mahé, La Digue and Outlying Islands, North Mahé, Praslin, South Mahé, Victoria North, Victoria South, and West Mahé.
3. 1976-06-29: Aldabra, Desroches, and Farquhar Islands restored to Seychelles.
4. 1979: Seychelles divided into 23 districts, as shown in the table below. Apparently these districts didn't cover Inner Islands and Outer Islands.

1. 1998: Anse Louis district renamed Au Cap, and new districts of Les Mamelles and Roche Caïman created. The Virtual Seychelles website says that all three districts were created on reclaimed land, but from the map it seems clear that Au Cap is the same area as the old Anse Louis. The FIPS code changes also seem to imply that Anse Louis district was partitioned into Au Cap, Les Mamelles, and Roche Caïman, but again the map doesn't support this interpretation.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Au Cap: Anse Louis (obsolete)
2. Bel Ombre: Belombre (variant)
3. English River: La Rivière Anglaise (French)