Editing Seychelles (section)

===Early history===
Seychelles was uninhabited throughout most of recorded history, although simulations of [[Austronesian peoples|Austronesian]] migration patterns indicate a good probability that they visited the islands.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fitzpatrick |first1=Scott M. |last2=Callaghan |first2=Richard |chapter=Seafaring simulations and the Origin of Prehistoric Settlers to Madagascar |page=52 |title=Islands of Inquiry: Colonisation, Seafaring and the Archaeology of Maritime Landscapes |editor1-last=O'Connor |editor1-first=Sue |editor2-last=Clark |editor2-first=Geoffrey |editor3-last=Leach |editor3-first=Foss |series=Terra Australis |issue=29 |publisher=ANU E Press |location=Canberra, ACT, Australia |url=https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/33708/1/459300.pdf |date=2008 |isbn=9781921313905}}</ref> Tombs visible until 1910 at Anse Lascars on Silhouette Island have also been conjectured to belong to later [[Maldivians|Maldivian]] and [[Arabs|Arab]] traders visiting the archipelago.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Guébourg |first=Jean-Louis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lsfav10mYCMC |title=Les Seychelles |date=2004 |publisher=Ed. Karthala |isbn=2-84586-358-6 |location=Paris |language=fr |oclc=419931142 |pages=27–28 |via=Google Books}}</ref> [[Vasco da Gama]] and his [[4th Portuguese India Armada (Gama, 1502)|4th Portuguese India Armada]] discovered the Seychelles on 15 March 1503; the first sighting was made by [[Thomé Lopes]] aboard ''Rui Mendes de Brito''. Da Gama's ships passed close to an elevated island, probably [[Silhouette Island]], and the following day [[Desroches Island]]. Later, the Portuguese mapped a group of seven islands and named them ''The Seven Sisters.''<ref>{{cite web |title= Seychelles: Settlement and the development of the plantation economy (1770–1944)|publisher=Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa |url=https://www.eisa.org/wep/seyoverview1.htm }}</ref> The earliest recorded landing was in January 1609, by the crew of the ''Ascension'' under Captain [[Alexander Sharpeigh]] during the fourth voyage of the British [[East India Company]].

A transit point for trade between Africa and Asia, the islands were said to be occasionally used by pirates until the French began to take control in 1756 when a Stone of Possession was laid on [[Mahé, Seychelles|Mahé]] by Captain [[Corneille Nicholas Morphey]]. The islands were named after French politician [[Jean Moreau de Séchelles]], and were formally part of the colony of [[Isle de France (Mauritius)|Isle de France]].<ref>{{cite web |publisher=National Assembly of Seychelles |title=Our History |url=http://www.nationalassembly.sc/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&id=16&Itemid=53 |access-date=12 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120628122148/http://www.nationalassembly.sc/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&id=16&Itemid=53 |archive-date=28 June 2012 |url-status=live  }}</ref> In August 1770, the French ship ''Thélémaque'' under Captain [[Leblanc Lécore]] landed 15 white settlers and 13 African and Indian slaves on [[Ste. Anne Island]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Govinden |first=Gerard |date=2020-08-27 |title=250th Anniversary of First Settlement |url=https://nation.sc/articles/5891/250th-anniversary-of-first-settlement |access-date=2024-07-03 |website=Seychelles Nation |language=en}}</ref>

During the [[French Revolutionary Wars]], the [[Royal Navy]] frigate [[HMS Orpheus (1780)|HMS ''Orpheus'']] under Captain [[Henry Newcombe (Royal Navy officer)|Henry Newcombe]] arrived at Mahé on 16 May 1794. [[Jean Baptiste Quéau de Quincy]], the senior administrator in the Seychelles, refused to resist ''Orpheus'' and instead successfully negotiated with the British, resulting the islands remaining under French control as "neutral" territory. After British forces completed their [[invasion of Isle de France]] in December 1810, they assumed control over the Seychelles, which was formalised in the 1814 [[Treaty of Paris (1814)|Treaty of Paris]] that ended the [[War of the Sixth Coalition]]. Seychelles became a separate [[crown colony]] from Mauritius in 1903. [[Elections in Seychelles]] were held in 1966 and 1970.

{{multiple image
| align    = right
| total_width = 250
| image1   = Seychelles 1953 coronation stamp.JPG
| image2   = Queen Elizabeth Seychelles stamp 1977.jpg
| footer   = Seychellois stamps with portrait of [[Queen Elizabeth II]]
}}

[[File:Victoria Seychelles 1900s.jpg|thumb|left|Victoria, Seychelles 1900s]]