Rare Glimpses into Seychelles’ Past: Discovering Pre-Colonial History

The granitic peaks of Mahé rise directly from the Indian Ocean, their rounded forms a geological anomaly in an archipelago otherwise composed of volcanic rock and coral. These inner islands are fragments of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana, among the oldest oceanic islands on Earth, and they remained entirely uninhabited by humans until the 18th century. The Seychelles, scattered across 1.4 million square kilometres of the western Indian Ocean, have no pre-colonial settlement history — no indigenous population, no archaeological evidence of permanent habitation before French colonists arrived in 1770. This article traces the rare glimpses into that pre-human and early-contact past, from the geological birth of the islands to the pirates who left only legends behind.

The absence of a pre-colonial human narrative is itself the defining feature of Seychelles’ early history. Arab navigators referred to the islands as ‘Zarin’ in medieval texts, and Portuguese cartographers plotted them from 1502 onward, but no one stayed. The first attested landing came in 1609, when an expedition of the British East India Company led by Captain Alexander Sharpeigh set foot on the archipelago. Even then, it would be another 161 years before anyone attempted permanent settlement.

Archipelago of a Lost Continent: Geology Before Humans

The inner Seychelles — Mahé, Praslin, La Digue, Silhouette, and their satellites — are composed of Precambrian granite over 750 million years old. These rocks are remnants of the microcontinent of Seychellia, which separated from India when Gondwana broke apart roughly 250 million years ago. The outer islands, by contrast, are low-lying coralline atolls and sand cays — geologically younger and far less durable.

What a visitor notices immediately is the contrast: the inner islands rise sharply with forested granite boulders stacked like giant cairns, while the outer islands sit flat against the horizon. The Vallée de Mai on Praslin, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, preserves the kind of primeval palm forest that would have covered these slopes before any human arrived. The coco de mer palm that grows there produces a seed weighing up to 25 kilograms — the world’s largest — and is found naturally nowhere else on Earth.

The absence of human history before 1770 is not a gap in the record; it is the record. No tools, no hearths, no burial sites have been found. The islands were simply too far from any major landmass — over 1,500 kilometres from East Africa and 1,000 kilometres north of Madagascar — to attract permanent settlers before the age of European colonial navigation.

First Sightings and False Starts: Arab, Portuguese, and British Encounters

Arab traders likely visited the Seychelles as early as the 9th or 10th century, according to medieval texts that refer to the islands as ‘Zarin’. Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama charted some of the Seychelles in 1502, naming them the “Amirantes” (Admirals’ Islands). The Portuguese also called the main group the ‘Seven Sisters’ or ‘Admiral Islands’, and the Mahé group was sometimes labelled the ‘Islands of Lazarus’ on early maps.

Despite these sightings, no colonial power attempted to establish a foothold. The first attested landing was the British East India Company expedition of 1609 under Captain Alexander Sharpeigh. Even then, the expedition left no permanent trace. The islands were useful as a navigation marker and little else.

The Pirate Interlude: Olivier Levasseur’s Treasure

The Seychelles served as an occasional haven for pirates during the golden age of Indian Ocean piracy in the 17th and early 18th centuries. The most famous figure associated with the islands is Olivier Levasseur, known as ‘La Buse’ (The Buzzard), who operated in the region in the 1720s. Legend holds that Levasseur buried an enormous treasure somewhere in the Seychelles — possibly at Bel Ombre on Mahé — before he was captured and executed in 1730.

No verified treasure has ever been found. The story persists in local lore and has drawn occasional treasure hunters, but it remains exactly that: a story. What the pirate period does illustrate is the same pattern that defined the entire pre-colonial era: the Seychelles were a place people passed through, never a place they stayed.

French Colonisation and the End of Isolation

France officially took possession of the Seychelles archipelago in 1756, when Captain Corneille Nicolas Morphey of the French East India Company installed a stone of possession on Mahé. The islands were named after Jean Moreau de Séchelles, finance minister of Louis XV, and the main island was named Mahé after Bertrand-François Mahé de Labourdonnais, the governor of Île de France (Mauritius).

The first permanent settlement was established in 1770 on Sainte Anne island, just off the coast of Mahé. A small party of French colonists, accompanied by enslaved Africans and Indians, arrived under Captain Brayer du Barre to cultivate spices — particularly cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla. The settlement was initially known as ‘L’Etablissement du Roi’ (The King’s Settlement), which later evolved into Victoria, the capital.

French planters established estates growing cotton, sugar cane, coconuts, and later cinnamon, vanilla, and cloves. Enslaved Africans were transported from Mozambique, Madagascar, and other parts of East Africa. By the early 19th century, enslaved people constituted the majority of the population, a demographic reality that shaped the country’s social structure well beyond the colonial period.

British Takeover and the Abolition of Slavery

During the Napoleonic Wars, the French administrator Jean-Baptiste Queau de Quincy surrendered the Seychelles seven times between 1794 and 1811. In 1814, the Treaty of Paris formally ceded the Seychelles to Britain along with Mauritius. The islands were administered as a dependency of Mauritius until 1903, when they became a separate Crown Colony with Victoria as the capital.

The British abolished slavery in 1835, freeing approximately 6,500 enslaved people — roughly two-thirds of the total population. The newly freed population faced a landscape of abandoned plantations and limited economic opportunity. The British introduced new crops like coconut and vanilla, and Indian and Chinese workers arrived under British administration, adding further layers to the archipelago’s demographic composition.

Independence and the Modern Nation

The United Kingdom granted Seychelles full independence on June 29, 1976. James Mancham became the first President, and France-Albert René became the first Prime Minister. The following year, a coup d’état saw René assume the presidency, and the country moved towards a more open, multi-party democratic system in the early 1990s.

Today, the Seychelles has the highest per-capita income on the African continent, driven largely by tourism and offshore finance. The population remains small — roughly 100,000 people spread across the archipelago — and the islands continue to attract visitors drawn to the same granite landscapes and coral reefs that remained unknown to most of the world for most of human history.

For a deeper understanding of how the country’s colonial past shaped its modern identity, read our article on how Seychelles forged its national identity from slavery to independence.

Seychelles history FAQ

Were there people living in Seychelles before the French arrived?

No. Despite Arab and Portuguese contact as early as the 9th century, the Seychelles remained completely uninhabited until French colonists established the first permanent settlement in 1770. No archaeological evidence of pre-colonial settlement has ever been found.

That makes the Seychelles unusual even by Indian Ocean standards. Mauritius and Réunion were also uninhabited before European colonisation, but the Seychelles’ isolation — over 1,500 kilometres from East Africa — kept it off the migration routes that populated other islands.

Did pirates really bury treasure in Seychelles?

Local legend says Olivier Levasseur, a French pirate executed in 1730, buried treasure at Bel Ombre on Mahé. No verified treasure has ever been recovered. The story persists, but it remains unsubstantiated — more useful as a lens into pirate history than a practical search target.

The treasure narrative is part of a broader pattern: the Seychelles served as a temporary haven for pirates in the 17th and early 18th centuries, but no permanent pirate settlements were established. The islands were a stopping point, not a home.

Why are the Seychelles islands made of granite?

The inner Seychelles islands are fragments of the ancient microcontinent of Seychellia, which separated from India when the supercontinent Gondwana broke apart roughly 250 million years ago. These are the only mid-oceanic islands in the world composed of granite rather than volcanic rock.

The granite is over 750 million years old — among the oldest exposed rocks on the planet. The outer islands, by contrast, are young coralline atolls that formed much later.

When did Seychelles become independent?

The United Kingdom granted Seychelles full independence on June 29, 1976. James Mancham became the first President, and France-Albert René became the first Prime Minister. A coup d’état in 1977 brought René to the presidency, and multi-party democracy was restored in the early 1990s.

Independence ended nearly 200 years of continuous colonial administration — first French, then British — and marked the beginning of the modern Seychellois state.

What is the oldest building in Seychelles?

The oldest surviving colonial structures date from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, including the colonial-era buildings in Victoria and plantation houses on the outer islands. For a detailed look at the architectural legacy of the colonial period, read our guide to Seychelles architecture and its Creole innovation.

No structures from before 1770 exist, for the simple reason that no one lived here to build them.

The Seychelles’ pre-colonial history is not a story of people — it is a story of geology, isolation, and the rare moments when the outside world brushed against these shores. The granite boulders of Mahé, the coco de mer palms of Praslin, and the persistent legend of Levasseur’s treasure are all remnants of a time before permanent settlement, when the archipelago was known only to passing navigators and the occasional pirate. For a broader view of the cultural forces that shaped modern Seychelles, explore our collection of articles on Seychelles independence and the shaping of a nation.

Sources and further reading

History of the Seychelles. Exodus.africa.

A Brief History of Seychelles: From Colonial Past to Independent Paradise. Must See Spots.