Geography of Seychelles

Geography of Seychelles

Continent	Africa
Region	Indian Ocean
Coordinates	4°35′S 55°40′E / 4.583°S 55.667°E / -4.583; 55.667
Area	Ranked 180th
• Total	452 km2 (175 sq mi)
• Land	100%
• Water	0%
Coastline	491 km (305 mi)
Borders	None
Highest point	Morne Seychellois 905 metres (2,969 ft)
Lowest point	Indian Ocean 0 m
Exclusive economic zone	1,336,559 km2 (516,048 sq mi)

Seychelles is a small island country east of the African continent located in the Sea of Zanj due north of Madagascar, with Antsiranana as its nearest foreign city.^[1] Seychelles lies between approximately 4ºS and 10ºS and 46ºE and 54ºE. The nation is an archipelago of 155 tropical islands, some granite and some coral, the majority of which are small and uninhabited. The landmass is only 452 km² (175 sq mi), but the islands are spread wide over an exclusive economic zone of 1,336,559 km² (516,048 sq mi). About 90 percent of the population of 100,000 live on Mahé, 9 percent on Praslin and La Digue. Around a third of the land area is the island of Mahé and a further third the atoll of Aldabra.^[2]

There are two distinct regions, the granitic islands, the world's only oceanic islands of granitic rock and the coralline outer islands. The granite islands are the world's oldest ocean islands, while the outer islands are mainly very young, though the Aldabra group and St Pierre (Farquhar Group) are unusual, raised coral islands that have emerged and submerged several times during their long history, the most recent submergence dating from about 125,000 years ago^[3]