Seychelles Districts

Seychelles is an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, north-east of Madagascar. Nearly all of its people live on three granite islands: Mahé, with the capital Victoria, Praslin and La Digue. Its districts are the units of local government, and most of them are crammed into Mahé, an island about 28 kilometres long.

The quiz: Name to place, on the map
Grouped by: The north, east and centre, and south and west of Mahé, and the other islands
In the game: 26 districts

Start

What you are looking at

The districts of today. Mahé is cut into slices that are often only a few kilometres across, so on a phone several of them are drawn with a small circle to tap. Praslin has two districts, Baie Sainte Anne and Grand'Anse, which share a name with a district on Mahé: the game calls them Grand'Anse Mahé and Grand'Anse Praslin. La Digue shares a district with the granite and coral Inner Islands scattered around it, from Silhouette and North Island to Bird Island at the northern tip of the country.

The Outer Islands are one district, made of atolls strewn over about a thousand kilometres of ocean to the south and south-west, including Aldabra, which is 1,100 kilometres from Mahé. The map moves them into the sea to the east of the Inner Islands and draws them at a third of their size, with a line marking the move, so that Mahé does not shrink to a speck.

The groups are not an official classification. They are a way to learn the map a piece at a time: the north of Mahé around Victoria, its east and centre, its south and west, and the other islands.

How to place one

Start with Victoria. The capital sits on the north-east coast of Mahé, with Mont Fleuri, Mont Buxton and Saint Louis around it.
Go north. Beau Vallon, the beach resort, is on the north-west coast, with Glacis and Bel Ombre around the northern tip.
Walk down the east coast. Pointe La Rue, where the airport is, then Anse aux Pins, Au Cap and Anse Royale.
Come back up the west coast. Baie Lazare, Anse Boileau, Takamaka and Grand'Anse Mahé, with Port Glaud in the north-west.
Leave Mahé. Praslin is the second island, north-east, and La Digue the small island just off its east end.

Every district, by group

North of Mahé11 districts: Anse Etoile, Beau Vallon, Bel Air, Bel Ombre, English River, Glacis, Les Mamelles, Mont Buxton, Mont Fleuri, Roche Caiman, Saint Louis
East and centre of Mahé6 districts: Anse aux Pins, Anse Royale, Au Cap, Cascade, Plaisance, Pointe La Rue
South and west of Mahé5 districts: Anse Boileau, Baie Lazare, Grand'Anse Mahé, Port Glaud, Takamaka
Praslin, La Digue and the outer islands4 districts: Baie Sainte Anne, Grand'Anse Praslin, La Digue and Inner Islands, Outer Islands

Worked examples

English River

The capital

Victoria lies in English River, a small district on the north-east coast of Mahé, squeezed between Saint Louis, Mont Fleuri and the sea.

Takamaka

The south

Takamaka is the district at the south-west end of Mahé, below Baie Lazare, and one of the easiest to place because nothing lies further south.

Outer Islands

The scattered one

The Outer Islands are drawn east of the Inner Islands at a third of their size. Their real positions run from the Amirantes, 250 kilometres south-west of Mahé, to Aldabra far beyond.

Frequently asked questions

Why are the Outer Islands drawn next to the Inner Islands?

They are a thousand kilometres from end to end, and drawn where they are the three main islands would shrink to a few pixels. The map moves each group of atolls into the open sea to the east, shrinks them to a third of their size and draws a line between them and the rest.