Crown Colony of Seychelles

The Crown Colony of Seychelles was the British colonial administration of the Seychelles archipelago in the western Indian Ocean from 1903 to 1976. The islands had been administered from Mauritius since 1811, but planters and officials pressed for separate status, and in 1903 Seychelles became a crown colony with its own governor, Ernest Bickham Sweet-Escott, and its capital at Victoria on Mahé. The colony's economy rested on copra, vanilla and, later, tourism and fishing; the small colonial administration depended on a legislative council in which appointed officials and planters dominated. Victoria acquired a botanical garden and a clock tower as symbols of the new status, while French language and custom remained strong. After the Second World War, constitutional reforms widened the franchise. The Seychelles Democratic Party and the Seychelles People's United Party competed over integration with Britain or independence, and a 1970 constitution introduced a chief minister. Independence was granted on 29 June 1976, when Seychelles became a republic within the Commonwealth.