The map of home
Seychelles is 115 islands scattered across 1.4 million square kilometres of the western Indian Ocean, yet nearly everyone lives on just three: Mahé, Praslin and La Digue. The inner islands are granite, the oldest ocean islands on earth; the outer islands are coral, low and remote, and include Aldabra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site some 1,150 km from the capital. This interactive map plots the principal islands by their real coordinates so the diaspora can find, and show their children, exactly where home is.
- Seychelles comprises 115 islands, inner granitic and outer coralline, across an ocean territory of about 1.4 million km² [BRITANNICA]
- Mahé, Praslin and La Digue hold almost the entire population [SNA]
- Aldabra Atoll, roughly 1,150 km from Mahé, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the world's second-largest coral atoll [UNESCO]
- Island areas are standard geographic figures for the principal islands [GEOGRAPHY]
Why a map matters to a diaspora
Children raised in Melbourne or Montréal often know they are Seychellois long before they can place the islands on a map. A parent says Praslin or Baie Lazare and it means warmth and family, not a coordinate. This map exists to close that gap: to let anyone, anywhere, point to the exact island their people come from, and to feel the strange, beautiful geography of a country that is mostly ocean.
It is a locator map of the principal islands, not a coastline survey. The markers sit on the islands' real latitude and longitude, sized by area, so the distances between them are true. When you switch to the whole republic, watch how far the outer islands sprawl. Aldabra, with its hundred thousand giant tortoises, is closer to the coast of Africa than to Mahé.
The three that hold the nation
Almost everyone lives on Mahé, and then Praslin and La Digue. The other granitic islands are national parks, private reserves or a scatter of homes; the outer coralline islands are, with a handful of exceptions, uninhabited but for research stations, fishing camps and the occasional resort. Where we could not stand behind a population figure for a small island, we describe who is there instead of inventing a number. The districts explorer takes Mahé, Praslin and La Digue down to the neighbourhood.
- Encyclopædia Britannica. Seychelles. 2026. original · archived accessed 2026-07-14General reference for history and geography, used as a second source.
- Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), cross-checked against Britannica and the Seychelles Islands Foundation. List of islands of Seychelles / Geography of Seychelles. 2026. original accessed 2026-07-16Basis of the island areas (km²) and coordinates on our interactive map. Areas are standard geographic figures cross-checked against Britannica; the map plots the principal islands, not all 115. Populations come from the census; where no reliable island figure exists we describe the settlement instead of assigning a number.
- Seychelles News Agency. Seychelles hits 100,000 population mark for the first time, census stats say. 2022-08-31. original accessed 2026-07-15Provisional 2022 census: 100,447 inhabitants (53,927 male, 46,520 female), 84% citizens, up 9.9% on 2010; Cascade the most populated district at 6,249.
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Aldabra Atoll (World Heritage List, ref. 185). 1982. original · archived accessed 2026-07-15Inscribed 1982, the first atoll on the World Heritage List. One of the world's largest raised coral atolls; home to the largest population of Aldabra giant tortoise on Earth.
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Vallée de Mai Nature Reserve (World Heritage List, ref. 261). 1983. original · archived accessed 2026-07-15Inscribed 1983. A remnant palm forest on Praslin where the endemic coco de mer, Lodoicea maldivica, grows in its natural state.
- Seychelles Islands Foundation. Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF). original · archived accessed 2026-07-15The public trust, established 1979 with the President as patron, that manages both UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Aldabra Atoll and the Vallée de Mai, and issues permits for research and access to Aldabra.
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This page is a stable reference. Its URL will not change, its content is reviewed on a stated cycle, and our original text is licensed CC BY 4.0, so you may quote and reuse it with attribution. Every source above carries a live link and an archived copy.
Seychelles Abroad. (2026, July 16). The map of home: the islands of Seychelles. https://seychellesabroad.org/sesel/islands/“The map of home: the islands of Seychelles.” Seychelles Abroad, 16 July 2026, seychellesabroad.org/sesel/islands/.Seychelles Abroad. “The map of home: the islands of Seychelles.” Last reviewed July 16, 2026. https://seychellesabroad.org/sesel/islands/.