Desmond Lamey, age 14, of Santa Rosa, Calif., for his question:
WHERE IS SEYCHELLES?
Seychelles is a tiny African country made up of 92 islands in the Indian Ocean. You pronounce the country's name: "say shell."
Seychelles has islands stretching out over 400,000 square miles ,ilout 1,000 miles east of the African mainland and north of Madagascar. Yet it is an extremely small county with a total land area of only 145 square miles. It is about one ninth the size as the smallest state in the United States, Rhode Island.
The tiny country has a colorful history. Originally discovered by Portuguese sailors during the early 1500s, the country was used chiefly for more than 250 years as a hiding place for pirates who roamed the sea.
Seychelles was then claimed by France in 1756 and was almost immediately settled by an ambitious group of white planters and their African slaves in about 1770.
The largest island in the group is called Mahe. It covers about 55 square miles of land and it is here that approximately 85 percent of the country's citizens live. Total population for the entire country is about 75,000.
Most of the Seychelles islands are very small and uninhabited.
Seychelles became a British colony in 1814 after a war between France and a number of European countries. Then in 1976 it became an independent country.
About 90 percent of the citizens are of a mixed African and European ancestry. The others are Europeans of British or French origin, or people who originated in India or China.
Some of Seychelles' islands consist of granite and others of coral. The coral islands are atolls, which means they are ring shaped. They are uninhabited since they cannot support much plant life.
The granite islands, including Mahe, have streams, mountains and beautiful white sandy beaches. The soil is fertile.
Cinnamon, coconuts and copra are the chief crops of Seychelles.
Cinnamon grows wild and coconut palms flourish in Seychelles. The coco de mer is a double coconut that weighs as much as 50 pounds. The only place in the world where you find it growing is in Seychelles.
Seychelles' economy, however, is based on tourism. Visitors are attracted by the remote location and the beautiful beaches. Most of the guests stay in hotels in the capital city of Victoria on Mahe.
English is Seychelles' official language, but most of the people speak Creole, a French dialect. Almost all of the children attend elementary school, but only about a third of them go on to high school. Unfortunately, only about 60 percent of the people can read and write.
Seychelles is a republic. The people elect a president and a 25 member assembly.