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Throughout the 18th century, French and English settlers
fought violently for this archipelago of the Indian Ocean.
It was not until 1794 that the United Kingdom finally
succeeded in becoming the owner of the archipelago. Yet the
British did not pay any special attention to the area. Until
1903 it was administered from the neighboring island of
Mauritius. It was only during the expansion of the European
colonial powers in the second half of the 19th century and
later after the two world wars that the archipelago gained
strategic importance.
According to
Countryaah,
the population is predominantly descendants of African
slaves and contract workers from India, and it was not until
the formation of the Seychelles United People's Party (SUPP)
in 1964 that the population gained a political independence
perspective. The strength of this demand was expressed by
the general strikes in 1965, 66 and by the large popular
manifestations in 1972. At the same time, the colonial
interests organized themselves in the Seychelles Taxpayers
employer organization, later transformed by James B. Mancham
into the Seychelles Democratic Party, which went against
independence.
At the April 1974 parliamentary elections, the SUPP
received 47.6% of the vote. Yet the peculiar "colonial
democracy" gave it only 2 out of the 15 seats of the local
parliament, and Mancham continued as prime minister. But by
then, it was already too late to hold back the independence
movement, and on a proposal from the British Foreign Office,
Mancham accepted to become the Republic's first president at
the independence proclaimed in 1976. Shortly thereafter, he
agreed to "hand over" the strategic BIOT islands to London.
There had been administration from Mahé since 1967, and
Britain had promised to hand over the islands to the United
States interested in setting up its strategically important
naval and aircraft base at Diego García.
Knowing that the world would not accept this territorial
surrender, Mancham postponed the 1979 election, arguing that
they were unnecessary since the parties agreed to
independence.
Mancham's foreign policy was oriented towards a close
alliance with South Africa, which also supplied most
tourists to the country, while the tea and coconut
plantations were overturned to make room for foreign-owned 5
star hotels. Whole islands were sold to foreigners such as
South African gold magnate Harry Oppenheimer or actor Peter
Sellers.
In 1977, Mancham was once again postponing the elections,
but this time the SUPP members joined in his absence and
took power - "with full cooperation of the police forces".
They accused him in a communique of "living a life of luxury
while his people had to work hard". In his place, SUPP
leader Albert René was appointed.
René reaffirmed the country's affiliation with the
Alliance Free Countries Movement - which, even before
independence, had recognized SUPP as the country's
legitimate liberation movement. At the same time, he
recorded relations with the progressive countries and
movements around the Indian Ocean. The new government
expressed itself in favor of socialism. It proposed to
reorganize tourism on a new basis, wanted to prioritize
agriculture and fisheries to ensure the country's
self-sufficiency in food. At the same time, education was to
be strengthened and unemployment affecting more than half of
the population was combated.
In mid-1978, the SUPP was transformed into the Seychelles
Progressive People's Front (SPPF), to better counter the new
political situation. In June 1979, the power of the front
was institutionalized when it got 98% of the vote in the
parliamentary elections - with a 95% turnout. Following the
victory, President René announced the closure of a North
American radar tracking station on the islands. At the same
time, he took the opportunity to demand the US military base
at Diego García closed and the island returned to Mauritius.
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