Uninhabited when first visited by Portuguese navigators in the early 1500s, Réunion was settled in the mid-1600s, when the French East India Company established a layover station for ships rounding the Cape of Good Hope en route to India. African slaves were imported to work in first coffee and then sugar plantations; with the abolition of slavery in 1848, indentured labourers from mainland Southeast Asia, India, and Eastern Africa were brought in. Réunion was ruled by France as a colony until 1946, when it became an overseas département of France; in 1974 it gained the status of région as well. The headquarters of the French military forces in the Indian Ocean were established on Réunion in 1973, with the arrival of personnel withdrawn from Madagascar. In the late 1970s the Organization of African Unity (now the African Union) urged that Réunion be granted full independence, but that proposition was not embraced by the majority of Réunion’s inhabitants and thus was not pursued with any zeal.

Persistent social and economic unrest, fueled by the widening gap between the rich and the poor and by high rates of unemployment, periodically erupted into demonstrations and violence during the 1990s and 2000s. Rioting in February 1991 left 11 people dead, and in 1997 demonstrations were held against proposed civil service reforms. In 2000 a proposal made by the French government to split the island into two departements spawned demonstrations both for and against the division; the proposal was later rejected by the French Senate.

Réunion was first settled in the 17th century by colonists from France. Slave labourers were brought in from East Africa to work on plantations, and later Malays, Annamites, Chinese, and Malabar Indians were imported as indentured labourers. Today the greatest proportion of the population is of mixed descent (African, European, and South Asian). The limited amount of land has induced substantial emigration, largely to France but also to Madagascar.

The island’s population density is high, even in areas that typically would be considered too mountainous to support a dense population. Saint-Denis, the capital and largest urban area on the island, contains about one-fifth of the total population. The language in common use on the island is Réunion French Creole, and Tamil is also spoken by some people; French, however, is the official language. About four-fifths of the population is Roman Catholic.

 

Religion
Religious Beliefs. The dominant religion is Roman Catholicism, totaling eighty-six percent of the population. Christianity was established by the first settlers. Although indentured contracts specified that a laborer’s religion be respected, the Catholic Church and the authoritarian administration attempted to convert newcomers. Tamils were obliged to go to church, wear French clothes, and give Christian names to their children. Contract workers had to express Christian attitudes and practice Christian rites to be accepted by their employers and the larger society. In the eighteenth century, Catholic priests attempted to prevent the construction of Hindu temples and the public practice of Hinduism. When it was finally authorized, the priests continued to spread a negative perception of the Hindu religion as “pagan.”

Religious Practitioners. Although they have been largely christianized, people of Indian origin refer to Hindu Gods in important matters. While it has been adapted to a new social context, folk Hinduism has been maintained almost as it was in India at the time of emigration more than one century ago. Among the expressions of this religion are fire walking, animal sacrifices, and rituals of possession by a deity or ancestor. This Hinduism is strongly connected with the idea of protection against bad luck, the evil eye, and the negative forces of the visible and invisible world.

Identification: Reunion Island (in French, La Reunion ) is a multicultural society composed of people originally from France, Mozambique, India, China, Madagascar, and the Comores. Islanders use their ethnic origins to define themselves as Cafres (African ancestry) Z’oreilles (born in mainland France), malabars or Tamouls (from Tamil Nadu southern India), Z’arabes (from Gujarat in northern India), Chinois (from China), Malgaches (from Madagascar), Comores (from Comores), Petits blancs (poor rural whites living in the highlands), or Creoles blancs (white landowners). The term Creole today also applies to people with a mixed ethnic background. All the residents of the island are administratively French citizens.

Location and Geography: Reunion Island lies in the Indian Ocean, off the eastern coast of Madagascar. At 970 square miles, (2,512 square kilometers), it is the largest of the Mascarene islands. High plains separate two volcanic systems. Climatic variations range from humid to dry tropical to Mediterranean. More than half the land is not suitable for cultivation. Periodic cyclones can be devastating. The capital is Saint Denis.

Demography: In 1999, the population was over 717,000. It is difficult to categorize the population by ethnic background, but estimates indicate that approximately twenty percent of the population is of Indian ancestry, and around five percent is born in mainland France.

Linguistic Affiliation: Although French is the official language, Creole is the language of everyday life. Based on French, with a mixture of Malagasy and Tamil words, it is used with relatives and for informal interactions. French is generally used in formal situations. Although everybody understands it, many people cannot speak it; therefore, its use is a marker of educational achievement and social status.

Symbolism: Economic and cultural ties are almost exclusively with mainland France; Reunion is officially called “the France of the Indian Ocean.” Since the development of tourism in the 1970s, the image the island tries to project to the outside world is that of a multicolored society where people with different ethnic backgrounds live together peacefully.

Early history
Archaeological investigations in the 20th century indicated that human settlers reached Madagascar about 700 CE. Although the huge island lies geographically close to Bantu-speaking Africa, its language, Malagasy, belongs to the distant Western Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family. There are nonetheless a number of Bantu words in the language, as well as some phonetic and grammatical modifiers of Bantu origin. Bantu elements exist in every dialect of Malagasy and appear to have been established for some time.

As a people, the Malagasy represent a unique blend of Asian and African cultural features found nowhere else in the world. Although Asian features predominate on the whole, African ancestry is present and African influences in Malagasy material and nonmaterial culture are evident; the history and precise nature of this relationship, however, remains a matter of debate.

Madagascar from 1500 to c. 1650
Much of Madagascar was populated by internal migration before the beginning of the 16th century, giving the theretofore empty lands their tompontany (original inhabitants, or “masters of the soil”). Yet politically the island remained fragmented. Most of the nearly 20 ethnic groups that make up the modern Malagasy population did not attain any form of “national” consciousness until new political ideas arrived from abroad in the 1500s and began to spread throughout the island. A host of written European accounts from the 16th and early 17th centuries fail to reveal any large state or empire, and few of the Malagasy oral traditions collected since the mid-19th century go back that far in time.

Still, small local states were found at many points along the coast visited by European ships. The capitals were almost always located near river mouths, territorial domains were invariably small, and rulers were independent of one another. Alliances and wars were usually short-lived affairs involving limited economic objectives and little loss of life, and they seldom led to any border adjustments. Economies were pastoral or agricultural, often a mixture of both, and there were no radical differences in wealth. In some areas the rulers appeared to be absolute, while in others elders and priests had the preponderant influence. In one area in southeastern Madagascar, later to become known as Fort-Dauphin (site of the French East India Company fort of that name; present-day Tôlan̈aro), early Europeans believed they had found a Muslim state in existence among the Antanosy people of the region. It was ruled by a “Moorish king” and had an aristocracy with privileges deriving presumably from Islam. Their collective name was Zafindraminia, or “descendants of Raminia,” the ultimate great ancestor.

In the first quarter of the 16th century, Portuguese navigators reported a number of coastal towns in northern Madagascar that were architecturally similar to Kilwa, a once important entrepôt in what is today Tanzania. The towns belonged to an Afro-Arab commercial network in the western Indian Ocean that undoubtedly predated the 16th century. At the town of Vohemar, once the island’s northeastern centre of international trade, the blend of Malagasy and Afro-Arab customs produced an arts-and-crafts tradition that was quite original.

Portuguese explorers who visited the Matitana River valley in southeastern Madagascar witnessed the arrival of a group of Afro-Arabs (“Moors from Malindi”) between 1507 and 1513. Within one or two generations the descendants of this group had intermarried and merged with the local tompontany to form another group known as the Antemoro. By the 1630s the Antemoro had formed a theocratic state, which was the only state in Madagascar at the time to possess written texts. Using the Arabic alphabet, the texts were written in the Malagasy language and were both religious and secular in nature. Proximity to Islam became a major criterion among the Antemoro for the right to rule, and there is little doubt that the four Antemoro sacerdotal clans were far closer to the Muslim faith than were the Zafindraminia of the Fort-Dauphin area. In time, Antemoro holy men, traveling far and wide within Madagascar, came to influence other Malagasy in both religion and government.

Political evolution from 1650 to 1810
Unknown to the early coastal visitors from Europe, new and historically pivotal dynasties were beginning to form in southwestern and central Madagascar toward the mid-16th century. Two of them, the Maroserana in the southwest and the Andriana-Merina in central Madagascar, would go on to create vast empires, each with its own apex and decline, between about 1650 and 1896, the year the French annexed Madagascar. While the Maroserana were able to establish their rulers over several south-central peoples, the most outstanding achievement of the dynasty was the creation of two states in western Madagascar, Menabé and Boina. These states later combined into the Sakalava empire, which controlled most of western Madagascar and several adjacent areas deep inland.

The Sakalava were originally a group of warriors who came into contact with the Maroserana before 1660, the year the Maroserana ruler, King Andriandahifotsy, founded Menabé. Ultimately, “Sakalava citizenship” was extended to hundreds of west-coast clans as the original Sakalava warriors and their descendants intermarried and merged with them. A sense of unity also came from religion, as the Maroserana royals upon death became the sacred ancestors of all Sakalava. The Sakalava empire was ultimately weakened by internal power struggles for the throne, by attempts to substitute Islam for the ancestral cult, and, after 1810, by wars with the Merina, a people of the central plateau already on the way to an empire.

The Betsimisaraka confederation, a quasi-state concurrent with the late Sakalava empire, was a brief but successful attempt in the 18th century to unite the coastal peoples of Madagascar’s eastern littoral. Ruled by Ratsimilaho, son of an English pirate and a Malagasy princess, the viable confederation extended along more than 200 miles of coastline. After Ratsimilaho’s death in 1750, the confederation began an abrupt, though prolonged, disintegration.

The Merina kingdom (Imerina) was founded toward the end of the 16th century in the swampy Ikopa valley on the central plateau. Antananarivo (Tananarive) became its capital. In the 18th century Imerina was divided among four warring kings. One of them, Andrianampoinimerina, who reigned 1787–1810, reunited the kingdom about 1797. He gave it uniform laws and administration and sold slaves to the French on the coast, using the guns he got in return to conquer his neighbours, the Betsileo. Under Andrianampoinimerina, Merina society was divided into a ruling noble class (Andriana), a class of commoners (Hova), and a slave class (Andevo). At Andrianampoinimerina’s death, he left his son a single political ambition: “The sea will be the boundary of my rice field” (i.e., of his kingdom).

Madagascar has been inhabited by human beings for the relatively short period of about 1,300 years. Language and culture point unequivocally to Indonesian origins, but there is no empirical evidence of how, why, or by what route the first settlers came to the island. Although studies of the winds and currents of the Indian Ocean indicate that the voyage from Indonesia could have been made, there is considerable controversy about the nature of the journey. Some scholars argue that the first settlers came directly from Indonesia, possibly in a single voyage, and that the African elements found in the population and its culture were added later, as the result of migration and the slave trade. Others suggest that the peopling of the island was the result of several voyages that proceeded along the coast of India, the Arabian Peninsula, and Africa and that the population that settled the island was already mixed.

There is also widespread evidence—from linguistics, archaeology, and tradition—of influence from Afro-Arab settlers on the coasts before 1000 CE. There is slighter evidence of an Indian influence in vocabulary, but there is no trace of Hinduism in Malagasy culture. Evidence of Sunni Islam appears only in later coastal settlements.

Ethnic groups
More than nine-tenths of the population is Malagasy, which is divided into about 20 ethnic groups. The largest and most dominant of the groups is the Merina people, who are scattered throughout the island. The name Merina (Imerina) is said to mean Elevated People, deriving from the fact that they lived on the plateau. The second largest group is the Betsimisaraka (The Inseparable Multitude), who live generally in the east. The third most numerous group is the Betsileo (The Invincible Multitude), who inhabit the plateau around Fianarantsoa. Other important peoples are the Tsimihety (Those Who Do Not Cut Their Hair), the Sakalava (People of the Long Valley), the Antandroy (People of the Thorn Bush), the Tanala (People of the Forest), the Antaimoro (People of the Banks), and the Bara (a name of uncertain origin). Smaller groups are the Antanosy (People of the Island), the Antaifasy (People of the Sand), the Sihanaka (People of the Lake), the Antakarana (People of the Rocks), the Betanimena (People of the Red Soil), who are now largely absorbed by the Merina, the Bezanozano (Those with Many-Braided Hair), and the Mahafaly (Those Who Make Taboos). These ethnic names do not stand for clear-cut cultural boundaries, for in many cases one group shades imperceptibly into another. Moreover, the conventional translations are by no means reliable, and most of the names themselves are of somewhat recent origin, probably crystallized and rigidified by the exigencies of colonial administration more than by the realities of indigenous culture. In many cases these people represent endogamous and often non-unilinear descent groups.

Languages
Most inhabitants of Madagascar speak Malagasy, the national language, which is written in the Latin alphabet. Although Madagascar is located geographically close to Bantu-speaking Africa, Malagasy is a standardized version of Merina, an Austronesian language. Nevertheless, there are a number of Bantu words in the language, as well as some phonetic and grammatical modifiers of Bantu origin. There exist numerous local variations of Malagasy, all of which are mutually intelligible, and Bantu elements, which exist in every dialect, appear to have been established for some time. French is also widely spoken and is officially recognized. It is used as a medium of instruction, especially in the upper grade levels, as is Malagasy. English is also spoken and its use has increased. Comorian is spoken among a sizable community of immigrants from Comoros.

Religion
Some two-fifths of the population practices traditional religion, which is based upon ancestor worship. The dead are buried in tombs and are believed to reward or punish the living. There is a supreme being called Zanahary (the Creator) or Andriamanitra (the Fragrant One). There is also a belief in local spirits, and a complex system of taboos constrains traditional Malagasy life.

Almost half of the population is Christian, with more than one-fourth of the population adherent to Protestantism and about one-fifth to Roman Catholicism. Conversion to Christianity has not eliminated the observation of traditional religious rites, however, particularly those involving the dead. A community of Sunni Muslims is found in the northwest.

The arts
The conquest of the plateau peoples by the French and their subsequent assimilation of Western values have deprived them of most of their traditional institutions. In music, however, Western dance and musical instruments have been adapted to Malagasy rhythms. The tube zither, the conch, and the cone drum are of Indonesian origin, while other types of drums and animal horns suggest African influence. Folk music has been retained, but much of the singing consists of Western church hymns and chants adapted to the distinctive Malagasy musical style. Several musicians and ensembles of Malagasy origin, including Tarika, have enjoyed a rise to international popularity.

The Mahafaly have a remarkable wood-carving industry, and their tombs of coloured stones and carved wooden posts are among the most beautiful on the island. The woodworking skills of the Zafimaniry, exemplified by their elaborate carved designs, are also renowned; their knowledge of woodcraft is included by UNESCO among its designations of Intangible Cultural Heritage, intended to safeguard nonmaterial cultural properties. The Betsileo also have a thriving wood-carving industry, making inlaid furniture of valuable hardwoods. In addition they produce ornamental cloths of very finely woven raffia and have become specialists in the production of coloured straw hats. Betsileo and Merina women in particular are expert in French-style embroidery, sewing, and dressmaking.

The Malagasy language is rich in proverbs, and there is now an extensive written literature including poetry, legend, history, works treating contemporary themes, and scholarly works. Literary production is aided by an excellent printing industry, for which the Merina have shown a flair since learning it from the London Missionary Society in the 1820s. The peoples of the southeast still preserve their sorabe manuscripts—discourses written in Arabic script on geomancy, astrology, history, and traditional lore—with great reverence; few can be more than 200 years old, although some may be copies of much earlier manuscripts.

Cultural Life

Cultural milieu
Malagasy culture is largely composed of Indonesian elements, with other influences evident. Arabic and Islamic contributions include sikidy, an intricate system of divination, and calendrical features, such as the Arabic-derived names of the days of the week, which also apply to the markets held on those days. The coastal areas of the west, north, and south might be expected to show African cultural elements, but, apart from some Bantu words, these are often difficult to identify conclusively.

Daily life and social customs
The countryside, home to the majority of Malagasy, remains highly traditional, both in its lifestyle and in its political framework, with most decisions still being made by a council of male elders. Young people who resent this domination and see little economic future in their home villages are one of the main sources of the rural-to-urban migration that has fed the growth of Madagascar’s cities.

For rural residents, traditional ceremonies and traveling orators and musicians are a significant source of entertainment. In urban areas, forms of entertainment vary. Some Malagasy join video clubs, which rent and project videos. Action films are very popular, particularly since films are rarely dubbed or subtitled in Malagasy; poorer inhabitants of the cities, however, have reduced access to this type of entertainment.

Typical attire in Madagascar varies according to location and socioeconomic status. Malagasy who live in the countryside or in the poorer or older parts of the cities are more likely to wear traditional attire; for men, this consists of a large shirt and shorts or long pants, while women, particularly those living in the plateau, may wear dresses with gathered skirts. In the coastal regions, women often wear a wrapped skirt with a top; a rectangular shawl, called a lamba, is also worn, especially on ceremonial occasions. The middle classes frequently wear Western dress, and blue jeans are ubiquitous among the youth of the cities. There too, however, women will often wear an abbreviated form of the lamba, even with Western dress.

Most Malagasy, regardless of their degree of “modernity,” continue to observe traditional customs, particularly those connected with the family tomb and ceremonies showing respect for the family’s ancestors. The most common of these, aside from burial, is the famadihana, in which the bones of the ancestors are removed from the family tomb, wrapped in new lamba especially woven for that purpose, and placed again in the tomb after the delivery of a kabary, a traditional “special occasion” speech. The kabary is also utilized at other occasions ranging from weddings to the opening of businesses. Speakers who are able to deliver a good speech, filled with appropriate traditional proverbs, are well paid.

The government encourages the blending of old and new cultural expressions, and a number of seasonal festivals have been promoted, including the Festival of Rice and the Festival of the Trees. Towns, churches, schools, and private groups hold concerts or dances, and in the cities there are cultural associations based on the members’ home districts. Holidays celebrated in Madagascar include those observed by the wider Christian community, such as Easter and Christmas, as well as Independence Day, celebrated on June 26, and the Anniversary of the Republic, observed on December 30.

Given the island’s varied history, in Mauritius, there is an abundance of museums and cultural points of interest to visit.

Martello Tower at La Preneuse
The Martello Tower at La Preneuse was built by the British between 1810 and 1846 to protect them against their sworn enemy, the French navy. Since being restored in 1999, the tower is now accessible for guided tours.

Le Morne
As a UNESCO World Heritage site and a commemorative landmark of the harsh slavery period in Mauritius – the mountain of Le Morne is a must see. Protected by isolated wooded and almost inaccessible cliffs, the escaped slaves formed small settlements in the caves and on the summit of Le Morne mountain. Traditions associated with the maroons have made Le Morne a symbol of the slaves’ fight for freedom, their suffering and their sacrifice, all of which have relevance to the countries from which the slaves came – the African mainland, Madagascar, India and South-East Asia.

Eureka “La Maison Créole” Moka
This historical mansion built in 1830 with no less than 109 doors will provide you with a glimpse into the lifestyle of the more affluent Mauritians during the colonial era.

The Folk Museum of Indian Immigration
Aapravasi Ghat (UNESCO World Heritage site)
This museum evokes the influx of coolies who came to work as labourers after the abolition of slavery in Mauritius in 1835. Today their descendants account for two-thirds of the Mauritian population. This well-documented folk museum shows in detail the daily life of Indian workers during the nineteenth century.

National History Museum
A French colonial building from the eighteenth century houses the National History Museum. Old maps, engravings, crockery, pirates’ swords and even fragments of shipwrecks, recount the rich maritime history of the island. The crown jewel of this fascinating museum is the bell recovered from the wreck of the St Géran.

Cavendish Bridge
Constructed in 1856 for sugar cane transportation, Cavendish Bridge, commonly known as the “Pont de la Ville Noire”, literally “the black town bridge”, was originally constructed from wood while all other bridges in Mauritius were made from steel. Between 1908 and 1911 it was transformed into a reinforced concrete bridge, an innovation at that time. At 155 metres it is said to be the longest bridge on the island.

Battery of Devil’s Point
Under the French occupation, 27 defence guns controlled access to the island. The fearsomely effective battery of the Devil’s Point for a long time prevented the English from approaching Grand Port.

The Dutch landing spot
The Dutch were forced to land in Mauritius in 1598 after a violent storm drove them to the shore of the uninhabited island. There is a monument to mark the point of their first landing on the coastal road near Ferney, Mahebourg, in the south-east, with the majestic Lion Mountain in the background. Take a walk over the little bridge and appreciate the view of the little islands off the shore.

Ethnic groups, languages, and religion
Approximately two-thirds of the population is of Indo-Pakistani origin, most of whom are descendants of indentured labourers brought to work in the sugar industry during the 19th and early 20th centuries. About one-fourth of the population is Creole (of mixed French and African descent), and there are small numbers of people of Chinese and Franco-Mauritian descent.

Although English is the official language, it is spoken by a very small percentage of the population. Creole, a French-based patois, is spoken by about four-fifths of the population and is the lingua franca of the country. Bhojpuri, an Indo-Aryan language, is spoken by one-tenth of the population, and French is spoken by a small percentage. Other languages spoken on the island include Hindi, Chinese, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. Mauritians commonly speak two, three, or even more languages, and the educational system supports a wide range of language instruction.

Religious affiliation varies: about half of the population is Hindu, about one-third is Christian (the majority of whom are Roman Catholic), and—with the exception of a small group of Buddhists—the majority of the remainder are Muslims.

The arts and cultural institutions
Interest in arts and letters and the sciences is promoted by voluntary associations, and the island has produced talented poets and novelists. Perhaps the best-known local writer is Dev Virahsawmy, a poet and playwright. Though he writes easily in both French and English, Virahsawmy is most renowned for his efforts to popularize the use of Creole. In addition to his own plays and poetry, he has also translated several of Shakespeare’s plays into Creole, which have been performed in Mauritius.

Mauritius is known for the séga, a popular folk dance consisting of suggestive movements of the hips and arms to a rhythmic beat. The dance can be traced back to the 18th century, when it was performed by slaves.

Representational and abstract painting flourish, and there are art galleries in the major towns. The major national cultural institutions are the Palace Theatre in Rose Hill, the Port Louis Theatre, the Mauritius Institute, which includes a natural history museum and a historical museum, and the Mauritius Archives. There are both public and institutional libraries.

Also of cultural interest is Aapravasi Ghat, in Port Louis, and Le Morne Cultural Landscape, located on a peninsula on the southwest side of the island; both have been designated UNESCO World Heritage sites. Aapravasi Ghat was used as an immigration depot from 1849–1923 for indentured labourers arriving from India. Le Morne Cultural Landscape, comprising Le Morne Mountain and most of its foothills, was a place of refuge during the 18th and early 19th centuries for many escaped slaves, known as maroons. Another area of cultural significance is Grand Bassin Lake, where Hindus bring offerings during the Maha Shivaratree festival.

Seychelles is a comparatively young nation which can trace its first settlement back to 1770 when the islands were first settled by the French, leading a small party of whites, Indians and Africans. The islands remained in French hands until the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, evolving from humble beginnings to attain a population of 3,500 by the time Seychelles was ceded to Britain under the treaty of Paris in 1814.

During this period Seychelles came to know the enlightened policies of administrators such as Pierre Poivre, the brilliant politicking of Governor Queau de Quinssy and, of course, the terrible repercussions of the French Revolution.

Under the British, Seychelles achieved a population of some 7,000 by the year 1825. Important estates were established during this time producing coconut, food crops, cotton and sugar cane. During this period Seychelles also saw the establishment of Victoria as her capital, the exile of numerous and colourful troublemakers from the Empire, the devastation caused by the famous Avalanche of 1862 and the economic repercussions of the abolition of slavery.

Seychelles achieved independence from Britain in 1976 and became a republic within the commonwealth. Following a period of single party rule by the government of Mr. France Albert René, on December 4, 1991, President René announced a return to the multiparty system of government, 1993 saw the first multiparty presidential and legislative elections held under a new constitution in which President René was victorious. President René also won the 1998 and 2003 elections before transferring the Presidency to James Alix Michel in June 2004.

In the evolution of its society, Seychelles has remained faithful to its multi-ethnic roots. For over two centuries, the islands have remained a melting pot of different races, traditions and religions from the four corners of the earth.

Inspired by its grand diversity of cultural influences, ethnic diversity with racial harmony remain the mainstays of today’s vibrant yet tranquil Creole nation for which harmony is a way of life.

PEOPLE
Today, the approximately 90,000 strong Seychellois population continues to reflect its multi-ethnic roots. Traditionally, the islands have attracted a broad diversity of peoples from the four corners of the earth that has included freed slaves, European settlers, political exiles, adventurers, traders of Arab and Persian origin as well as Chinese and Indians.

Practically every nation on earth has been represented in this melting pot of cultures, each one contributing its special influence to today’s vibrant yet tranquil society.

LANGUAGE
There are three official languages in Seychelles: Creole (a lilting, French-based patois), English and French. Many Seychellois also speak fluent Italian or German.

RELIGION
Roman Catholicism remains the dominant religion of Seychelles but there are also Anglican and Protestant churches and the places of worship of other denominations. These live in harmony alongside, Muslim, Hindu and Bahaï communities based on Mahé, Praslin and La Digue.

The cosmopolitan Seychellois are a colourful blend of peoples of different races, cultures and religions. At different times in its history, people of African, European and Asian origin have come to Seychelles, bringing with them their distinct traditions and customs and contributing to the way of life and to the vibrant Seychellois culture.

One can see these influences at work throughout the domains of local art, cuisine, music, dance and architecture.

The architectural design of some of the grand old houses with their steep roofs are representative of a style adapted for comfortable living in the tropics that displays influences from Seychelles’ French and British colonial heritage. Modern architecture attempts to assimilate traditional styles with practical features designed to capture the island breezes.

Local artists continue to exhibit diverse styles that echo the multi-ethnic backdrop of the islands and bear testament to the various influences which have come to bear. Creole music and dance have their roots in African, Malagasy and European cultures with rhythms traditionally accompanied by simple drums and string instruments which, today, include such recent imports as the violin and guitar.

The traditional moutya is an erotic dance derived from the days of slavery and still features today, together with the sega with its colourful lyrics; the kanmtole, reminiscent of a country reel, and the Kontredanse, an import from the French court.

The archipelago was inhabited as early as the 5th century BCE by Buddhist peoples, probably from Sri Lanka and southern India. According to tradition, Islam was adopted in 1153 CE. Ibn Baṭṭūṭah, a notable North African traveler, resided there during the mid-1340s and described conditions at that time, remarking disapprovingly on the freedom of the women—a feature that has been noticeable throughout Maldivian history.

The Portuguese forcibly established themselves in Male from 1558 until their expulsion in 1573. In the 17th century the islands were a sultanate under the protection of the Dutch rulers of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and, after the British took possession of Ceylon in 1796, the islands became a British protectorate, a status formalized in 1887. In 1932, before which time most of the administrative powers rested with sultans or sultanas, the first democratic constitution was proclaimed, the country remaining a sultanate. A republic was proclaimed in 1953, but later that year the country reverted to a sultanate.

In 1965 the Maldive Islands attained full political independence from the British, and in 1968 a new republic was inaugurated and the sultanate abolished. The last British troops left on March 29, 1976, the date thereafter celebrated in the Maldives as Independence Day. Ibrahim Nasr, the country’s first president, was succeeded in 1978 by Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who was reelected to his sixth consecutive term in 2003. The Maldives became a member of the Commonwealth in 1982.

While very little is known about the ancient history of the Maldives scholars and historians believe that the Maldives is an old nation populated well over 2500 years ago. The Maldivian race is the result of several waves of settlement from various parts of the Indian subcontinent and thousands of years of interactions of people of different races and ethnicities that crisscrossed the Indian Ocean over several centuries.

The country’s culture and traditions and the diverse physical traits of the people bear witness to the fact that the country was, due to its geographical location, a melting pot of people and cultures. The Maldivian language is Dhivehi, an Indo-Aryan language with its origins in Sanskrit.

The most recent census in 2014 enumerated the population at 407,660 people. A third of the population lives in Male’, while the rest live in 200 island scattered across the length of the country.

The livelihood of Maldivians traditionally depended on the seas, fishery being the main source of sustenance. While fishery still contributes significantly to the economy in terms of employment and income, tourism is the main source of income for the Maldivian economy today.

Although home to just over half a million people the Maldives has its own unique culture and traditions. While heavily influenced by various cultures around the rim of the Indian Ocean, the Maldivian culture, craft and traditions have been shaped by the island environment and the seas that surround us.

Dhivehi is the language of the Maldivian people. Our current script, Thaana is unique and was developed from Arabic numerals around the 16th century. Maldivians are master boat builders. The traditional Maldivian boat, dhoni has been shaped over centuries, resulting in a craft that perfectly suits the various conditions of the seas. The traditional cuisine is heavily based on fish and coconut, with several dishes that have no parallels anywhere in the region.

Our music and dance display strong influences of East Africa, Arabia and the Indian subcontinent. There is a rich tradition of Maldivian crafts; lacquered wooden ornaments, finely woven reed mats, and coral carvings are crafts that have been passed down through several generations.

With a history expanding over 3000years, Sri Lanka holds some of world’s ancient cities including Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Digamadulla; their once glorious townships, palaces, temples, monasteries, hospitals and theaters intricately carved and modeled out of stone lay and abandoned and forgotten with time amidst the soaring jungles.

Of all the ancient cities of Lanka, the most famed and most exquisite is the Kingdom of Anuradhapura. Sri Lanka’s third and the longest serving capital and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world is also one of the most sacred cities of World Buddhists. It was the capital of Sri Lanka from the Fourth Century BC up to the turn of the eleventh Century and was one of the most stable and durable centers of political power and urban life in South Asia.

Sigiriya, a fifth century AD fortress and a water garden displays some of the most futuristic elements of landscaping and some of the oldest murals recorded in the country.

Polonnaruwa, the second most ancient kingdom of the country boasts of Irrigation systems that are far superior to those of the and they still provide irrigation water to the farmers in and around Polonnaruwa.Digamadulla, the Eastern kingdom of Sri Lanka was the agricultural and spiritual capital of the country during the Anuradhapura kingdom.

Sri Lanka’s last kingdom the Kingdome of Kandy is a testament to the Sri Lankan’s ability to pick up and rise from ashes. After being burned and ravaged more than thrice by the invading Portuguese the Kandyan Kingdom still holds beautifully carved and built houses, palaces and temple preserved for nearly 500 years.

Ethnic Composition
Ethnic, religious, and linguistic distinctions in Sri Lanka are essentially the same. Three ethnic groups—Sinhalese, Tamil, and Muslim—make up more than 99 percent of the country’s population, with the Sinhalese alone accounting for nearly three-fourths of the people. The Tamil segment comprises two groups—Sri Lankan Tamils (long-settled descendants from southeastern India) and Indian Tamils (recent immigrants from southeastern India, most of whom were migrant workers brought to Sri Lanka under British rule). Slightly more than one-eighth of the total population belongs to the former group. Muslims, who trace their origin back to Arab traders of the 8th century, account for about 7.5 percent of the population. Burghers (a community of mixed European descent), Parsis (immigrants from western India), and Veddas (regarded as the aboriginal inhabitants of the country) total less than 1 percent of the population.

The Sinhalese constitute the majority in the southern, western, central, and north-central parts of the country. In the rural areas of the Wet Zone lowlands, they account for more than 95 percent of the population. The foremost concentration of the Sri Lankan Tamils lies in the Jaffna Peninsula and in the adjacent districts of the northern lowlands. Smaller agglomerations of this group are also found along the eastern littoral where their settlements are juxtaposed with those of the Muslims. The main Muslim concentrations occur in the eastern lowlands. In other areas, such as Colombo, Kandy, Puttalam, and Gampaha, Muslims form a small but important segment of the urban and suburban population. The Indian Tamils, the vast majority of whom are plantation workers, live in large numbers in the higher areas of the Central Highlands.

Language and Religion
Among the principal ethnic groups, language and religion determine identity. While the mother tongue of the Sinhalese is Sinhala—an Indo-Aryan language—the Tamils speak the Dravidian language of Tamil. Again, while more than 90 percent of the Sinhalese are Buddhists, both Sri Lankan and Indian Tamils are overwhelmingly Hindu. The Muslims—adherents of Islam—usually speak Tamil. Christianity draws its followers (about 7 percent of the population) from among the Sinhalese, Tamil, and Burgher communities.

Languages and Literature
In the Republic of Sri Lanka all laws require to be promulgated in Sinhalese (Sinhala), but the 1972 constitution provides that a Tamil translation is to be published simultaneously. Sri Lanka has thus two official languages. The distribution of the two languages does not exactly follow the breakdown of the population by race or religion. The Buddhists speak Sinhalese and the Brahmanists speak Tamil, but these two groups account for barely 80% of the population; moreover there are Christians in both cultural groups, and the great majority of the Muslims are Tamil-speaking. During the last twenty years, however, Sinhalese appears to have been extending its hold, as a result of the revival of national feeling and the greater emphasis placed on the language in the universities.

English is still the language of an elite group who has inherited the traditions of the colonial period. It is widely understood in the towns, particularly among educated people, and is the usual language of communication with foreigners; it is also a common language used by many Sinhalese and Tamils in their dealings with each other.

Sinhalese (Sinhala)
The visitor’s first contact with Sinhalese is likely to be in inscriptions, advertisements and newspapers, when his eye will be attracted by the rounded script with its harmonious curves and its agreeably flowing and regular rhythm. The traditional alphabet, the Elu Hodiya, a basic and pure Sinhala consist of 12 vowels and 25 consonants which is learned by Sinhalese school children. While Sinhala alphabet, has 67 characters 30 which are purely Sinhalese, 24 representing sounds and letters taken over from Sanskrit and Pali, and 13 formed by the combination of two letters. This may appear a disconcertingly large total at first sight, but visitors will find that if they put their minds to it they will be able within a few days to decipher the occasional inscription, the names of towns, the wording on postage stamps, and so on. Some contemporary writers are trying to simplify the alphabet by getting rid of what they regard as unnecessary refinements; and there is some prospect that by the elimination of 4 consonants and 4 vowels which appear superfluous and of 13 double consonants which printers do not use the Sinhalese alphabet may be reduced within the next generation to 46 characters. One complication has already been removed: whereas Old Sinhalese had its own system of figures, the modern language uses Arabic figures.

The present script was probably devised by the monks of Anuradhapura in the 8th or 9th century. It is related to the alphabet and system of writing used by the languages of South India, and is a regional development of the earliest Indian script, Nagari or Devanagari, which was used for writing Sanskrit and various North Indian languages. The earliest Sinhalese texts are written in this rather square script, the present script with its harmonious curves being adopted throughout the island only in the 10th or 11th century.

Sinhala is a very ancient language, the exact origin of which is not known. The earliest recorded texts, rock inscriptions dating from a relatively late period, reveal a highly developed language with a rich array of regular syntactical forms which point to a long period of evolution.

Sinhala belongs to the Indo-European language family, which originated in a primitive language known to the Indians as Aryan or Prakrit, believed to have been spoken by the Aryan invaders of the 2nd millennium B.C. From this original language evolved under the influence of the Brahmanist priests a learned language which was used in the earliest Hindu texts. Whilst this language, Sanskrit was being developed by the educated class the Prakrit of the Indo-European invaders was spreading throughout the Indian peninsula and splitting up into regional dialects, much influenced by the languages of the indigenous tribes.

Sinhalese is one of these regional languages: according to a widely accepted tradition it was brought in by Sri Lanka’s Aryan conquerors in the 5th century B.C., but this theory is not without its difficulties: First, the invading Sinhalas led by Vijaya were said to have consisted of 700 warriors and their families a total of some 5000 people at most. It seems difficult to believe that such a small group of incomers could impose their language on the indigenous Proto-Dravidian or Australoid tribes; Secondly, the conquerors of Sri Lanka are traditionally supposed to have come from the kingdom of Magadha in north-eastern India, in which the local language would be Pali or Magadhi. It is difficult to understand, therefore, why the language introduced by the invaders was not Pali but Sinhala, a language which from its earliest beginnings had been quite different from Pali.

It may be necessary to think in terms of an earlier Aryan penetration into Sri Lanka. On this theory Sinhalese would be the language spoken by invaders who came to the island some time before the 5th century; and it might be supposed that the Sinhalas, themselves speaking a related language, adopted the language of the incomers and made it their own. It does not seem unreasonable to suppose that the great epic poem, the Ramayana, contains references to invasions of this kind in early historical times. Whatever the truth of the matter may be, it seems clear at any rate that Sinhalese is one of the oldest languages in the world, established in Sri Lanka the most southerly point reached by the Indo-European languages at some remote date which cannot be exactly established.

For many centuries Sinhalese developed without leaving any written documents apart from a few rock inscriptions. According to an ancient tradition there were works written on palm leaves (olas), but the repeated invasions from which Sri Lanka suffered, destroyed this early evidence of its language.

When Buddhism reached Sri Lanka about 250 B.C. Pali, the language spoken by the Buddha and used in the basic Buddhist texts, became a sacred language and has remained so to this day. Thereafter the two languages borrowed from one another and influenced each other in various ways. In spite of this interaction between the two languages we find a very pure Sinhalese, without any alien elements, in a long inscription at Mihintale dated to the reign of Sangabo Abhaya (late 3rd c. A.D.): this is Old Sinhalese, sometimes called the “Elect”.

In the 4th century Sanskrit was introduced for the purposes of science and scholarship, so that the educated classes of this early mediaeval period were equally at home in Sinhalese, Pali and Sanskrit.

Sinhalese Literature
Classical Sinhalese literature is usually divided into two main periods: the mediaeval golden age, from 1153 to 1450, during which the language reached its definitive form, and the 18th century, or more exactly the period from 1727 to 1780, dominated by the great reign of Kirti Sri.

The Medieval Period
The earliest texts which have been preserved were written in the reign of Parakrama Bahu I (1153-1186), a king renowned as the restorer of Buddhism who did a great deal for the education of his people and is said to have established 128 libraries throughout his kingdom. These first Sinhalese works, written on olas with a stylus, are full of Sanskrit features in both syntax and vocabulary. They include prose treatises on religion, morality, medicine and science, but there are more poems than prose works, for the Sinhalese people were (and are) passionate lovers of poetry.

King Parakrama Bahu III wrote a poem, the Kawsilumina, which is rated highly by scholars, and a prose work on the teachings of the Buddha, the Visuddhimagga. His son Parakrama Bahu IV commissioned Sinhalese translations of the Jatakas, the hagiographical tales of the incarnations of the Buddha which had hitherto been accessible only to monks and those who knew Pali.

At the end of the 14th century a number of very interesting historical works appeared, including a Chronicle of the Tooth (Dalada-vamsa) and the Chronicle of the Shrines (Thupavamsa). The most important work of the period, however, was undoubtedly the fundamental grammar of classical Sinhalese, which is still studied “The Sidath Sangarava” (Summary of First Principles), written by an educated monk, Vedeyha, at the request of the chief minister of King Parakrama Bahu IV.

The early 15th century, the age of poets, saw the spread of education and the emergence of a literary school which created an elegant and scholarly language strongly impregnated with Sanskrit. A great poet of this period, still famous in Sri Lanka, was the prince of poets, Tottagamuwa. His real name was Rahulastha Viraya, but he is known under a pseudonym derived from the name of the little township in southern part of the country where he was born. He was a favourite of King Parakrama Bahu VI but outlived his master. A great encyclopaedist and polyglot, he was known as Shad-bahasha-parameswara, Great Master of Six Languages. His principal works, which are still read, were the Kaviasekara, celebrating one of the incarnations of the Buddha; the Selalihini Sandese, an epistle written by a mynah bird named Selahini to Yibushana, the god worshipped in the temple at Kelani, seeking his protection for the royal family at Kotte; and the Paravisandese, an epistle written by a pigeon to Krishna seeking divine aid for the royal armies fighting the Tamils at Jaffna.

The distinctive characteristic of this period is the richness of its vocabulary, which has innumerable synonyms and many words with different meanings. A much esteemed literary achievement was to write a poem which had a double meaning, depending on the particular sense given to the words. During this period, too, the language crystallised into a highly elaborate and sophisticated instrument, until finally no fewer than four different forms were recognised and regulated one spoken when addressing the king or a noble, one used when addressing a monk or churchman, one used to equals and one used to inferiors.

The Intermediate Period (1450-1720)
This period was a difficult one, marked by divisions, intestine struggles and invasion by Westerners: a period unpropitious for the development of literature.

King Rajah Sinha I, after successfully resisting the Portuguese, renounced Buddhism and returned to the Brahmanist faith, and thereafter undertook a furious campaign of destruction in which many of the older writings perished. In spite of the political troubles of the time, however, a few books were still written. One work which has survived is a poem celebrating the solemn transfer of the “Tooth” to the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy by King Wimala Dharma Suriya after the persecutions in the reign of his predecessor. To his period also belongs the great poet Alagiyawanna, author of the Parangihatane (Wars of the Portuguese), which glorifies the victories of Rajah Sinha II (1620-1630).

From this period we have also some verses written by a poet calling himself Gascon (Portuguese Vasco), the son of a Portuguese, who escaped death in a massacre while still a child and was brought up at the court of Kandy by King Senerat. An accomplished master of the Sinhalese language and a poet by temperament, he became Rajah Sinha II’s chief minister. His career came to an unhappy end, however, when he was found guilty of adultery with the king’s favourite wife and was executed. The poem which he addressed to the queen from prison and the queen’s sorrowful reply are still remembered in Sri Lanka.

The 18th Century
The Dutch colonisation and the progress which came with it provided a powerful stimulus to Sinhalese intellectual life. Printing was introduced in the country, and books in Sinhala began to be published. One of these works, the Kustantinu-hatane, celebrated the national struggle against the Portuguese and in particular the war against the forces of the Portuguese General, Don Constantino. The Dutch took an interest in the language of Sri Lanka for the purpose of spreading the Gospel, and the first European grammar of Sinhalese appeared in 1699. It was written by a Dutch pastor named Ruell, who dedicated it to the Dutch missionaries in the country.

In the middle of the 18th century, by a nationalist reaction, there was a revival of Buddhism, which gave fresh impetus to Sinhalese literature. Beginning in the reign of Vijaya (1739-1747), this religious renaissance reached its peak under the great Kirti Sri (1747-1780). Among the chief literary works produced during this period were: the accounts of a Kandyan embassy to Siam by the ambassador himself, Vilbagedara Mudianse (1747), a work of historical and documentary interest; “A history of Ceylon from 1410 to 1762″(the date of the foundation of Kotte); a Sinhalese translation of the “Melindaprasne”, an ancient Buddhist doctrinal work written in Pali; and a collection of didactic poems by a noble of southern Sri Lanka, Makaradwaja.

In the 19th century, however, Sinhalese literature sank to a low ebb, unable to compete with the more dynamic culture of the British occupiers. Literature now degenerated into a mere aesthetic pastime or a vain contemplation of the past. The poets of the day delighted in purely mechanical exercises writing poems in geometric form, in the shape of diagrams, pentagrams, and so on.

This was a period of decadence, recognised as such by the Sinhalese nationalist James de Alvis, a Christian and a member of the Royal Asiatic Society, in his “Survey of Sinhala Literature” (1852, republished 1966). It was a natural enough result of the process of acculturation: the Sinhalese people, heirs to an ancient cultural tradition, were deeply unsettled by the encounter with a modern culture different from their own and better adapted to the new type of civilisation which was being imposed upon them. There was a vague and ill-defined feeling that the old refined, elegant and sophisticated language, developed in a civilisation which was now outdated, was not suitable for a new type of life. During the first half of the 19th century, therefore, there was a kind of intellectual torpor, a period of hibernation before the rebirth of the Sinhalese language in a simplified form better adapted to the needs of the modern world.

Modern Sinhalese Literature
In the last thirty years of the 19th century Sinhalese literature began to show the results of the encounter between an old established native culture and the language and literature of the British colonial power. The effect was a genuine renaissance. Educated Sinhalese now discovered and assimilated the literature of the West not only English literature but also the literature of other countries in English translation, including the great masterpieces of French and Russian literature.

The closing decades of the century saw the appearance of numerous Sinhalese translations of Western works, and these had a considerable influence on the language, obliging the translators to develop a modern Sinhalese language by renewing the vocabulary, selecting the best of possible alternatives, avoiding unnecessary grandiloquence and simplifying some unduly elaborate syntactical forms. The result was to produce a more disciplined language and one better able to express the realities of modern life.

It was only at the beginning of this century that the first Sinhalese works in a new style appeared, written in a language which was a synthesis between the old learned language and the modern spoken language. The impact of European values on the ancient culture of Sri Lanka was now reflected in the work of a group of writers influenced by the two different worlds.

The leading figure in this movement of renewal was Piyadasa Sirisena (1875-1946), who was a pioneer in the renaissance of Sinhalese literature, though not himself a writer of the highest class. The true creator of the modern Sinhalese novel was Malagama M. Wickremasingha, a prominent literary figure for more than half a century, whose novels and short stories paint a faithful picture of the life and aspirations of Sri Lankan villagers. His works have recently been translated into Russian. G. B. Senanayake described the life of humble town-dwellers. The works of Gunadasa Amarasekara reflect the tensions arising from the conflict between Western values and traditional realities. K. Jayatileke painted a faithful picture of the life of his own village. With Ediriwira Sarachchandra, who was also a playwright, exoticism entered the Sinhalese novel: having visited Japan, he made that country the setting of one of his books. Several of his novels have been translated into English. Some Sri Lankan authors writing in Sinhalese have also published books in English, like J. Vijayatunga, author of an appealing novel of childhood recounting the life of a village boy from the Baddegama area, Grass for my Feet. Vijayatunga has also written a history of Ceylon under the title “Island Story” (Madras, 1949).

As noted above, poetry was the most favoured form of expression in classical Sinhalese literature, and it had tended towards a rather artificial formalism and a refined and often esoteric form of expression. The prestigious and sophisticated heritage of the past hampered the revival of poetry in modern times, and there have been few notable poets until the last few decades. The years after Independence, however, saw the emergence of a new poetic school which rebelled against the formalism and the subtleties of traditional metrics and prosody. Siri Gunasingha published poems in vers libre which affronted the literati of classical leanings, but he had a profound liberating influence and was imitated by a number of other poets who broke out of the strict traditional frameworks. Mahagama Sekera was a great lyric poet who drew his inspiration from Sri Lanka’s rich past and popular traditions. More recently a new wave has come to the fore: the confrontations and contestations of the last few years have brought forward a number of new poets Monica Ruwanpathirama, Parakrama Kodituwakku, Sunil Ariyaratne, Buddhadasa Galapatti, Jayalath Manoratne and others whose works are popular with students in Sri Lanka.