Why were the Seychelles called the Garden of Eden?
The Seychelles is an archipelago of some 90 islands in the Indian Ocean, near the equator and 1,600 kilometres from Africa.
The total area of the islands is only 451 km², making the Seychelles the smallest country in Africa and one of the smallest nations on Earth.
The Seychelles were uninhabited when they were discovered by Europeans. The islands were colonized in the 18th century, and now have a population of over 87,000. The Seychelles was a British colony for many years before gaining independence in 1976.
There are few places on Earth with a more pleasant climate than these islands in the Indian Ocean, at least in terms of temperature. Over a long period of time, at a weather station in the Seychelles, the temperature never dropped below 20 degrees Celsius and never rose above 32 degrees Celsius.
The islands are so pleasant that early European visitors believed that the Seychelles should have been the site of the original Garden of Eden!
But there is one small climate problem in the Seychelles: rain. The islands receive more than 2.25 m of rainfall per year, and in some parts they receive 3.70 m.
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