Place:Aldabra, Seychelles

Watchers


NameAldabra
TypeUnknown
Coordinates9.4°S 46.367°E
Located inSeychelles


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Aldabra is the world's second-largest coral atoll,[1] lying south-east of the continent of Africa. It is part of the Aldabra Group of islands in the Indian Ocean that are part of the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, with a distance of 1,120 km (700 mi) southwest of the capital, Victoria on Mahé Island.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The name Aldabra, originally Al-Hadra or Al-Khadra (with several variants), was given by Arab seafarers for "the atoll’s harsh, sun-baked environment"; this name was included in the Portuguese maps of the 16th century. They had named the Indian Ocean as Bahr-el zanj. It was visited by Portuguese navigators in 1511. The islands were already known to the Persians and Arabs, from whom they got their name. In the middle of the 18th century, the atoll became a dependency of the French colony of Réunion, from where expeditions were made for the capture of the Aldabra giant tortoises.[2] As there are no surface freshwater sources on Aldabra, the interests of the explorers (no proof of any European explorer's visit prior to 1742) was only to exploit the species of tortoise, turtle and fish, and not to inhabit the atoll.[3] In 1810, with Mauritius, Réunion, the Seychelles and other islands, Aldabra passed into the possession of Great Britain. Réunion was later returned to France, and Mauritius gained possession of Aldabra as well as the rest of the Seychelles. The previous inhabitants were emigrants from the Seychelles.

Admiral W. J. L. Wharton of the British Navy landed in Aldabra in 1878 to conduct hydrographic surveys of the islands. In 1888, the first settlement was established after the Concession was granted by the Seychelles authorities.[3] A small settlement was established on Picard Island facing west near the beach. The intention was to exploit and export the natural resources of the islands. The villagers built a chapel, in the middle of the badamier trees, using timber and steel; the chapel was considered an essential addition to the plantation houses and office buildings. As Aldabra had no freshwater resources, large rectangular-shaped water storage structures were built adjoining each building. A two-roomed jail was also built in the village, a remnant of which is extant. The exploitation of tortoises for commercial purposes at that time is illustrated by the remnants of a crushing mill at Picard Island, which was used to crush bones of tortoises, which were also brought in from other islands in the atoll. Efforts made to grow plantation crops of coconuts, cotton, and sisal failed due to inadequate water sources on the atoll; relics of these plantations are still found on some of the islands. In the late 19th century goats were introduced as a food source for the villagers (about 200) living there. Ship rats were inadvertently introduced and recorded before 1870, and house geckos were noted from the 1970s.[3] Sailors landed on the atoll in the 19th century and captured tortoises as food; in 1842, two ships were reported to have taken 1200 of them. By 1900, the tortoises were nearly extinct, and a crew would often have to hunt for three days to find one.

In the early 1800s, concessions given to individuals almost destroyed the forests and tortoise habitats in many islands in Seychelles; on Aldabra Atoll, in view of its remoteness and rugged topography, only small areas of forests were cleared for agricultural operations (mostly coconut plantations) but the tortoises were intensely captured for meat and trade. However, James Spurs, who had the concession of the atoll, was responsible initially for saving the tortoises on the atoll when he banned killing them in 1891.

Following World War II, exploitation of Aldabra for commercial use came to an end and restrictions were even imposed on the number of people who could stay on the islands; this number was fixed at 200 at a time. Introduction of invasive species was banned, faunal species were protected under law, and active research on the ecology and biodiversity of the atoll was undertaken by the Royal Society of London from the mid-1970s.

Aldabra, along with Desroches and Farquhar, was part of the British Indian Ocean Territory from 1965 until Seychelles' independence in 1976. In the 1960s, as a part of their 'Ocean Island Policy', and to support East of Suez commitments, the British government considered establishing an RAF base on the island and invited the United States to help fund the project in return for shared use of the facility and a settlement of 11 million dollars. Simultaneously (mid-1960s), the British Broadcasting Corporation became interested in Aldabra as a possible transmitter site, to broadcast the BBC Overseas Service (BBC) into the African mainland. The BBC mounted a fact-finding expedition (Expedition Turtle) to assess its suitability for this purpose. The BBC relied on the RAF for developing the atoll as without this their project would not have been feasible. After an international protest by scientists (known as 'the Aldabra Affair'), however, the military plans were abandoned and the atoll instead received full protection.[4] The "Environmental lobbyists" under the leadership of Julian Huxley, with the support of MP Tam Dalyell, got the British venture torpedoed. In 1966, British Defence Minister Denis Healey had observed that: "As I understand it, the island of Aldabra is inhabited - like Her Majesty's Opposition Front bench - by giant turtles, frigate birds and boobies."[5]

Subsequent to the thwarting of plans to establish a military station at Aldabra (which instead focused on Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands), the Royal Society of London resumed their scientific study of the flora and fauna of the atoll with Professor David Stoddart as the leader. The Royal Society bought the lease of the atoll in 1970 and their research station became functional from 1970. After completion of their assigned work, the Royal Society left and the Seychelles Island Foundation (SIF), a public trust of Seychelles, assumed management and protection of the atoll in 1979.[5] SIF functions under the patronage of the President of Seychelles and Aldabra was declared a Special Nature Reserve in 1981; it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 19 November 1982. A brass plaque inscribed with the citation "Aldabra, wonder of nature given to humanity by the people of the Republic of Seychelles" was erected on the atoll. This appreciation befits the atoll which is truly one of the greatest ecologically undisturbed raised coral atolls in the world.

Research Tips


This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Aldabra. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.