Alphonse Group
Encyclopedia
The Alphonse Group belong to the Outer Islands
Outer Islands (Seychelles)
The Outer Islands or Coralline Seychelles is a collective term for those islands of the Seychelles that are not on the shallow Seychelles Bank which defines the location of the Inner Islands. They are located at distances of 230 to 1150 km from the main Seychelles island of Mahé, and are all...
of the Seychelles
Seychelles
Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....
, lying in the southwest of the island nation, 403 kilometres southwest the capital, Victoria
Victoria, Seychelles
Victoria is the capital city of the Seychelles and is situated on the north-eastern side of Mahé island, which is the main island of the archipelago. The city was first established as the seat of the British colonial government...
, on Mahé
Mahé, Seychelles
Mahé is the largest island of the Seychelles, lying in the north east of the nation. The population of Mahé is 80,000. It contains the capital city of Victoria and accommodates 90% of the country's total population...
Island. The closest island is Desnœufs Island of the Amirante Islands
Amirante Islands
The Amirante Islands , a group of coral islands and atolls, belong to the Outer Islands of the Seychelles. They stretch about 155 km from the African Banks in the north to Île Desnœufs in the south, all on the shallow Amirantes Bank , except the main island Île Desroches in...
, 87 km further north.
Islands in the Alphonse Group
The Alphonse Group consists of two atolls that are only three kilometers apart, separated by a deep channel:- Alphonse AtollAlphonse AtollAlphonse Atoll is one of two atolls of the Alphonse Group, and located 87 km south of the Amirante Islands, and just three kilometers north of St. François Atoll, the second atoll of Alphonse Group. The atoll has just one island, Alphonse Island, with a population of fewer than 300...
in the north, with only one island, Alphonse Island - St. François AtollSt. François AtollSt. François Atoll is one of two atolls of the Alphonse Group of the Seychelles, just three kilometers south of Alphonse Atoll, the second atoll of Alphonse Group. The atoll is uninhabited and has two islands, St. François and Bijoutier Island...
in the south, with the islands St. François and Bijoutier
Only Alphonse Island is inhabited. The aggregate land area of all three islets in both atolls is less than 2 km² (196,000 m²), but the total area including reefs and lagoons amounts to roughly 50 km².