Alphonse Atoll
 Alphonse Atoll
Location of Alphonse Island in Seychelles
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| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Indian Ocean |
| Coordinates | 07°01′S 52°44′E / 7.017°S 52.733°ECoordinates: 07°01′S 52°44′E / 7.017°S 52.733°E |
| Archipelago | Seychelles |
| Adjacent bodies of water | Indian Ocean |
| Total islands | 1 |
| Major islands |
|
| Area | 1.71 km2 (0.66 sq mi) |
| Length | 1.8 km (1.12 mi) |
| Width | 1.4 km (0.87 mi) |
| Coastline | 5.5 km (3.42 mi) |
| Highest elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| Administration | |
| Group | Outer Islands |
| Sub-Group | Alphonse Group |
| Districts | Outer Islands District |
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Largest settlement
|
Alphonse
(population 75) |
| Demographics | |
| Demonym | Creole |
| Population | 82 (2014) |
| Pop. density | 48 /km2 (124 /sq mi) |
| Ethnic groups | Creole, French, East Africans, Indians. |
| Additional information | |
| Time zone | |
| Official website | www |
| ISO Code = SC-26 | |
Alphonse Atoll is one of two atolls of the Alphonse Group, the other being St. François Atoll — both in the Outer Islands (Coralline Seychelles) coral archipelago of the Seychelles.
Alphonse Atoll lies 87 kilometres (54 miles) south of the main Amirantes bank, from which it is separated by deep water. It has a distance of 400 kilometres (250 miles) south of Victoria, Seychelles. Alphonse lies just two kilometres (1.2 miles) north of St. François Atoll, separated from it by a deep channel. The atoll has just one island, Alphonse Island, with a population of 108 people who work in the Alphonse hotel or maintain the runway and island for the IDC.
The area of the island is 1.71 square kilometres (0.66 square miles). The total area of the atoll, with 5.5 kilometres (3 miles) in diameter, is 19 square kilometres (7 square miles), including reef flat and lagoon.
In 1562 the whole of the Alphonse Group (Alphonse, St. François and Bijoutier) are collectively named on Portuguese charts as San Francisco. Chevalier Alphonse de Pontevez commanding the French frigate Le Lys visited on 27 June 1730 and gave the islands his own name. The following day he visited and named the neighboring island of St. François possibly following the former Portuguese name for the group. A small resort hotel was built on Alphonse Island in 1999, the island was a private plantation, only opened in 1999 to the public. in 2007 it was bought 50% by LUX hotels branch of Desroches and then sold to Great Plains Group due to financial difficulties. After a failed attempt to build an extreme luxury villa development it was sold in 2013 to the Collins family.
in 2007, Island Conservation Society established a conservation center on Alphonse to manage conservation on the island and on neighboring St. François.
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Wikipedia