Port of Victoria (Seychelles) industry. One of the largest bridges in Victoria was destroyed in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Victoria proper is composed of parts of three Districts of Seychelles: Greater Victoria encompasses these three, and five more of the 25 Districts of Seychelles as follows: Although it is the capital of the Seychelles, Victoria on Mahe island is not a large city. It was originally settled in 1778 by the French but was eventually named after Queen Victoria. There is an old part of town with narrow streets and dilapidated colonial buildings, and a new part of the city with wider avenues
Indian Ocean Polynesians reached most of the far flung islands and atolls and populated them, almost all the islands, archipelagos and atolls of the Indian Ocean were uninhabited until colonial times. Although there were numerous ancient civilizations in the coastal states of Asia and parts of Africa, the Maldives were the only island group in the Central Indian Ocean region where an ancient civilization flourished. Maldivian ships used the Indian Monsoon Current to travel to the nearby coasts. From 1405 to 1433 admiral Zheng He said to have led large fleets of the Ming Dynasty on several treasure voyages through the Indian