Happy Independence Day, Seychelles!  Probably uninhabited for most of its history, Seychelles was first spotted by Vasco da Gama in 1502, first alighted upon by Alexander Sharpeigh in 1609, claimed for the French by Nicholas Morphey in 1756, and then held by the British from 1794 (sometimes in conjunction with Mauritius as a crown colony) until this date in 1976, whereupon it gained independence as a nation of the Commonwealth - the smallest [population] sovereign nation in Africa, in fact.

Date of Birth: 08/11/1939 Date of death: 01/08/2017 Additional names: james Mancham Categories: Politician, President, Prime Minister

Sir James Richard Marie Menchem (born James Richard Marie Mancham; born August 11, 1939, Victoria, British Seychelles..) – Seychelles political and social activist, a lawyer, the first President of the Seychelles, who headed the government in…