Is it more properly Seychelles or the Seychelles? That is, History of Seychelles or History of the Seychelles? I notice they're not all in agreement. e.g. Demographics of Seychelles vs. Economy of the Seychelles. --KQ 20:58 Sep 6, 2002 (UCT)
- Short form "Seychelles", no direct article. Long form "Republic of Seychelles". Here's their ministry of foreign affairs. --Brion 05:30 Sep 7, 2002 (UTC)
I think that, as with most archipelagos, common use is to add "the". As in "the government of the US Virgin Islands decided that.." or the "the team of the Maldives were defeated by.." etc. The official French name (French is spoken there) is also République des Seychelles, which I would also translate with Republic of the Seychelles... Anyway, it doesn't really matter, as long as the use is consistent. Jeronimo
- Yes, and Canada is le Canada in French. On va au Canada. Voici le site web du gouvernement du Canada. But, we're speaking English here, and the official English name does not have an article, neither for Canada nor for Seychelles. Informal usage with "the" is not uncommon, but what can you do? --Brion
Yeah, the French always use articles for countries, I kinda forgot about that... But in English, it is also common to use articles for plurals: the United States, f.e. But if the official name appears to be without the, so be it. Jeronimo