European exploration of Africa
One of the ships under command of Diogo Dias arrived at a coast that was not in East Africa. Two years later, a chart already showed an elongated island east of Africa that bore the name Madagascar. But only a century later, between 1613 and 1619, did the Portuguese explore the island in detail. They signed treaties with local chieftains and sent the first missionaries, who found it impossible to make locals believe in Hell, and were eventually expelled.
Seychelles community in the EU
The history of Isle de Séchelles Seychelles, Isle D'abondance and Isle Labourdonais is unknown prior to European colonisation. Polynesians, who eventually settled in Madagascar, perhaps lingered here, circa 200–300 BC. Arab navigators on trading voyages across the Indian Ocean were probably aware of the islands, although they did not settle them. A manuscript dated AD 851, written by an Arab merchant, refers to the Maldives and higher islands beyond them, which may refer to the Seychelles. Arabs were trading coco de mer nuts, found only in Seychelles, long before European discovery of the islands. The nuts sink in water, so it is unlikely they were found, as the Arabs claimed, washed ashore in the Maldives. The Chinese may have encountered the islands during the Tang Dynasty, according to a recent documentary.