The aim of the work in the Seychelles was to find out the ethnic situation among the two largest and most prominent national minorities of their population - the Indians and the Chinese. The study was conducted by means of a survey in the capital of the republic - Victoria, where the majority of these ethnic groups are concentrated. The general direction of ethnic processes, the level of assimilation, ethnic identity, language proficiency and religious affiliation, as well as mixed religious and ethnic marriages were investigated. A comparative analysis of all these indicators was carried out in two groups of the local Indian population - descendants of plantation workers during the period of English rule and recent immigrants from the Indian subcontinent, as well as in a group of their children born already in the Seychelles. Regarding the Seychelles Chinese, it was revealed that the ethnic processes in their environment are largely similar to those that are characteristic of the Indians of the "old wave" of migration.

Keywords: Seychelles, Seychelles Chinese, Seychelles Indians, Creoles, assimilation, mixed marriages, integration, language assimilation.

ETHNIC PROCESSES OF NATIONAL MINORITIES OF SEYCHELLES

Victor KRIVONOGOV

The vast majority of the Seychelles are Creoles - descendants of African slaves brought to the uninhabited islands by the French colonialists. However, there are several national minorities, of which the largest and most notable are the descendants of Indian and Chinese migrants. An ethno-sociological study was conducted among the 10 percent of two national minorities in 2014. Research has revealed a high level of integration and assimilation processes with local Indians and Chinese who have adopted the language of the majority of the surrounding Creole. In addition, they speak English and French. A high percentage of mid marriages with Creoles led to intense cross-breeding and changing anthropological look of these minorities.

Keywords: Seychelles, Seychelles Chinese, Seychelles Indians, Creoles, integration, assimilation, language processes, breakthrough endogamy, a ethnically mixed marriages, cross-breeding.

The main part of the population of Seychelles is made up of Creoles-descendants of slaves brought by the French, the first owners of the islands, from Africa and Madagascar to work on plantations. Gradually, on the islands, people from different tribes sli-

Viktor P. KRIVONOGOV-Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of the Siberian Federal University (Krasnoyarsk), victor950@yandex.ru.

Victor KRIVONOGOV - Doctor of Sciences (in History), Professor, Siberian Federal University (Krasnoyarsk), victor950@yandex.ru.

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They were united into a single community based on the French language, which turned into Creole - simplified French, with an admixture of other languages (Swahili, etc.) [Dyachkov, 1987, p. 16]. Similar languages called "Patois" also appeared in other colonies of France with a predominant Black population (Zhukov, 1987). Subsequently, as a result of the cohabitation of planters with slaves, mulattoes began to make up an increasingly large proportion of Creoles, and by now it can be said that most Creoles have one or another admixture of the Caucasian component. The majority of Creoles are Catholics, about one-tenth of them are Protestants (Anglicans and representatives of other Protestant churches). [Papulation..., 2012]. The British, who replaced the French, brought some diversity to the ethnic composition of the islands - they created a small number of Indians who were recruited by contract from India; in addition, under the British from the island of Mauritius, which formed a single colony with the Seychelles in the XIX century (1840-1903). [http://www.seyshelskieostrova.ru/category/istoriya/], a small group of Chinese moved in. They came to Mauritius as indentured plantation workers, but after the contract expired, they went into trade and business. They moved to the Seychelles as merchants and small entrepreneurs.

The majority of Indians and Chinese are concentrated in the capital of the republic - Victoria. Seychelles has been an independent republic since 1976. The population of the islands is very homogeneous-Creoles make up the vast majority of citizens-over 95%. It uses three languages simultaneously - Creole, English, and French. As a rule, Creoles have a native language, the first language is Creole, but at school everyone learns English and French, and the majority of the population is trilingual. The total population of the islands in 2010 is 91 thousand people, of which 7.8 thousand (8.6%) are foreigners, the rest are Seychelles [Population..., 2012]. The latest population censuses do not provide data on the national composition of Seychelles, so the exact number of Indians and Chinese citizens of the republic is unknown. The last time more or less accurate data on the number of Indians and Chinese appeared only in the census of 1931, in the future all residents were simply referred to as Seychelles, without trying to distinguish separate ethnic groups. According to this census, the number of Indians is estimated at 503 (slightly less than 2% of the total population of 27.4 thousand people), of which 342 were born in Asia, 128-in the Seychelles, 31-in Mauritius, 1-in France) [Mahoune, 2000].

The Chinese population, according to the same census, was twice as small - 235 people [Meriton, 2001, p.45]. But it seems that in the following decades, the number of both groups on the islands increased.

As for foreigners living on the islands, according to the latest census, out of 7.8 thousand-4 thousand people were citizens of India, and taking into account the neighboring countries of India (Bangladesh, etc.) - 4.8 thousand people. There were 314 Chinese citizens [Population..., 2012]. Most foreigners are on the islands temporarily. They are either engaged in trade and business (Chinese and some Indians), or temporary contract work (more often - contracts for two years)."they are mostly builders and handymen from India.

During the expedition in January 2014, the task was to conduct a study among Indians and Chinese citizens of the Seychelles (excluding foreigners), to find out the nature of ethnic processes occurring in these ethnic groups. Among the methods used are interviews with informants and specialists, as well as a mass survey of the population of these nationalities conducted in Victoria, the capital of the Republic of Seychelles. The survey was conducted right on the streets of the city, as well as among employees of numerous shops, benches, cafes and restaurants. The survey was facilitated by the fact that Indians and Chinese can be easily distinguished from Creoles by anthropological characteristics. However, not every passerby we stopped for an interview is a passerby

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it met our criteria, because we only needed citizens of the Seychelles. And we kept coming across foreigners, and there were clearly more foreigners from the Indian subcontinent than local Indians. After talking to the ministers of local Indian temples, we found out that among the Hindu parishioners there are significantly more foreigners than local ones. The" magic word "that distinguishes local Indians from foreigners was the word "Seychelles" - this term is used by all citizens of the republic, regardless of ethnicity (Seychelles, seselwa). To the Russian ear, this sounds like "Seychelles". This concept is identical to that of "citizens of the Seychelles" (like "Russians" in Russia). When asked about their nationality, all residents first call themselves Seychelles, and only with clarifying questions can you find out who is Creole, who is Indian, Chinese, etc. In other words, there are two levels of ethnic identity: the entire population is Seychelles, which is already divided into separate ethnic groups at a different level.

Not all local Indians recognized themselves as such, there is a very large mixed Creole-Indian population. We interviewed those of them who considered themselves to be of the Indian group, but many of the mixed population no longer considered themselves to be Indians, considered themselves to be Creoles, and had to be excluded from the survey (i.e., we used their ethnic identity as the basis for classifying the Seychelles as an Indian group). We also interviewed those who have a dual identity, i.e. consider themselves Indian and Creole at the same time. As for the Chinese, there are much fewer foreigners among them, which could make the survey easier, but it should be borne in mind that it is not only the Chinese who are distinguished by Mongoloid anthropological features - we met many Filipinos, Indonesians, Malagasy and people from other countries with a Mongoloid population on the streets of the city. According to the latest census, there were 433 citizens of the Philippines, 147 of Thailand, 493 of Madagascar among foreigners on the islands, and some of the passers - by came from Indonesia, Vietnam, etc. [Population..., 2012].

Among the local (Seychelles) Chinese, there are also many people of mixed Creole-Chinese population. Here we again applied the criterion of ethnic identity: if representatives of this mixed population identified themselves as Chinese, they were included in the survey, if they considered themselves Creoles, and there were also quite a few of them, they were not interviewed. So the survey of Indians and Chinese people was not without difficulties - our criteria were met only by one out of 4-5 passers-by, to whom we addressed, guided by suitable anthropological characteristics. To determine the sample, it is necessary to know the number of groups studied, but, as already mentioned, such statistics do not exist on the islands. The presence of a significant layer of Mestizos with a dual identity, i.e. those who identify themselves as both Creoles and the studied group, makes it impossible to find out the exact number. Below I will still give some thoughts about the size of both groups, but due to the relativity of these figures, we were forced to determine the percentage of the sample approximately as well. We expected to interview at least 5% of each ethnic group. And we managed to do this - a total of 80 Chinese and 105 Indian Seychelles residents were interviewed. These figures fall within the limits of the planned sample, so the data obtained can be considered representative.

SEYCHELLES INDIANS

When talking to the Seychelles Indians, it immediately became clear that they are divided into two almost equal groups. Some are descendants of Indians who came to the islands under the British, let's call them the Indians of the "old" wave of migration, or old-timers. The latter are recent immigrants from India - "new" migrants, those who were born in India, but received Seychelles citizenship over the past 3-4 decades. There is also an intermediate group - the second generation of recent, "new" migrants who were already born on the islands.

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47.7% of the "old" wave Indians in our sample belong to the "new" wave, 29.1% belong to the second generation of migrants, i.e., the children of "new" wave Indians - 23.1%. It turns out that in recent decades, the group of Seychelles Indians has been updated by half. In the coming years, this replenishment will probably continue - after all, there are now 2-3 times more migrants from India than Seychelles Indians, and some of them express a desire to stay on the islands forever. We also talked to migrants, most of whom came just to work part-time under a contract. They make up the vast majority on construction sites, there are a lot of them among the staff of hotels, restaurants, among laborers. There are many of them among merchants and entrepreneurs. What part of them will remain on the island forever is difficult to say, this requires additional research, we met with a variety of opinions on this issue. And many people answer vaguely: "If things go well, I will stay, if not, I will return to India." But even if citizenship is granted and a small part remains, for example, a quarter or a fifth of migrants, this will already mean a significant renewal of the group of Seychelles Indians. In other words, recent immigrants from India have already made up half of the Indian group, and this update will be continued in the near future.

The differences in the ethnic characteristics of the two sections of Indians-descendants of plantation workers during the English rule and recent immigrants from the Indian subcontinent - are so significant that in the future we will have to give most of the indicators and ethnic characteristics separately for two groups or even three, highlighting the children of recent migrants who were already born on the islands.

Are there ethnic differences between "old" and "new" wave Indians in terms of origin from different regions of India? The data collected by us among both groups of Seychelles Indians allow us to conclude that their ethnic composition is approximately the same - the majority are from the south of India, mainly from the state of Tamilnadu, the minority-from the north, more precisely, the north-west of India, primarily from the state of Gujarat. In our sample, all those who know the Indian language named Tamil (majority) and Gujarati (minority) (Figure 1).

Interestingly, the ethnic composition of foreign Indians was the same - the vast majority were Tamils, and only a few came from other regions of India. We often talked with workers of teams that met on the construction of roads, hotels, and other facilities, the result is this-out of 12 respondents

Figure 1. Seychelles Indian (Gujarati)

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Figure 2. Creole-Indian (Mestizo)

One of the brigades was from Gujarat, one from Uttar Pradesh (north), and 10 consisted exclusively of Tamils. We found the same ratio in conversations with service personnel of hotels, restaurants, and shops. By the way, the ethnic composition of the Seychelles Indians is strikingly different from the composition of the Indians of Mauritius, despite the proximity of their historical destinies. There, the vast majority of Indians have roots in the north-east of India, they come from Bihar, and those who have retained knowledge of their native language speak the Bihar language. There are also people from Tamilnadu, but they are a clear minority.

The Seychelles Indians we interviewed can be divided into two groups based on the stability of their ethnic identity. Some of them firmly identify themselves as Seychelles Indians, while others have an unstable, dual identity-they consider themselves both Indian and Creole, as they call themselves in English - "mix", or "fifty-fifty" (50x50) (Figure 2).

In addition, many people retained a sense of belonging to a particular Indian ethnic group (most often-to Tamils, less often - to other Indian ethnic groups). The overall result for the sample was as follows: 76.8% consider themselves to be Indians of a specific nationality (Tamil, Gujarati, etc.), 2.3% - simply "Seychelles Indians", 20.9% - both Indians and Creoles (mostly from Creole-Indian mixed families). In these respects, the Seychelles Indians differ from the Mauritius Indians. There, apparently, a new ethnic group was formed under the name "Mauritian Indians". In the Seychelles, the situation is different - Indians remember that they are Tamils, Gujaratis, and their assimilation by the Creole majority leads to the fact that they, passing the stage of "Seychelles Indians", immediately move to the next group - "Creole Indians". This difference is due to the number of Indians in the two republics - in Mauritius, Indians make up 2/3 of the population, and in the Seychelles - only about 2%.

The ethnic identity of the "old" and "new" wave of Indians is very different: the "new" Ones have a stable one, everyone firmly considers themselves to be Indians, Tamils, and this is natural. The instability of ethnic identity is inherent exclusively in the "old" wave of Indians, their indicators are as follows: 53.6% firmly consider themselves to be Indians (Tami-

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Lamas, Gujaratis), 4.9 - "Seychelles Indians", 41.5%-Creole Indians ("mix"). Thus, only Indians - descendants of plantation workers of the period of English colonialism, who have lived on the islands among the Creole majority for several generations-are subject to active assimilation processes. The number of mestizos among Indians will be discussed below, but as for the question of the stability of ethnic identity, it should be noted that fluctuations in this issue are characteristic of mestizos-people from nationally mixed families. Among those who have all the ancestors of Indians, firmly consider themselves to be Indians (Tamils, etc.), 95.2% of respondents, "Seychelles Indians" - 3.2, Creole Indians-1.6%. Among Mestizos, the indicators are as follows: they consider themselves to be Indians (Tamils) 26.1%, Creole Indians-73.9%. These data show that it is mixing with Creoles in marriages that leads to a weakening of ethnic identity. In this regard, I would like to emphasize the importance of studying ethnically mixed marriages and their consequences.

In our sample, apart from singles, 55.6% were single-ethnic, 27.8% were Indian - Creole, 8.3% were Indian-Chinese, 5.5% were Indian - French, and 2.8% were Indian-Kenyan, i.e. the number of mixed marriages was close to half. And here, as in other indicators, the differences in the two groups of Indians, depending on the time of their appearance on the islands, are very large. Among the descendants of Indians of the colonial period, only 37.5% of single-ethnic marriages were found, mixed with Creoles-the same number, mixed with Chinese-12.5, with French - 8.3, with Kenyans-4.2%. The situation is quite different for recent migrants and the first generation of their children born on the islands. 94.4% of them have single-ethnic families, 5.6% are mixed with Creoles. In the adult generation of migrants, we did not encounter mixed marriages at all, they appear only in the generation of their children, and then only a little.

In total, 33.3% of Indian men and 23.1% of women are in mixed marriages. But since almost all of these marriages occur only among first-wave Indians, it makes sense to provide data on this particular group of Indians. And here the indicators are quite different: 60% of men and the same number of women have spouses of a different nationality. It is safe to say that in this group of Indians there was a complete breakthrough of endogamy, they actively mix and merge with Creoles. The proportion of new wave migrants who are intermarried is zero, and only 16.7% of their children are born on the islands.

It would be interesting to see the difference in mating behavior depending on the stability of ethnic identity. Consider marriages separately for a group of Indians who firmly consider themselves to be Indians, and Indians who have a dual ethnic identity (Indian-Creole). It turned out that the difference in mating behavior is very large. Among those who consider themselves to be Indians, the proportion of men who are in mixed marriages was 17.4%, and for women-5.3%. Indians with a dual identity have very different indicators: men - 85.7%, women-71.4%.

Intermarriage led to a significant mestizoization of the Indian ethnic community. We considered only those mestizos who belong to the Indian community (or who belong to two communities at the same time), but we must keep in mind that often on the streets of the city we came across numerous Creole-Indian mestizos who clearly consider themselves Creoles, and despite their kinship with Indians, they no longer belong to them. they do. So, 73.2% of the respondents were" pure-blooded " Indians by origin, and 26.8% were Mestizos. Among the mestizos, 23.2% of respondents were of Indian-Creole origin, 1.2% - Indian-Chinese, 2.4% - Indian-Creole-European.

As with all other indicators, the differences in the degree of mixing of old-timers and new wave migrants are significant.

Among the old-timers of pure - blooded Indians, less than half-48.8% - were of mixed origin (with Creoles, as well as with Chinese and Europeans-

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mi) - 51.2%. Among Indians born outside the islands, there is no mixed population at all, among their children born already in the Seychelles, they are only 10%.

The religious composition of the Seychelles Indians reflects their history, with the majority retaining religions brought from their former homeland: 80.2% were Hindus, 3.5% were Muslims; however, the influence of the surrounding majority has already affected: 11.6% are Catholics, 4.7% are Protestants. Almost all of the Christians met in a group of old-timers from India. In this group, 61.0% were Hindus, 7.3% were Muslims, 24.4% were Catholics, and 7.3% were Protestants. Among the new migrants and their children, 96.0% were Hindus and 4.0% were Protestants (Figure 3).

Religion has a very strong influence on marital behavior, most often marriages are concluded between co-religionists. According to our sample, 28.0% of Hindu men are in nationally mixed marriages, but there are no women (the average percentage for men and women is 16.9%), there are few Muslims in the sample, and the only marriage of a man with a Creole woman is mixed, but within the same religion: the Creole woman was also a Muslim. Among Catholics, there are much more mixed marriages - 66.7% for men and 83.3% for women (a total of 77.8%). Among Protestants, the proportion of mixed marriages was 33.3% (on average, men and women). In general, the proportion of men and women in nationally mixed marriages among Christians was 66.7%, while among Hindus it was only 16.9%.

The ethnic orientation of children in mixed families is of great importance for identifying the nature of ethnic processes. What proportion of them are related by parents to Indian nationality? It turned out to be a little - only 14.3%, the rest belong to the nationality of the second parent (most often Creoles). Consequently, as a result of mixed marriages, the number of Indians decreases, i.e., the Indian ethnic group decreases through mixed marriages. This explains the presence among Creoles of a large number of people of Creole-Indian origin who no longer consider themselves to be Indians. Were it not for this circumstance, the proportion of Mestizos among

Figure 3. Creole-Indian (Mestizo) Muslim

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there would be much more Indians. This assimilation applies almost exclusively to the group of old-timers of India, which is constantly declining through intermarriage. And only new migrations and the adoption of Seychelles citizenship by migrants compensate for this decline.

Let's turn to language processes. Most of the Indians turned out to be polyglot: they know Creole, English, French to varying degrees, as well as one of the Indian languages - Tamil, Gujarati, Hindi, etc.

The percentage of Indians who have mastered the main language of Seychelles-Creole, was very high: 86.0% speak it fluently, 12.8% speak, but not fully, and do not know-only 1.3%. 96.5% are fluent in English, 2.3% are not fully proficient, 1.2% are not proficient. French is less popular among Indians, 34.9% are fluent, 14.0% are not fully proficient, and 51.1% are not proficient. The situation with native languages is as follows: 48.8% of respondents can speak Tamil, 15.1% can speak Gujarati, 3.5% know Hindi and Urdu, and 32.6% do not speak Indian.

Although almost all Indians know 3-4 languages, the native language is most often one that they speak best. As a rule, this is the language that a person learns first in childhood (although there are exceptions). When asked about their first language, 39.5% of Respondents said Creole was the first language, 36.1% said Tamil, 4.6% said Gujarati, 5.8% said English, 9.3% said Creole and Tamil, and 4.7% said Creole and English.

We can already assume that there are big differences in the language behavior of "old wave" Indians and new migrants, as well as in the intermediate group - children of "new migrants". It turned out that all the "old" wave Indians are fluent in Creole. Among the " new " ones - only 60.0% (another 32.0% own, but "not freely", and 8.0% - do not own at all). The second generation of recent migrants occupies an intermediate position in terms of language indicators: 85.0% speak it fluently, 15.0% speak it partially.

No differences were found in English - all groups of Indians speak it quite fluently. This is probably due to the fact that English is also widely spoken in India. And the migrants have only encountered French in the Seychelles, and the "new" Indians know it worse than the old-timers; the latter also do not speak all French, it is less common than English or Creole. Among the old-timers of India, 58.5% speak French, and another 4.9% partially speak it. Among the new wave of Indians, only 4.0% are fluent in it, and partially - another 24.0%. The second generation of recent migrants also occupies an intermediate position here: 25.9% speak French fluently, and 20.0% partially.

Let's move on to the indicator for the first language, which is close to the concept of "native" or "mother" language. Here, the differences between the Indians of the two waves of migration are simply striking, we can say that the indicators are directly opposite. Among the old-timers of India, Creole was the first language for 68.3% of the respondents, Tamil-for 7.3%, Gujarati - for 2.4%, English - for 9.8%, Creole and English - for 4.9%, Creole and Tamil - for 7.3%. The dominance of Creole is obvious. New Wave migrants born in India were the first to speak Tamil (80%), Gujarati (12%), Creole and English (8.0%). The latter indicator (Creole and English) is explained by the fact that these migrants arrived on the island as young children, hence Creole as the first language. The second generation of migrants, as in previous cases, occupies an intermediate position in terms of the first language. The first language was Tamil for 55% of respondents, Creole for 15%, English for 5%, Creole and Tamil for 25%.

Both in terms of language processes and other indicators, there are significant differences between the Indians of two different waves of migration, but the direction of the migration process is very different.-

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These processes are most pronounced in the intermediate group-children of new migrants born on the islands. This group is increasingly moving away from Indian languages, and is becoming more proficient in Creole and French. It is easy to calculate that the grandchildren of new migrants are likely to have language characteristics identical or similar to those of the "old wave" Indians.

Data on the two groups of Indians, depending on the time of their appearance in the Seychelles, indicate a significant difference in the course of ethnic processes. This raises the question of whether two groups of Indians are being formed on the islands. Maybe these differences in ethnic characteristics lead to their relative isolation from each other? How closely do they interact with each other? Perhaps this interaction is not too large and contacts are limited? To test this hypothesis, we turned to marriages between representatives of these groups, implying that the intensity of their marital mixing among themselves can be interpreted as the degree of their interaction, unity or separation. For a more detailed analysis of these indicators, we divided Indians into three groups: old-timers, migrants born outside the islands, and children of migrants born already on the islands. The analysis showed that Indians who arrived on the islands a long time ago are more likely to marry Creoles, and new migrants are more likely to marry each other, but both are not separated from each other by an endogamous barrier and often marry each other. This shows the unity of all citizens of the Seychelles of Indian origin. New wave Indians merge with the previous Indians and represent a single ethnic group with them, despite the obvious linguistic and cultural differences.

The analysis of all the collected materials allows us to make some assumptions about the size of the Indian ethnic group and the prospects for its further development. Sources from 20-30 years ago mention that there were about 2 thousand Indians on the islands (see, for example: [Countries of the World..., 1985, p. 341]). Apparently, this figure is close to the truth. However, as a result of assimilation processes, this group of "first wave" Indians has been constantly declining in recent decades, and there have also been many people with a dual, transitional identity among them.

Subsequently, as a result of the arrival of a "new" wave of migrants and taking into account their children who were already born in the Seychelles, it is logical to assume that the group of Indians has grown in size. According to the Vokrug Sveta encyclopedia [vokrugsveta.ru/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Seychelles], at the beginning of 2005, the population of Seychelles was about 81,000, with Indians accounting for 4.7%, i.e. about 4,000 people. However, this figure is very high (it also includes Creoles of Indian origin). I tend to estimate the size of the entire group at 1-1. 5 thousand people. I think that the desire for a more accurate figure is unproductive due to the double and unstable ethnic identity of a significant part of Mestizo Indians. Even more roughly, we can talk about Creoles, among whose ancestors there are Indians (and there are actually 1-3 thousand or more). Many of them had second -, third -, or fourth-generation Indian ancestry in ascending lines and were completely merged with the Creoles, with no cultural, religious, or linguistic differences other than some more or less preserved anthropological features.

A few words about Muslim Indians. On the neighboring island of Mauritius, Indian Muslims form a large and cohesive group, resembling a small nation called the Mauritian Muslims. They are all of Indian origin. In the Seychelles, the situation with Muslim Indians is completely different. First, the actual number of Indians among Muslims is very small, and second, there are very few of them in relation to the rest of the Indians. Talking to the mosque staff, we suggested that they make a calculation: what proportion of the parishioners are Indians. The answer surprised us: we were told that only about 5% of the population is Indian, while the rest are Creoles. Indeed, often seen on the streets of Victoria

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men and women in characteristic Muslim costumes, we found that the vast majority of them are Creoles. In general, there are not many Muslims on the island, about 1.5%, i.e. excluding foreigners-about 1 thousand people, and if we proceed from the percentage of Indians named to us, then there are less than 100 Indians among them. In this situation, it is highly likely that, even if they are endogamous in relation to other confessional groups, they are doomed to assimilation among fellow Creoles. We met in the street crowd several people with a characteristic Indian appearance, in conversations with whom it turned out that they are Creole Muslims, but have Indian ancestors. So, in this confessional group of Indians, assimilation processes are also taking place, which are characteristic of Hindu Indians. Theoretically, they have a higher chance of being assimilated, since this group, firstly, is small in number, and secondly, unlike Hindus, it does not have a religious barrier in communicating with Muslim Creoles.

SEYCHELLES CHINESE

The size of the Chinese ethnic group is also unknown, there are no statistics, but when you first get acquainted, the difference with the Indians is striking: the Chinese do not have such a noticeable influx of new migrants as the Indians, most of them are descendants of those who moved from Mauritius during the period of English rule. The number of foreign citizens of China and other countries is still small: in 2010 - 314 people. This is 15 times less than foreigners from the Indian subcontinent. Only a small proportion of these migrants have adopted local citizenship. In our sample, only 1.3% of respondents were born outside the islands, and another 2.5% were children of those born abroad, i.e. there is almost no influx of new migrants to the Chinese diaspora. Therefore, we did not divide the Chinese into groups like the Indians, but presented the material for the entire sample. In other respects, ethnic processes among the Seychelles Chinese are largely similar to the Indian group, more precisely, to the Indians of the "old wave" of migration (Figure 4).

Chinese-born Seychelles can also be divided into three groups - those who firmly consider themselves Chinese, those who have a dual ethnic identity (Chinese-Creole), and those who consider themselves non-Chinese Creoles. Our survey covered only representatives of the first two groups (Figure 5-6).

The number of these two groups is approximately the same: 46.2% of respondents clearly identify themselves as Chinese, and 53.8% consider themselves "half-Chinese - half-Creole" ("mix").

Figure 4. The Seychelles Chinaman

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Figure 5-6. Creole Chinese women (Mestizo)

The number of mixed marriages has significantly exceeded the number of single-national ones, and there is a breakthrough in endogamy. Excluding singles, there were 9 (24.3%) single-ethnic families, 28 (75.7%) mixed - ethnic families, including 24 with Creoles (64.9%), 3 with Indians (8.1%), and 1 with Europeans (2.7%).

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62.5% of Chinese men and 47.1% of women are in mixed marriages. With such a mixture, mestizoism is inevitable, and this is what we are seeing. The record of genealogies showed that only 20% of this group have only Chinese among their closest ancestors, the remaining 80% are mestizos to some extent. Among Mestizos, 47.5% have among their closest ancestors Creoles, 7.5% - Europeans, 15.0% - Creoles and Europeans, 6.2% - Creoles and Indians, 1.3% - Indians, 2.5% - Indians and Europeans. The Europeans mentioned are mostly English and French. Thus, 68.8% of Seychelles Chinese have some admixture of Creole, 25% of European Chinese, and 10% of Indian Chinese. Apparently, mestizoism increases with each new generation. Among the elderly Chinese mestizos were 60.0%, among middle-aged people-77.8%, among young people and children - 93.1%. And this is despite the fact that most of the children in mixed families no longer belong to the Chinese diaspora. Parents (in the surveyed families) identified less than half of their children as Chinese (36.0%), and the rest (64.0%) as other nationalities, mainly Creoles. Without this, the proportion of Mestizos would be even higher (Figure 7).
Even in Mauritius, the Chinese became Catholics. At least the main part. Only a few have retained their Buddhist views. In the Seychelles, the majority of Chinese are also Catholics and a small part are Buddhists, but there are also Protestants. 77.5% of respondents identified themselves as Catholics, 18.7% as Protestants, 2.5% as Buddhists, and 1.3% as both Catholics and Buddhists.

Linguistic processes indicate a high level of assimilation of Chinese by Creoles. 98.8% of respondents are fluent in Creole, while 1.2% are partially proficient. Everyone knows English. 95.0% are fluent in French, 2.5% are partially proficient, and 2.5% are not proficient. 21.3% of respondents can speak Cantonese (South Chinese), 7.5% can speak official Chinese (Mandarin), and the rest do not speak Chinese. Which of these languages is the first, the mother language? 82.5% of respondents named Creole as their first language, 3.8% - Cantonese, 10.0% - two languages (Creole and English), and 3.7% - English. What is the dynamics of this indicator across generations? Among the elderly, 93.3% said Creole was the first language, while 6.7% said Chinese. At the average age, 88.8% of respondents named Creole as their first language, 5.6% - Chinese, 2.8% - English, 2.8% - Creole and English. Among young people, 64.3% preferred the Creole language, Creole

7. Creole-Chinese (Mestizo). The daughter's mother is an Indian Creole

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and English was mentioned by 28.6%, English-by 7.1%. Among children, the first name given by their parents is Creole (73.3%), Creole and English (20.0%), and English (6.7%).

As you can see, Creole as the first (mother, native) language prevails in all age groups, in older groups there are those who speak Chinese, in the younger generation the importance of English is growing.

Thus, the ethnic processes among the Seychelles Chinese are similar in nature to those of the Indian old-timers. There is linguistic assimilation, intermarriage, mainly with Creoles, mestizoism, and a weakening of ethnic identity among both groups. The difference lies in the fact that a significant part of the Indians have largely retained the old language, in addition, the majority remains committed to the same religious views. Among the Chinese, language assimilation has gone further, and there are more mixed marriages, apparently due to the lack of a religious barrier with the Creoles. A small difference is observed in the ethnic orientation of children in mixed families - the Chinese have a slightly higher percentage of Chinese than the Indians-to the Indians. This contributes to a higher proportion of Mestizos in the Chinese population than in the Indian population. But the main difference is that the Chinese diaspora, unlike the Indian one, is almost not replenished with new migrants. According to our estimates, the number of Chinese people living in Seychelles is smaller than that of Indians, and unlike the Indians, their total number is falling.

Based on rough estimates, bearing in mind that many Chinese people have a dual ethnic identity, I would estimate the number of Chinese in the Seychelles in a wide range from 0.5 to 1.0 thousand people. This population is gradually decreasing. Another approximately 1-2 thousand rubles. Creoles have Chinese among their ancestors, but they no longer consider themselves part of the Chinese diaspora. Many of them have a 1/2, 1/4, or even 1/8 share of Chinese blood and do not differ from other Creoles either linguistically, religiously, or culturally. Kinship with the Chinese is shown only in some anthropological features, which are gradually erased with further mixing with the Creoles.

list of literature

Dyachkov M. V. Creole languages, Moscow, 1987.
Zhukov A. A. Creole languages, Moscow, 1987.
Meriton E. R. The African component in the culture of the Seychelles population. Diss. ... Candidate of Historical Sciences, St. Petersburg, 2001, 163 p.

Countries of the world. Kratkiy politiko-ekonomicheskiy spravochnik [Short political and Economic Guide]. Moscow: Politizdat, 1985.

http://www.seyshelskieostrova.ru/category/istoriya/.

http://www.vokrugsveta.ru/encyclopedia/index.php?tille=Seychelles.

Mahoune J.-CI.P. Seychellois of Asian Origin. 2000. International Institute for Asian Studies Newsletter 20 // http://www.iias.nl/iiasn/20/regions/20ISA1 html.

Population and Housing Census 2010 Report. National Bureau of Statistics. Victoria, 2012.

REFERENCES

D'iachkov M.V. Kreol'skie iazyki. Moscow, 1987.

http://www.seyshelskieostrova.ru/category/istoriya/.

http://www.vokrugsveta.ru/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Seychelles.

Mahoune J-CI.P. Seychellois of Asian Origin. 2000. International Institute for Asian Studies Newsletter 20 // http://www.iias.nl/iiasn/20/regions/20ISA1.html.

Meriton H.R. Afrikanskii komponent v kul'ture naseleniia Seishel'skikh ostrovov. PhD Thesis. Sankt-Petersburg, 2001. 163 pp.

Population and Housing Census 2010 Report. National Bureau of Statistics. Victoria, 2012.

Strany mira. Kratkii politiko-ekonomicheskii spravochnik. Moscow: Politizdat, 1985.

Zhukov A.A. Kreol'skie iazyki. Moscow, 1987.

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