Which Indian Ocean country of islands has its own continental shelf?

• A. Madagascar
• B. Seychelles
• C. Mauritius
• D. Maldives

Answer: (B)

A continental shelf is the shallow, underwater extension of a landmass where a country has rights to resources. Seychelles sits on its own piece of continental crust—the Seychelles microcontinent—that drifted away from Africa long ago. Because this landmass has a distinct crustal extension, Seychelles has a continental shelf of its own, separate from Africa’s. The other islands mentioned are not on a separate crustal block: Madagascar is part of the broader African continental shelf region, while the Maldives are built on oceanic crust as coral atolls, with no distinct continental shelf of their own. Mauritius lies on a submerged oceanic plateau rather than a separate continental block.