The Providence Atoll is part of the Seychelles

Seychelles

Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....

, in the Farquhar Group

Farquhar Group

The Farquhar Group belong to the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, lying in the southwest of the island nation, more than 700 kilometres southwest the capital, Victoria, on Mahé Island. The total land area of all islands in the group is less than 11 km², but the total area of the atolls measures...

. The islands in the group are small, coral

Coral

Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...

ine and inhospitable. The atoll has a more than 30 km long north-south axis, and is up to 10 km wide. The total area covered by the atoll is approximating 200 km². The aggregate land area, however, is only about 1.5 km². There are two islands in the atoll:

• Providence Island is located in the far north of the atoll, at 9°14′S 51°03′E. It is 4 km long north-south, and up to 400 m wide. The land area is a little more than one km². There is a small settlement in its southern-central part (pop. 6).

• Cerf Island is located in the far south of the atoll, almost 30 km south of Providence Island, at 9°30′S 51°01′E. The island is more than 4 km long, and up to 500 meters wide, but in some places only 50 meters, with a land area of about 0.5 km². It is uninhabited.

The closest neighbor of the atoll is St. Pierre Island

St. Pierre Island

St Pierre Island is a raised reef island west of Providence Atoll and part of Farquhar Group, which belongs to the Outer Islands of the Seychelles. The island is located 35 km west of Cerf Island of Providence Atoll, 704 km from Mahé and 500 km ENE of Aldabra...

, 35 km west of Cerf Island.

There are records of Maldivian mariner presence in this atoll from the 20th century, when a trading vessel from southern Maldives

Maldives

The Maldives , , officially Republic of Maldives , also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and...

reached Providence Atoll after drifting in the ocean for weeks.