It lies 710 km (383 nmi; 441 mi) southwest of the capital city, Victoria, on Mahé Island.

[1] In 1846, Charles Pridham wrote that Providence had "been granted to an inhabitant of Mauritius who has established a fishery and planted cocoa-nut trees and makes a large profit from the sale of tortoiseshell etc.

Lepers are no longer sent here….These islands will bear a few years’ cultivation, but beyond the cocoa-nut tree little will remain of further promise.

Those, however, who are shipwrecked on these isles, will find water and sufficient means of existence till chance or their own resources may relieve them".

Providence was run as a copra island during the early 1980s up until 2006, when Cyclone Bondo destroyed most of the buildings and about 60 percent of the coconut trees.

West of the atoll, the sea bottom plunges steeply to a depth of 180 metres (591 ft) only 2.5 kilometres (1.3 nmi; 1.6 mi) beyond the fringing reef.

The huge area of reef flats attracts the largest population of grey heron in Seychelles.

Large numbers of crab plover, whimbrel and other waders roost at the southern tip of Providence, Pointe Gustave.

The airstrip enables additional support for the surveillance of the area by the Seychelles People's Defence Force.

Fishing and copra production took place on Providence Island probably continuously from at least 1846 until late 2006, when Cyclone Bondo struck.